MacBook Pro...Why Did I Wait So Long?
 

After my HP tanked for the umpteenth time I finally decide to listen to my 11 yr old and get a MacBook. i7... Wow...

eh...WOW.

I have to get used to the track pad - it's a little different then the HP but the programs are so intuitive and the speed is almost instant...nah, it is instant!

Been copying over files. What a breeze. Seems like all the stuff I did in Word, Excel, PowerPoint all transfers over. Haven't seen a glitch yet.

So, is there a downside to the MacBook pro that I'm not aware of?

If there were I would not own 5 of them.

Welcome to the dark side.

oh ya, I didn't buy it new, runs 2.8ghz on an intel core i7, 4gig memory with 750gig store. It was a demo - got it at a electronic store that a few friends swear by. They all have gotten stuff there for a few years - I got this for $750. Best laptop I have ever owned so far...

Scott, got it at BAM Electronics in Lewisville. So impressed I went and got one for my Daughter! Ever here of the place? Its off Mill St.

I think I've seen the place. Seems familiar.

$750 you can't go wrong.

Click the Apple upper left, select About this Mac, hit System Report, then SATA, what rotational speed is the hard drive?

Have owned mine for 5 years. Still happy!

I need a coaster to compliment the MacBook Pro. ;)

I've had mine for 4 years now and love it. Looking at picking up an Air just to have something more portable.

Scott, its 5400. Not really sure what that means...is 5400 any good?

PM you ship addy!

5400 rpm hard drive. You got the "T" model, the "E" and the "S" have a higher redline. :)

J/k, the only downside to a MacBook Pro is the price, kind of like a Porsche. There is no other downside.

But it'll still do 165 with the top off! ;)

5400 RPM.

That's pretty much the standard for OEM drives.

First thing I do is replace them with a 7200.

Faster drive upgrades from the manufacturer are a rip off and not worth it.

You can get a 1TB 7200 RPM drive from Newegg for as little as $65.

I'd also drop more ram in it.

An 8 GB upgrade will run around $80.

I have 16 GB in my main box and that will run around $150.

Scott,
Source the parts, do the drop and I'll pay out, buy ya lunch and throw in a coaster!

Yup, love mine.

1973 911T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

Steve

Im running this hard drive

HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HTS721010A9E630 (0J22423) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive - Newegg.com

Using this RAM.

Team Model TSD316G1600C11DC-E Laptop Memory - Newegg.com

but we need to check your model number to make sure it's correct, in About this mac->System report what is the current Type and Speed of the installed RAM. If DDR3 then that RAM will work.

BTW, you'll now see ads for crap like MacKeeper, ignore it. OSX is a .nix so it runs regularly scheduled maintenance jobs on its own. It also defragments on its own.

You don't really need Anti Virus but if you are suspicious get ClamAV, ClamXav it's free and I use it occasionally when I'm forced to download something from a sketchy source.

Occasionally the system will get sluggish, almost all the time that is Spotlight indexing the drive so it can find stuff instantaneously. You can check foe indexing by clicking the magnifying glass upper right, if indexing it will say so and performance will return to normal in a couple of minutes.

If you get the harddrive/ram let me know, I'll pop it in for you.

You'll wonder what to do with all of the time you'll have not fixing your computer. Enjoy, and remember to backup.

Scott,
It has Intego on it - a malware protection?

It is a 1333mhz and a DDR3.

May as well leave it.

The biggest benefit to AV software on a Mac is so you can catch stuff that comes in via email and not pass it on to Windows users.

The RAM in the link is faster which is fine.

Just checked their site -- Is This any better than yours ? (Listed at $850 .. can't see one for $750) :
APPLE 17 MACBOOK PRO UNIBODY 2009 MC226LL/A INTEL CORE 2 DUO 2.8GHZ 4GB 500 GB GRADE B