James Alexander Tales from the Whitespace

Tech Specs
Model: MC373LL/A
CPU: Core i7 2.66 GHZ
RAM: 4 GB (max 8GB)
Hard Drive: 500 GB SATA 5400 RPM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 512MB memory
Screen: 15" Hi-res (1680x1050) screen with the anti-glare (Matte) finish.

The cost before tax (which Apple does charge) was $2,349.00.
After I bought $130 for 8 GB of Ram (2 x 4GB SO-DIMMS) my total cost was $2,479. (if you don't include the time it took me to install the RAM)

Hopefully this blog post will serve as a nice "look-back" post to see how far we will have come in 5 years when this brand new laptop right now will be antiquated and "quaint". For now though, I've got a lot to learn about Mac to start to be as productive on Mac as I was on Windows.

Why Mac? Certainly not due to all of their marketing materials, which are ridiculous. Here are some of my reasons for choosing a Macbook Pro:

1. I have no mobile development device. Just my net book, whose screen size is so small, it is barely enough to read items in my Google reader, let alone develop.
2. My main desktop is having intermittent power problems that I have been unable to diagnose. The laptop will serve as an alternate / debugging machine for my desktop.
3. Desire to learn the Mac OS environment
4. Ability to develop for any platform (iPhone, Windows, Mac, etc.) from a mac laptop