To sum it up in one simple sentence, I’ve sold my Mac Pro and am making the move to a much more mobile setup.
A few weeks back I was approached by a company which I can’t reveal just yet about a sponsorship deal for a MacBook Pro. As I’ve been on-the-go and traveling a lot recently, I’ve developed the need for an Apple portable machine once again.
I was all set to purchase the MacBook Pro as an addition to my main office setup comprising of the Mac Pro, when I stumbled across an auction for a Power Mac Quad on TradeMe – a New Zealand specific eBay like site.
The Power Mac Quad had just sold for an obscene amount of money in my eyes, over $4,500 USD. I was absolutely stunned at the willingness people has to pay top dollar for a machine running on the PPC architecture.
Right then and there, I made an impulse decision for a bit of fun to list my Mac Pro for sale with a reserve price $500 higher than it would cost for me to build the whole setup again. The auction outreached its reserve of $5,800 NZD reaching $7,300 NZD ($5,600 USD) in the last few minutes of bidding.
Effectively, I was paid over $1,500 USD to use a state of the art Mac Pro for 5 months. Not a bad deal in my eyes.
The plan was to replace it with a brand new Mac Pro when Apple started to include the new Intel Penryn 45nm processors in the machine, but I’ve decided to take another path..
Intel To Intel
I’ve ordered a MacBook Pro which is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. The extra RAM (4GB) from OWC will be here later next week.
MacBook Pro 15.4″. 2.4Ghz. 4GB RAM. 160GB 5400RPM HDD.
I would have liked to purchase with the new 2.6Ghz Core 2 Duo processor and the 250GB 5400RPM HDD, though it would have delayed proceedings by 2-3 weeks.
I think I will find myself constantly swapping out this MacBook Pro for newer models as Intel in partnership with Apple make the move toward Quad Core notebooks in late 2008.
My setup will now comprise of the MacBook Pro, a 30″ Apple Cinema Display, and additionally, a large chunk of money has been placed into long term savings. Can anyone recommend a good 1TB external HDD, I’m in the market for one now.
For some strange reason I’m overwhelmed with a sense of freedom, something I haven’t experienced in a very, very long time.