Please help me choose between a 13 in and a 15 in MacBook Pro

Question

Hello, everyone!
In about two weeks, I'm going to buy a new computer. I'll also be putting Final Cut Express into it to start delving a bit deeper into filmmaking. I'm a teacher but studied TV and documentary production in college and in a couple of years will be moving to my home country where people tell me things are pretty ripe for filming.
Anyway, to make a long story short, below you can see the details of the computers I have. I'm in between buying a 13-inch Intel Core i7 Dual Core 2.7 GHz MBP or the 15-in Intel Core i7 Quad-core MBP.
First of all, I have a Lumix FZ-100 digital camara which shoots 1080i AVCHD video. I see in the Final Cut Express page that it can work with HD video. I would like to know the following:
1) Will 13 inches be enough? Remember, I come from having a 20-inch iMac and a 12-inch iBook, so size could or might not matter, depends on the point of view. If I buy the 15-inch one, I would also get the high resolution screen, btw, but having said that, I saw somebody's 13-inch MBP and the screen seemed BIG to me. I actually asked them if it was the 15-inch version and when they told it was the 13-inch one, I was a bit shocked.
2) Can the 13-inch handle FCE? I say this because I know that that small computer is more powerful than the iMac I now have and WAY more powerful than the iBook. I've dabbled with the program with some video tutorials on my 2008-2009 iMac and it handles it without a problem.
3)How much of a difference is there between a 2.7 GHZ i7 Dual Core and a 2.0 GHZ i7 Quad-core really? How do these things actually work? I would ask this because I guess it would be ok if my computer ends up being a bit overpowered, but I would not be happy to feel that it is actually underpowered.
4) Because of the price, I would have to get more RAM later, so I would actually have to stick to the 4 GB that they come with for a while. But then again, I've worked on my iMac Intel Core 2 Duo with 3 GB and used Pro Tools 8 to create entire jingles for TV in Mexico without a hitch. I also tracked guitars for an album in 2007 using Pro Tools with my little iBook and there was no problem. I'm not a whiner and I know that I can work with less... but ONLY if I know that the "less" can actually handle what I ask of it.
5) A last question. Exactly how much of a difference is there in the normal resolution and high resolution models of the 15 MBP? Does it just look neater or can it actually help me with FCE?
Just as a side note, I don't care about carrying a slightly smaller laptop if I KNOW that it can handle what I ask of it (especially after seeing that 13 inches is not THAT small, compared to my 12-inch iBook lol).
Thank you to any of you that take the time to help me make up my mind. If I come up with more thoughts or doubts, I'll be bothering my thread again.
Take care,
Serge

Answer 1

1. A 13" screen is awfully small to do any efficient editing. The 15" gives you significantly more on-screen real estate.
2. All of the MacBook Pros can run FCE. However the graphics processor in the 13" model will limit some functionality with effects. See Tom's earlier comment.
3. Not much difference. All these cpu's are fast. There will be more overall system performance gain from the quad core at the slower speed.
4. FCE cannot use more than 4GB RAM anyway, so the 4GB that comes with every MBP is more than adequate. If you expect to use Aperture or CS5 then go for more RAM, otherwise there's not much reason to add RAM. You will be better off spending your money upgrading to the 7200rpm hard drive.
5. Everything will be smaller on the high res screen; there are just more pixels (1680x1050) on the same 15.4" screen area. (I have a 15" MBP with the standard 1440x900 screen and it is beautiful.)