Baufritz wrote:It does look shinier. As far as other features, do you feel held back in the free version when comparing it to the pro version?
Unity Pro definately comes with some some things that speed development by a longshot. They have an option where you can have different animation sets that work under the exact same mechanim tree. You make a change to the mechanim tree, all your animation sets will copy your new base structure whilst retaining their different animation sets. You also get a bunch of camera effects that mimic the abilities of a professional camera, as well as glass and water. Unity Free is certainly good for what it is, but Unity Pro makes life much, much easier. Its definately worth the 75/month or 1500 if you're going to use it well.
With that said, I wouldn't recommend Unity Pro to a beginning game designer. Unity Pro has a ton of features that a newcomer wouldn't be able to understand or appreciate.
tl;dr
Unity Pro and Unity Free are much the same in regards to how things function. Unity Pro has some huge developer niceties and gives you the extra edge required to make your games look more like a AAA title.
Don't get Unity Pro unless you're good with Unity Free first.