Macbook Pro 2.4G/4GB RAM/500GB 7200RPM/Autobackup Drive

      I work on Macs for a living. I do consultant and maintenance work for small local businesses - mostly small graphics shops and solo operations. For my work, I need to be familiar with all recent and current models of Macs. So I tend to buy and sell my personal machines after only a few months and move on to a new model. Actually owning and using a machine as a learning tool is SO MUCH BETTER than getting that info out of a book - and it's fun too! For the last several months, this 15" Macbook Pro has been my baby - and I TAKE CARE OF MY BABIES. I'm not the original owner so there are some cosmetic exterior scratches from the previous owner, but I KNOW that this machine is a SOLID performer and if you check my feedback, you'll see that my customers get exactly what I advertise. PLEASE take a look at my feedback. I've been told by eBay employees that my account is the best they've ever seen. Over 10 years selling delicate equipment and I have NEVER received ONE SINGLE negative feedback. I've never mailed a package that didn't arrive or that arrived damaged or that arrived as something other than what was advertised. That's because I CARE. I know how badly packages can be handled so I do my best to create bullet proof packaging. I know just what it's like sending $1000 off to some stranger you've never met - the uncertainty... So I stay in contact every step of the transaction.

      I have a Mac Pro that I use for my work - the laptops I own are really just for fun (and learning - let's not forget the learning). I like computing from the couch or bed. I've only taken this one out of the house once. The winner of this auction will get a buffed up, well maintained Macbook Pro that is in PERFECT working condition. No disclaimers.

      This sale is for Mac Professionals. You know who you are. If you actually use your computer to earn a living and are tired of dealing under-performing hardware, I have the computer system for you! :-) It's got some of the fastest, biggest and best-est EVERYTHING. And bundled with this computer is a nice 500GB mini pocket external drive that comes pre-configured for use with Apple's effortless backup software, Time Machine. With Time Machine, everything you do on the Mac is backed up every hour. Ever have a hard drive crash right before that critical deadline? Probably not, but I've known many who have. I knew one fellow that ran a small operation and this one catastrophe was the beginning of a cascade of horrors resulting in the loss of THE top client and within a year, the doors were shut. With Time Machine, you'll be ready for catastrophe. To update your back-up, all you have to do is plug in the external drive and Time Machine does the rest

      This is one powerful setup. Below is a brief overview followed by an ABSURDLY long and detailed description and far too many pictures.

Overview:

• 15" 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro (Apple 1 Year warranty runs through Jan 12 2010 - if you get Applecare it'll be extended through Jan 2012)
• Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard installed (Installer Disc INCLUDED)
• 500GB Seagate 7200RPM Drive (biggest, fastest available)
• 500GB Mini portable Western Digital External Hard Drive
  • preconfigured for fully automatic backup of the internal hard drive
• eSATA/USB Express34 PC card - add FAST eSATA drives to your system + an added USB slot!
  • NO DRIVERS REQUIRED - just insert it and start using it (I LOVE MACS!)
• 4GB Ram - PC3-8500 DDR3
• Built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, iSight camera, USB, Firewire 800, Express34 PC Card slot!
• MagSafe Power Connector
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Video (for running on battery power)
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 SDRAM (for running from the power adapter)
  • BOTH SUPPORT OpenCL. This is HUGE! Only the latest Macs support it. You'll need this to run the apps of the future!
• Beautiful LED backlit Display
• Superdrive (DVD±RW/DVD burner)
• Backlit Keyboard

The Long Version:

     Before I tell you ALL about this machine, I'm gonna give you folks the very best single bit of buying advice you could possibly get: Make sure that the next Mac that you buy Supports OpenCL - perhaps the most important advance in graphics technology in 20 years. In fact, OpenCL (first introduced in Apple's Snow Leopard) is well on it's way to becoming the next standard for all high end computing. Today, only a handful of computers support this powerful feature. In the coming months and years, software developers will be writing software that will REQUIRE OpenCL. If you are planning on buying a machine that you can use for several years, OpenCL is an absolute MUST! And yes, this Macbook Pro has Open CL compliant video.

     This is the perfect machine for the professional road warrior; Photo, Film, Video, Graphics or Audio Pros; even advanced college students working on a degree in those fields. It's been upgraded to the hilt already. It has 4GB of memory, a powerful 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M Graphics chip AND an NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 SDRAM, a beautiful 15" LED backlit display for deep, rich colors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, iSight camera, Superdrive (DVD Burner), gigabit (10/100/1000) networking, an Express34 PC card slot and best of all, a speedy GIGANTIC 500GB Seagate 7200RPM drive, the largest, fastest hard drive that can be squeezed into a portable machine. Macs with a large, fast hard drive like this one and a full compliment of memory REALLY fly. See this page for more complete specs.

