Are you saying that Lion is fast on C2D initially..as in, right after it's installed, or Lion is faster after a nuke and pave than an upgrade/install from Snow to Lion?

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Get 8GB kit to get the best out of it and the right adapter for external screen.
You dont have discreet graphics like the 15inch Macbook pro/Mac Pro/iMac etc but it was in your budget so....you got what you could.

I have done lots of migrations.....

I have found that many of my pro systems have so much cruft leftover as they have been migrated from 10.5 > 10.6. I backup user folder using rsync. Clean install and then reinstall all programs...i cheat as i have a deployment solutions using Deploystudio and Munki. I can rebuild a machine in 2 hours with all the pro apps installed and authorised.

Then pull back user folder and create new user matching the old user details and sort out the little bits.

Overall my main issue is that i have a very "dirty" machine as i have so much Pro software installed for my work FCP, Logic, Ableton, VJ software, CS5.5, Filemaker, the list goes on.... ;-) so my migration needed a lot of extra work.

I realize that nobody can predict the future, but how durable are these 2010 13" MBPros? How long do you suppose their parts can last? The battery clearly will go first, but beyond that...how durable?

Thanks!
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They are well built resilient machines have loads in deployments Low failure rates.
Yes battery and hard disk may need replacing but should be good for 5-7 years if all goes well from time of build.

Battery is not so clearly first, IMHO.
Those newer batteries SHOULD get 4 to 7 years of useful life, maybe more, so I'd say hard drive first (unless you have an SSD), then battery.
By then, you would be at or past obsolescence anyway - the end of the hardware's "useful" life, along with end-of-life for upgrading to the latest OS, whatever that is - unless you don't follow along with the update-now crowd. But then, as long as it remains mechanically sound, and does what you ask, it remains useful. (I don't really want to start a "useful life" conversation, although your question leans toward that)

I tend not to be part of the update now crowd and I personally wish they'd all chill for a few years...

My question is about how long will it last physically..still boot up and function mechanically and computationally.

I'm impressed with the battery. I was loading things into it, unzipping, etc and on wireless for most of the day yesterday, all on battery. Granted I had the display turned low, but that battery gave a lot of service and still had 1.5 hours remaining when I plugged in finally.

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