Macbook or macbook pro? (NVIDIA GeForce related question)?

The benefit of the 8600 is mainly in video-editing (as a lot of 3D effects are now done using the CPU of the gfx card). But the pro has other advantages like a more stable mechanical design. If you do lots of work, get the best tool which is the pro, if you do work on it now and than, go for the non pro.