      The biggest bottleneck in laptops has always been the hard drives. Laptops now have beautiful built-in monitors, use real video cards (well, most do), and use the same memory as desktops, but reducing hard drive to laptop size has always been the greatest roadblock to laptop speed. But with the new Seagate 500GB 7200.4 drive, this bottleneck is all but gone!

      Check out these speed tests from Tomshardware.com! See how this Seagate 7200.4 blows away ALL of the fastest hard drives on the market. Take note - the other drives in this comparison are the fastest drives on the market today - the stock hard drives that Apple installs comes in WAY behind the last place finishers in these test. This Seagate drive makes a HUGE difference in performance in Macbook and Macbook Pros. Great for Photoshop users since photoshop spends so much effort in reading and writing while you work.

      This machine is in superb working condition - passes the full battery of tests from Apple Service Diagnostic (an Apple diagnostic program used by Apple service techs). You'll see some scratches on the top that are purely cosmetic - will NOT affect the warranty status. Otherwise the machine is PERFECT. The screen is bright and clear and PERFECT - no dead pixels, stuck pixels, grumpy pixels - they're all happy. Keyboard and trackpad are in perfect shape. Battery charges, works - it's virtually brand new. There are no dents - large or small anywhere on this machine. See the pictures below.

      Since Apple switched to Intel processors, their machines can now run BOTH Mac OS X and Windows. They can run both operating systems at the same time with the help of 3rd party software or if full Windows power is needed, you can restart the machine into Windows itself - it becomes a true windows machine. These Intel Macs are truly two computers in one and should be on every desktop in the country.

A Note About Apple's Current Macbook Pro Line:

      I'll be honest with you - I'm trying really hard to convince you to buy this machine. This section is devoted to comparing my machine with the current Apple Macbook Pro offering. You can see from my feedback that I'm an honest seller, but if you don't want to hear a sales pitch, skip to the next section. I PROMISE that there are no 'gottchas' hiding here.

      Now let's talk about speed for a moment. Above is data from a comparison article that appeared in Macworld. The 2.53GHz Macbook Pro that Apple is currently selling beats the 2.4GHz model (the one I'm selling) in most speed tests by a hair, but look at the Quake test - the older machine absolutely destroys the newer model in this test. What does that mean? And why would a professional user care about a computer game's performance on their new computer? BECAUSE 3-D games are one of the hardest tasks for any computer and require a very good video card to keep up. In fact, the gaming industry is responsible for the quest for ever faster computers more than any other sector of the computing industry. Luckily, 3D designers and other pros can make use of the technology that the gaming world brings to the table.

      So what happened there? The 2.53GHz 15" Macbook Pro that Apple currently sells DOES NOT HAVE A VIDEO CARD. Sorry for the caps, but this IS critical. This machine has what is called "Integrated Graphics" - that means it has a video chip (and a darned good one) but instead of using a video card with video circuitry AND a small bit of super high speed RAM dedicated to video performance, the current machine instead takes away some of your system's RAM to use for video. There is no question that any video related tasks benefit GREATLY from a powerful video card with dedicated RAM over integrated graphics. And this will become more pronounced in the years to come (see the Open CL section above again). Under Open CL, applications of the future will be able to use the power of the video card to speed up ALL tasks. This is a rather big deal. This 2.4GHz model that I'm selling has BOTH the integrated graphics chip (for saving power while on battery power AND a powerful NVIDIA 9600GT Video CARD for when you really need to flex your muscles.

      One other deficiency of the 2009 model is the lack of the AWESOME expansion port, the Express34 PC Card slot. Most importantly, this is the only way to connect eSATA external hard drives to a laptop. This is the fastest current technology for external drives and I have no doubt that we'll be seeing built-in eSATA slots in the near future. It's not just eSATA - this Express 34 slot is used to attach the very fastest external devices. This port used to be included on every Macbook Pro model - now, only the 17" model still has it. This was a real surprise to me. I though that certainly, this last upgrade of Macbook Pros would include built-in eSATA ports - instead, they added an SD (Secure Digital Memory Card) slot and REMOVED the Express34 slot - bad move Apple. What Pros use SD cards?

      The newer machines also have a new long lived battery. But the trade off is that it CAN'T be replaced, nor can you bring extra batteries out in the field for extra power. This new battery will benefit some, but annoy others.

