speaking of which.

they're in stock right now!!

Refurbished Mac mini - Apple Certified , 1-Year Warranty - Apple Store (U.S.)

 

oops they're mostly gone now.

 

Problem with mini is those 5400RPM drives really drag it down.

 

It should be a crime to sell any computer these days with a 5400rpm platter drive as the main drive.

 

Anyone buy a refurb MBP?

 

Not an MBP but have bought other refurb Apple stuff. They usually show up looking brand new in a plain white box. Good warranty, if you don't like it then it has the standard Apple return policy.

 

Yup, and they all come with the same apple warranty that their new products have.

The refurb mini I got looked pretty much new.


Also I have read that some people got upgraded refurbished units with their purchase. ex. more ram or a SSD.

 

OK, cool. Thanks.

Looking at a refurb 13" MBP retina with 8GBram and 512GBssd.

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Dual-core Intel i5 with Retina Display - Apple Store (U.S.)

Plan is to mainly use it as a windows machine via bootcamp, but have OSX available as needed. I figure 256GB per OS should be sufficient

 

Just an FYI, hopefully 8GB of ram is enough for you as they can't be upgraded later on.

 

I have to tell you, this is the ONE factor that is preventing me from pulling the trigger on one of these. I resent the ecosystem that does not allow me to grow as I see fit.

There is also an older (non retina) i5 2.5gHz with 4GB ram and a 5400rpm drive that costs a LOT less that I am considering and then throw a 512gb ssd in along with new ram.

Do I care about the haswell processor and the graphics?

 

That's the same one I got and for the same reason

 

Best Buy will have it on sale for Black Friday. $900

The biggest thing you will be missing out on is that the older one doesn't have the Retina display.

 

Oh snap, brand new for $900. That may seal the deal.

Thanks Doopstr!

 

OTOH, I am going to end up spending $300 to upgrade the RAM to 8GB and the hdd to ssd in the Best Buy machine, which puts me damn near the cost of the refurb, which has a faster processor, retina display, thunderbolt2, iris graphics and HDMI.

I think the refurb may be the better option.

 

Buying computers is hard.

 

Me, I'd build a small form factor PC/Hackintosh for that money. Though you won't get Thunderbolt on a small motherboard that those have.

 

He's looking for a laptop.

 

If it were for personal, I would (I have Mountain Lion and Mavericks in VMs ), but this machine is at least partly for business, so I need to be able to explain tools/methods to clients, etc. and also under oath.

 

Paging Stogie...
Apple MacBook Pro w/ Retina (late 2013) up to $200 off: 13-inch $1,360, 15-inch $2,000, or less with .edu | 9to5Toys
Clicky -->Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display 13.3" Display 8GB Memory 512GB Flash Storage ME866LLA - Best Buy

 

I still have a valid .edu email, what else does apple use to verify a student?

For Amazon prime they needed a transcript for me to renew after the 3rd year.

 

edu works.

 

So just having a *.edu email address works?
No proof of enrollment needed?

 

Yep

 

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.....


Crap, store pickup only and none in my area.

 

Thats the one I have. Love it.

 

 

anyone who runs windows in bootcamp also have a small (~10gb) exFAT partition to move stuff back and forth as needed?

 

Just install a NTFS driver in OSX. Seagate has one for free.

NTFS Driver for Mac OS | Seagate

 

I've never had an issue using it on my macbooks, and I graduated in 2008. They don't verify at all.

 

I just stick in a USB drive and leave it there and format it exFat.

 

You're choice really. Flash - exFAT, exHDD - NTFS. IMHO.

 

Yeah, not sure how often I would really need it, just kind of thinking out loud. USB is probably the way to go there, though.

Thanks.

 

If it's internal and or a permanent thing, why would you leave something in the USB slot?

Why not just install a driver in OSX that works with NTFS? Bootcamp automatically gives you HFS access...

Access to both from both with no extra partitions or devices.

 

I like USB drives....

 

What kind of Mac keyboard with numpad do you guys suggest?

Would like to have those shortcut keys too ie. Launchpad volume brightness dashboard etc




Don't really want to sped $50 for the wired apple one

 

Get the Apple one. I love mine.

 

Weird, I'm not connected to any wifi network right now and my Mac mini at home had been turned off since Sunday, but I just got a handoff request for safari.

Tried opening only to be taken to Wall Street journal website about ferguson.

 

Twilight Zone.

 

Was hoping it was at least an interesting website that got handed off to me

 

Yup definitely getting handoff requests for other people's computers. This one didn't load anything thou.