Converting to the dark side / best deal on macbook pro ever.

[inflames988]

I had my first experience with OS X this year - installed it on my lenovo netbook. I was impressed with some things, not impressed with others. But, overall, It's a good blend for me. I am currently dual booting windows/ubuntu on my laptop AND desktop. It gets to be a bit much. When I am programming, i'm on ubuntu. Doing business stuff / using MS office / doing "media" stuff, i'm on windows. I think Mac will allow me to do both without the dual booting hassles.

My netbook is up on ebay now. For some reason the s10 sells for around $400 with a 320gb 7200rpm hard drive and ram upgrade, so i will (likely) be breaking even on it or even making a profit (I got a pretty rediculous deal on the upgrades, and on the netbook itselfl). I will likely sell my sony laptop as well after that, or give it to my Dad if he continues having trouble with his dell. It has turned out to be a poor laptop portability wise since the case is poorly constructed and flexes alot when i carry it with me, causing screen issues, etc.

I love the new unibody macbook, but it was (A) too expensive and (B) I sort of wanted a macbook pro, but couldnt get it in a 13" size. Yesterday that changed...

I also have a $300 apple gift card sitting around that I won in an application design competition at school (I am a software developer). Also there is a $100 discount through my school, and they are offering a free iPod touch (which is awesome since I am currently working as a developer building iPhone and iPod touch applications).

Obviously you can see where this is going, they made the unibody more powerful (now part of the macbook pro line) AND cheaper...

So long story short...

New macbook pro 13" and 8GB iPod touch:
1199 - 100 education rebate - 300 off that i got for free = $799.

Basically, the laptop itself will cost me $599. I may sell the iPod touch, but will likely keep it. I am picking up iPhone development very quickly having been a long time C programmer and familiar with some of the concepts used in the Cocoa touch framework, so I may make some cool iTouch apps for myself in the future.

Even better thing is the hard drive and RAM are user servicable - they only offer 5400rpm drives on these, so I see no reason to upgrade (nor pay the exorbitant price) when i can pick up a 320gb scorpio black 7200 for 80 bucks shipped on newegg, or a 4gb ram kit for 40-50 bucks.

I'm gonna have a hard time passing this one up.

[shadowpr]

Good deal.

I bought a macbook cause I got a $200 mail in rebate on it.

[inflames988]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Good deal. I bought a macbook cause I got a $200 mail in rebate on it.

I've never heard of MIR's on macbooks, I assume you bought it from a different vendor and not apple? That's a great deal though, technically I'm still "paying" about 1099 but I have that iPhone gift card sitting around / won't be using it since I wouldnt want to pay for the iPhone plan anyway, so i figured I might as well use it on the macbook.

[shadowpr]

I bought mine from Microcenter.

[tomster2300]

Originally Posted by inflames988 Even better thing is the hard drive and RAM are user servicable - they only offer 5400rpm drives on these, so I see no reason to upgrade (nor pay the exorbitant price) when i can pick up a 320gb scorpio black 7200 for 80 bucks shipped on newegg, or a 4gb ram kit for 40-50 bucks. I'm gonna have a hard time passing this one up.

That's why my Macbook has 4 gigs of Corsair ram. Despite what anyone says, Macs are literal beasts when it comes to any kind of production. You'll love spaces and expose - it will literally change your workflow forever, making you more efficient and productive than on any Windows machine. I run Final Cut Express on my white Macbook (non pro), as well as the adobe design suite and a dozen other programs, and the system runs like a champ. The only problem is heat (my Mac gets really hot), but I'm sure the aluminum unibody is even better at dissipating heat than plastic.

Also I never have to turn my Mac off, which is a plus. Good choice on the 13" pro if you don't mind not having that second video card. One is fine, but what Apple looks to be doing with the second one is pretty cool. I would have snagged the 13" pro if it had been available two years ago when I bought mine.

I hope you enjoy your purchase.

[inflames988]

I will be using it almost exclusively for iPhone application development, Ruby on Rails development, and other programming-related stuff, so the graphics isn't important to me. I had a dedicated graphics card in my sony that you could switch to and never used it once (the thing got awful battery life anyway). Though at some point I want to invest in a good DSLR camera was well as a video camera, so down the line it may prove useful. I will also likely go to 4GB of RAM (can these just use any DDR3-1066? I know lots of people sell "Mac" RAM, HDD's, and SSDs but im not sure these are really any different/necessary), and either a larger 7200RPM drive or an SSD at some point if I find a reasonable deal.

The macbook pro is great. it had a full battery charge when i took it out of the box and i worked for six hours installing programs and getting it all set up. I didn't take the charger out of the box till today.

Ive never had a computer with such an accurate trackpad either, and they keyboard tops anything i've used (notebook or desktop) before. Lots of nice little touches everywhere that make it great to use, and it includes a CD to reinstall the OS (every other computer company everywhere take a hint here). Supposedly I can upgrade to Snow Leopard too for $10 since I bought the computer after it was announced.

My netbook is selling for a very high price on eBay (I guess cause of the upgrades I put into it), and the Sony laptop will likely go up too. In total given the gift certificate I won, the student discount, and the free iPod touch (still debating whether to keep or sell), I'm definitely happy with the MBP at the semi-unheard of price i paid lol. It's definitely gonna simplify my live having one fully-functional laptop instead of the sony which gets about 1.5 hrs of battery life on each of the 6-cell batteries i have for it, and the netbook (which i just bought to test OS X and mess around with).

Originally Posted by tomster2300 That's why my Macbook has 4 gigs of Corsair ram. Despite what anyone says, Macs are literal beasts when it comes to any kind of production. You'll love spaces and expose - it will literally change your workflow forever, making you more efficient and productive than on any Windows machine. I run Final Cut Express on my white Macbook (non pro), as well as the adobe design suite and a dozen other programs, and the system runs like a champ. The only problem is heat (my Mac gets really hot), but I'm sure the aluminum unibody is even better at dissipating heat than plastic. Also I never have to turn my Mac off, which is a plus. Good choice on the 13" pro if you don't mind not having that second video card. One is fine, but what Apple looks to be doing with the second one is pretty cool. I would have snagged the 13" pro if it had been available two years ago when I bought mine. I hope you enjoy your purchase.