I have a 13" MB Pro running Snow leopard (10.6) and its great! No problems, I get about 5 hrs of battery life with moderate use. The newer ones are supposed to get even longer battery use. No issues what so ever.

The casing is also REALLY sturdy. I had a thick textbook fall off a shelf onto mine (luckily it was closed) and it put a big dent in the casing, but the screen and everything else was unaffected. I wouldn't intentionally drop it, but I have confidence that the case is sturdy enough to offer a good amount of protection. This is good, especially since I bring mine everywhere and after the first month I started just tossing/dropping it into my back pack.

I also use mine extensively with Adobe CS4 and they all run great and really quickly. So using it for that sort of thing shouldn't be an issue.

Just get it. You won't be disappointed. Apple makes top notch laptops. They're pricey, but you get what you pay for.