Automatic Backup System

      One thing about working with clients as a mac tech that makes me pull my hair out is getting clients to have a working backup strategy in place. Almost every computer nightmare story one hears of these days starts with someone who did not have a backup in place and now regrets it. So with this auction, I've included a nice 500GB Western Digital mini pocket external drive that has already been configured to make use of Apple's new backup software, Time Machine but can also be used for a scratch disc or anything else at the same time. Click the link for full info, but I can tell you that Time Machine takes note of every file on your Mac EVERY HOUR. Start it up and you can view the state of your mac as it was an hour ago or day ago or even a month ago. If you accidentally threw out a file, just go back in time to a time before the blunder and retrieve it. You don't lift a finger, Time Machine is automatic. No matter how much data you pack onto the internal hard drive, a safe backup will always be at hand. Keep it plugged in as you work or at the end of the day, plug it into your mac and go to bed knowing that the days work is being protected as you sleep.

      This overall package has more power and storage than all but the very MOST demanding users would ever need. This package is LOADED right out of the box - you won't have to run out to the computer store to get this baby up and running the day it arrives.

Click below to view a short movie about Time Machine on YouTube

Random Notes:     • EVERYTHING I sell is shipped with insurance (NOT optional, but no extra cost to the buyer). You never know when a crazed forklift might decide impale the box.     • The Apple software is completely up to date (running Mac OS is 10.6.1) More than 1GB of downloaded upgrades have been done saving you many hours of setup time.     • I've had a rash of non paying bidders recently. I can not afford to have this auction close without a transaction. I will therefore insist that (0) rated bidders, bidders with histories of bid retractions, bidders bidding on multiple computer auctions simultaneously will have their bids cancelled unless they sent me a note with their good intentions at the same time. I will not hesitate to cancel any bid that I consider to possibly be suspicious.     • I recently had an auction cancelled because I listed the software installed on the machine in the auction - I will no longer list software installed on the machine...     • If you have an eBay account that is NOT U.S. based, you will not be able to bid regardless of your location - PERIOD. Pleas for exceptions will not receive a reply. I like to keep my auctions as simple as possible.     • WATCH out for scammers - if you get an email claiming to be from me with some super offer - that's not something I'm likely to do - contact me directly for verification. Also, be cautious of scamming Second Chance Offers - if you get one, again, contact me directly for verification.     • Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I respond promptly.     • If you won this auction, the best way to pay is to log into eBay, go to My eBay, find your list of auctions won and click on the Pay Now button associated with this auction. Due to scammers, it's unsafe to click a link that requests payment from WITHIN an email - it might send you to a site that looks like eBay or PayPal, but is not. If you can not pay by the following morning - CONTACT ME so I don't get nervous and offer it to someone else while ruining your credit rating (KIDDING! :-)

MacBook Pro Specifications (get full specifications here) Processor Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz System Bus Speed 1066MHz Memory 4.0GB Optical Drive Superdrive (DVD burner) Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive Video NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512 MB of GDDR3, NVIDIA 9400M using 256MB of System memory (to save battery power) Wi-Fi Airport Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) BlueTooth 2.1+EDR USB Ports 2 USB2 Ports Firewire Ports 1 Firewire 800 Port Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Built in Modem No Keyboard/Mouse Integrated Monitor 15.4" Condition Used - excellent!   Says, "Wow, Windows 7.... Snow Leopard has savaged you again." Says, "It's not even close: Snow Leopard is the better OS." Says, "Apple already had the best computer operating system in Leopard, and Snow Leopard makes it a little better."

All pictures are of the actual equipment for sale (except where noted) Sorry there are so many pictures, but for laptop auctions, I feel that AT THE VERY LEAST there should be good photos from every possible angle. An awesome computer setup for any home, office or dorm room Keyboard/trackpad/screen are all perfect this is a very nice Western Digital 'Elements' 500GB portable mini Hard Drive purchased new for this sale (WD stock pictures) Don't ask me why Apple didn't include eSATA in the latest model, or worse, why they removed the Express34 Slot from most Macbook Pros (only the 17" model still has one) but with this machine, you'll have both + the added bonus of an extra USB port!! You can plug in EITHER a USB device OR an eSATA device!!! You WILL find this handy! (stock photo) the only part that looks 'un-new' is the scratches on the top - I see this a lot - it only takes one trip in a briefcase and one misplaced pen to do this - but this is merely cosmetic damage. In no way does it inhibit the performance of this machine Lock slot, Superdrive Mag-Safe power connector, Ethernet (10/100/1000), Firewire 800, USB (x2), mini Display output, Digital/Analog Audio input, Digital/Analog Audio output / headphones, Express34 PC Slot, Battery indicator Battery is virtually new - see where it says, "Cycle Count: 17" that means it's only been charged up 17 times (300 count is the expected lifetime) Battery is still good as new / the WiFi card sees my wireless signal plus those of several of my neighbors I don't make the serial number public if the machine is still under warranty - shenanigans CAN be done with it Not just one, but TWO video systems - one to save battery power, the other to add muscle to your work