Having passed my Apple Certified Macintosh Technician exams, I realized that the training I received courtesy of my company was only going to go to waste if I didn’t keep up with the technology on a daily basis. While I do have a G4 Mac mini at home, I simply wasn’t using it often enough to be able to answer those day to day use questions that the few Mac clients I have will ask.
So I took the plunge, but with a small bit of cost reduction, by going with a certified refurbished unit from the Apple Store. I ended up saving over $300 on a refurbished 2.2GHz Macbook, which allowed me to upgrade the system memory to 4GB with the possibility of nearly tripling the hard drive size.
It’s a beautiful unit, with it’s glossy white case and glowing Apple logo on the lid. I did opt for some protection, though, in the form of a $50 Incase Hardshell. The rubberized plastic looks great and feels very substantial, all while not adding any real weight to the unit. Although I went with the black case, because it’s somewhat translucent, it actually ends up looking like a very dark, eggplant purple, which I’ve come to like very much.
For a mouse, I went with the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000, mainly because it’s one of the cheaper mice that are fully compatible with the Macbook’s built-in bluetooth capabilities. Also, the black and white color scheme matches well, not to mention that there’s something amusing in using a Microsoft mouse with an Apple notebook.
I’m still getting used to using the OS X operating system on a daily basis, rather than the experimental and intermittent use my Mac mini receives. Mostly, I’m trying to learn how the average person would use the system so that I can answer those average user questions about every day use. Overall, however, the experience is going great.