Thank u Brodie for advices.

@unknownuser said:

I would hardly factor SketchUp into your decision

Look at my post http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=20076&p=189659#p189659 and you'll understand that, it's hard to notice a difference with sketchup.

Sure v-ray render will be faster, but once u notice the similar graphic performance with both specs (for cad i mean, i'm not a gamer), don't u think that the price difference between those 2 specs is a bit exagerate for faster renders... They both have 4gb Ram, one is 1599€, the other 2099(French prices).

MY CONFIG : macbook pro - mid 2009 unibody 15" 4GbRam 512Mo 9600MGT HD500gb 5400rpm - snow leopard 10.6.1
I ve run the cube test with each graphic configuration on the same machine running sketchup pro 7.0, and results are quite surprising :

9400M : 5.336s - 27.4665s (shadows on) -- with SU7.1= 1.228 - 1.229(shadows on)
9600M GT : 5.327s - 27,669s (shadows on) --with SU7.1= 1.324 - 1.225(shadows on)

I've run the same test with my architecture diploma file (40000m2 hotel+parking+many cars+trees and textures = 4mb files)

9400M : 6.572s - 99.579s (shadows on) --with SU7.1= 4.774 - 5.074(shadows on)
9600M GT : 6.601s - 101.156s (shadows on) --with SU7.1= 5.034 -5.225(shadows on)

That confirms my impression, I can't notice any difference between running sketchup with 9400 and with 9600. What do u think about that ? Could some mac users confirm these results ?

And 7.1pro version is really impressive.

related link (hardware recommendation) :
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10750&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=285

Hello, I'm new on sketchucation, and I 'd like to have some advice. I'm just done with architecture studies and owner of a new macbook pro unibody 15" 2.8Ghz - 4gb Ram - 512Mo dedicated. Sketchup pro 7 runs perfectly my diploma files (4mb, without any google warehouse components and shadows activated) with the better battery life configuration, so i don't have to switch. I haven't worked with sketchup for more than 20 minutes (just for a test) with this config. I was before running xp with nvidia 7600gt (256) and thas was terribly slow...

I have just noticed a problem with zooming in edges, that appeared with my old config, and appears with both graphic cards config on the macbook too.

The fact is that for other reasons, i asked apple a return, and i'm not sure i'll order the same config, because the 9400 integrated card seems to be enough to me. I'm planning using vectorworks(2D), cinema4D+V-ray, photoshop, and no games. The point is that if i choose the basic apple config, my processor will be only 2.53 and less disk space (250 to 500).

I'd like to hear what u think about that. Is there some mac users who can confirm or not what i'm saying. It's not really a money problem, but if i won't use this card, it's a bit stupid to buy it. Regards

PS : i d like to make some test with big scenes if u can send me some...