Recently bought a new Macbook Pro

[Gan]

Cost :$547

Year: 2011
Model: Macbook Pro 8, 1
Size: 13 inch
Hard drive: 320gb
Condition: Perfect except small ding on the back left corner of the screen

Ports: SD card, thunder bolt, 2 USB, kingston slot, DVD, thunderbolt port, ethernet jack, firewire

Specs:
2.3ghz Intel Core i5
8GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 ram
Intel HD Graphics 3000 512MB GPU
1280x800 pixel display


As for size, the keyboard seems to be the same size as my 15 inch macbook pro, it has better air flow, the screen is high quality, it's not too worrisome that it's a bit smaller.
Using the trackpad is natural, the backlit keyboard is fantastic, this machine feels very solid.
Battery seems to last for 3 hours on a charge.

Surprisingly it boots up very fast. Pretty much 10 seconds. It doesn't have an SSD.


Think it's worth it?

[Connors]

Well I spent $500 on my late 2009 model... And the more I see what you guys are buying the more I wish I'd looked for a better deal. xD

But I'm not gonna be computer shopping until I can find a job again. At least the one I have is durable, good for school.

You said something about how a Hackintosh might not work as well as an official Mac, why is that??

[Zoo]

Simply put, Apple designs the hardware to work with the OS. It's just my theory.

Anyway, great purchase, Gan. The hard drive is a little small, but if you have an external one, then it's a pretty good purchase.

Though I have always preferred desktops for their easy repairs and the fact that you can replace stuff, I like the Macbook pro.

Is the 13" the monitor size? If so, is it length or the distance across the monitor diagonally? Because if it's the latter, then your computer is insanely small. No HDMI/VGA/DVI? That means your only option is a Thunderbolt monitor should you wish to have a larger screen. Still, fantastic purchase given how new it is.

[Gan]

You said something about how a Hackintosh might not work as well as an official Mac, why is that??

Apple doesn't like writing drivers to support all hardware. So if you try to make a hackintosh, you need to find hardware that is similar to what OS X expects.

Well I spent $500 on my late 2009 model... And the more I see what you guys are buying the more I wish I'd looked for a better deal. xD

But I'm not gonna be computer shopping until I can find a job again. At least the one I have is durable, good for school.

When you do, check pawn shops. They usually think macs are the same as PCs and they sell PCs for 100-200. They'll sell macs for obscenely cheap prices, especially in military towns or military installations. (they really don't know better)

Simply put, Apple designs the hardware to work with the OS. It's just my theory.

Anyway, great purchase, Gan. The hard drive is a little small, but if you have an external one, then it's a pretty good purchase.

Though I have always preferred desktops for their easy repairs and the fact that you can replace stuff, I like the Macbook pro.

Is the 13" the monitor size? If so, is it length or the distance across the monitor diagonally? Because if it's the latter, then your computer is insanely small. No HDMI/VGA/DVI? That means your only option is a Thunderbolt monitor should you wish to have a larger screen. Still, fantastic purchase given how new it is.

I'm glad you approve.
It's 13 inch diagonal but it actually doesn't seem that small to me. At my work place they have thunderbolt dongles for the monitors.

[Zoo]

If you build a hackintosh, it'll still be pretty expensive, because you'll need to use Intel parts. Intel can get expensive.