Goodbye macbook...

...and hello macbook pro! So some of you know that my country is notorious for ridiculous computer prices, so an opportunity appeared when a close friend told me she was going away to miami on december 19th until january 2nd: I went and put my macbook for sale at the 'bargain' price of $2100US; bargain by Venezuelan standards, where iPods cost as much as a low-end macbooks in the US, and low-end macbooks cost about $3500US here. Anyway, I didn't wanna rip anyone off (since I got mine from the US at normal price [$1299]) and felt like giving someone an early xmas present.

I put the auction up on a site similar to ebay, and sure enough, not 3 hours had passed when someone bought it. I will get the 2.2GHz mbp from amazon for $1959 before rebates, which my friend will receive and bring me here early next year. Now I have one little dilemma:

I can spend roughly $370 more, $180 is going toward this, the awesome black mamba pack from Booq, it's $145 plus shipping, it's not the suitcase I've gotten used to, but it will be more comfortable, and my work is pretty cool about that stuff. So I am wondering what to do with the rest of the money, which is about $190...

I can either get 2x2gb of ram for $99 (from amazon.com), and something else worth $90, or get a Western Digital MyBook 320GB hdd for backup purposes with time machine. I don't have an external hdd so this would be useful, but so far I've been backing up with dvd's and it's worked well for the more important stuff I need backed up.

Or I can buy something else entirely. Oh yeah, it has to be from amazon as it is one of the few places where I can buy something and ship it with different shipping and billing addresses.

Anyone?

 

Scared me there! Congrats on your new purchase, 00fez!

$190? Donate to me . Just kidding!

I'd say 2 GB of RAM is enough unless you're doing virtualization...an external hard drive is the better idea, if you ask me, especially with Time Machine. Also, have you considered maybe getting a good pair of earbuds/headphones?

 

Hey you gave me a good idea sam, maybe I will just spend on the booq bag and ram, and save the rest. We could have like a christmas contest or draw or something, where the winner would receive leopard for free. I would buy it from amazon and ship it to the person's address. Shipping is free to the US with amazon, so if if someone wins outside of the US then they would have to pay for shipping on their own. If anyone has another idea let me know! Or if you think I should spend it on myself let me know too. lol

 

I'd get the MyBook. However, it shouldn't cost a full 180...I doubt it would even break the $100 mark. I think you should be able to get the MyBook and the RAM together for well under $200.....I bought my 250GB MyBook last November (as in 2006) for $70, so yea....

 

Ah yes, this is the newer version I think, it's 320GB, and has eSATA, USB 2.0, Firewire 400/800, and includes all the cables. Costs $177 I think.

 

Oh, the premium edition whatnot, ok. I bought the standard model (Essentials, I think they called it) I guess the Firewire will make a difference for you, but eSata needs more computer support to be useful, really. Thus far I've only seen it on a select few Asus models (but not mine)...

 

hey congrats on the mbp! youre going to love it

 

I think you can get an expresscard adapter for the mbp, I think I've seen it somewhere for $70, but not quite sure, but yeah I would mostly use FW800 for now.

Thanks man! I can't wait!

 

If it has esata, if youre looking for speedy access to your data (like with working with videos, copying big files, or loading games) id say you should use esata if the mybook comes with it.

I got an eSata 2 port express card, and it definitely increases the speed over usb. You basically get however fast the internal hdd can work at.

As for other things you could get a usb hub, im sure theyre pretty cheap on amazon and it might come in handy (if anything youd only have to plug in one plug, instead of two)

But congrats! that might be a really good business you could setup there ;p bring in apples, and sell them at almost 2x the price locally!

and just a side note, your next post will be the 500th >_>

 

I'm not particularly interested in eSATA at the moment, FW800 is fast enough for me, not to mention that I'm getting a evdo rev.A expresscard thinger, so that slot will be used up by that at all times, I don't want the hassle of having to switch back and forth.

A usb hub would be a good idea, except I don't have that many usb devices at home. Right now I only have an iPod shuffle (soon iPod touch), and that's it basically. My phone connects with bluetooth, and when I game I plan to use a keyboard and mouse, but I don't connect the shuffle all the time, so no rush on getting a hub right now.

And yeah I could sell mac stuff here at bargain prices and make a killing, except the government regulates the dollars you can spend yearly. Each person can only spend $5000 abroad and $3000 on the internet. Once you spend that, you can't do squat if you wanna buy something outside the country, so that's what prevents most people from doing the business. Of course there are ways around it, but not worth my trouble really, I make enough money doing the work I do, and I prefer to save those dollars to get my own crap. Of course it's the endof the year so that's why I sold my macbook and am spending the $2400 I have left for internet purchases.

500th post! w00t

 

OMG! i am so gona buy a whole bunch of MB's here and then sell them there.

 

Haha, Australia would work too...Apple products are really expensive in Australia, for some reason.

 

Turkey does not even have the Macbook Pro and the prices for macbooks there can buy you a MBP here!

 

Well I ordered the 2.2 mbp yesterday from amazon, should be shipping today Now I just have to buy the booq bag, and I'll be set. I don't think I'm gonna get anything else, since I got a new cell phone here (nokia e50), I'll just wait until april when my father goes away and get him to bring me 4GB of ram, and an external hard drive.

These are going to be the longest two weeks of my life.

 

Haha, tell us how it goes, 00fez!

 

what site did you sell it on? im going to peru next summer and i want to sell both my mbp and my wifes mb. I think i can sell it for atleast what i paid here, and then come home and buy the newest one. I'm just worried there wont be alot of interest in mACS in peru, since they really arent common

 

The site I sold it on is called mercadolibre.com.ve, the peruvian site is mercadolibre.com.pe, I'm not sure how the prices go in peru. I don't think you will have to worry about mac interest in peru. Go to that site, check the auctions by typing macbook or something in the search field, which should be labeled 'buscar' or 'busqueda', and compare overall prices, use sites like xe.com for exchange rates.

If you need any help with the setup and translation, don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Holy friggin' crap! If I ever go to Venezuela I'm definitely going to stock up on Apple products! It sounds like it could pay for the trip and then some. (And maybe I'll carry some petroleum back to the States, LOL.)

 

$3828 for the Macbook pro I have in my sig here in Romania!

Anyways, fez? It's today? How did it go? Also, pants!

 

What's today? I bought the laptop on wednesday, it shipped yesterday, so it should be at my friend's apartment by monday, and she will bring it back to me, along with whatever bag I chose, on january 2nd.

 

Ahaha just make sure u dont get caught cuz im pretty sure u dont wanna stay in an Venezuelan prison lol =)