[ben] “my question is, i am looking to upgrade in the future. (next year or so) “
Not even worth giving much thought to anything you are doing to do a year or more down the road. MBP will be updated at least once by then. But the current MBP will run the current apps just fine. Other than uncompressed HD they are a real workhorse. But if you don’t need portability you get a lot more power for your money going with a desktop.