Good place to start with OSX

[SammyGoad]

Now that my PC can basically do all the things I want it to, I want to try out Apple's Operating system. I really like the idea of a powerful desktop for gaming and a very sleek, minimalist, and "walled garden" experience for writing and business applications. To that end, I've found a 15" Macbook Pro i5 for $300. I believe it has a dual core 520 that boosts to 3.1, 8gb ddr3, and 500 hdd. Honestly, the only thing I want to replace is the HDD and maybe battery and I think this device will be able to navigate the OS very smoothly. Since I've heard many people say that newer Macbook Pros are just thinner, slightly more powerful, do you think I made a wise choice?

[MrMarriarty]

8 minutes ago, SammyGoad said:

Now that my PC can basically do all the things I want it to, I want to try out Apple's Operating system. I really like the idea of a powerful desktop for gaming and a very sleek, minimalist, and "walled garden" experience for writing and business applications. To that end, I've found a 15" Macbook Pro i5 for $300. I believe it has a dual core 520 that boosts to 3.1, 8gb ddr3, and 500 hdd. Honestly, the only thing I want to replace is the HDD and maybe battery and I think this device will be able to navigate the OS very smoothly. Since I've heard many people say that newer Macbook Pros are just thinner, slightly more powerful, do you think I made a wise choice?

why not run in a VM to see if you like it before getting one? VMBox and HyperV if your a pro user

[AresKrieger]

Newer mac are in essence the same but with slightly better processors thinner but with less ports so buying an old one for cheap is a better idea

 

However I'd just vm it personally since it costs nothing

[kirashi]

VM-ing it is a good way to test out OSX. Just be sure you're running the VM on the MacBook Pro or another piece of Apple Hardware for legal reasons.

[Drak3]

I'd get it. I've had a Mac Mini for a short while, and OSX is fairly zippy on hardware that Windows or Ubuntu would be a tad sluggish on.

[BingoFishy]

15 minutes ago, kirashi said:

VM-ing it is a good way to test out OSX. Just be sure you're running the VM on the MacBook Pro or another piece of Apple Hardware for legal reasons.

Uhh... if he's running the VM on a MacBook, then what's the point? 

 

To OP: Don't worry about legal stuff. Apple doesn't care.

[kirashi]

5 minutes ago, BingoFishy said:

Uhh... if he's running the VM on a MacBook, then what's the point? 

 

To OP: Don't worry about legal stuff. Apple doesn't care.

Talking about running OSX on non-Apple hardware is against the Forum CoC, that's all. What you do in your own time offline is totally up to you though, so run all the OS's on all the VM's on any hardware you like.  Just keep it a secret.

[Drak3]

I would like to point out that OSX VM ideas aren't a full proof way to test out OSX, here's why:

 

Some versions of OSX have EULAs that constitute VM installations as hackintoshing, even within OSX on Apple hardware

OSX doesn't always play nicely with VM software.

You need to have access to something with OSX to get OSX, and taking a thumb drive to an Apple store is a good bit more risky than just spending $300 on a laptop that is still performing where $600 laptops today are at, if we're being generous to today's laptops.

1 minute ago, kirashi said:

Talking about running OSX on non-Apple hardware is against the Forum CoC, that's all. What you do in your own time offline is totally up to you though, so run all the OS's on all the VM's on any hardware you like.  Just keep it a secret.

Technically, talking about hackintoshes in detail and anything that can be perceived as helping one set them up or maintain them is against CoC. We're free to discuss if we have them.

[SammyGoad]

2 hours ago, kirashi said:

Talking about running OSX on non-Apple hardware is against the Forum CoC, that's all. What you do in your own time offline is totally up to you though, so run all the OS's on all the VM's on any hardware you like.  Just keep it a secret.

I'm really not interested in emulation or anything like that, if I want Windows, I'll just use Bootcamp, I want this Mac for convenience purposes as a high build quality, low software maintenance machine!  

[JakeNTech]

I guess its down to how much you want to spend. If you want a laptop or another computer then go ahead, if you don't I would find another HDD/SSD and head over to the tonymacx86 website.

[mrchow19910319]

Are you trying to get a new macbook? If you are, just get yourself a new laptop.

 

Or you just want an entry level mac to get used to macOS. If this is what you are meant to do, then I recommend one of this 2 option: 

1. Get a 2012 mac mini. A one that you can open up easily and install a SSD in it. 
2. Get a 2012 macbook pro. Same, when you have it open it up and install a SSD in it. 

I remembered the 1st time I used a mac I hated it. lol. 

Fast forward a few years, once I stopped gaming, I started to use macOS more frequently. 

And now I am a full time mac user. 

 

[79wjd]

23 hours ago, AresKrieger said:

Newer mac are in essence the same but with slightly better processors thinner but with less ports so buying an old one for cheap is a better idea

An i5-7360u is quite a bit faster than an i5-520. Year-to-year they don't see massive performance gains as Intel hasn't been offering large improvements, however the aggregate of Intel's minor IPC bumps over many generations has lead to a sizable performance delta. And that's just the CPU side of things, the display is also significantly better (going from 1280x800 to 2560x1600) and with much more vivid and accurate colors. As is the GPU -- Iris Plus 640 is significantly faster than HD3000.

[SammyGoad]

2 hours ago, mrchow19910319 said:

Are you trying to get a new macbook? If you are, just get yourself a new laptop.

 

Or you just want an entry level mac to get used to macOS. If this is what you are meant to do, then I recommend one of this 2 option: 

1. Get a 2012 mac mini. A one that you can open up easily and install a SSD in it. 
2. Get a 2012 macbook pro. Same, when you have it open it up and install a SSD in it. 

I remembered the 1st time I used a mac I hated it. lol. 

Fast forward a few years, once I stopped gaming, I started to use macOS more frequently. 

And now I am a full time mac user. 

 

I went for the 2010, only difference is i5 2520m v 520m, which I don't think will be a huge dealbreaker for performance with slightly higher L2 cache and 100mhz bump. I got a great deal on it for $300.

[79wjd]

16 minutes ago, SammyGoad said:

I went for the 2010, only difference is i5 2520m v 520m, which I don't think will be a huge dealbreaker for performance with slightly higher L2 cache and 100mhz bump. I got a great deal on it for $300.

The frequency bump is irrelevant, however, the 2520 is decently faster as Sandy Bridge had a pretty nice IPC bump.

[SammyGoad]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

The frequency bump is irrelevant, however, the 2520 is decently faster as Sandy Bridge had a pretty nice IPC bump.

I had a Lenovo Laptop with the same processor(520m) and before some punk who is now in jail stole it, it did every thing I could ask of a laptop including streaming 4k video and steam streaming service. 

[mrchow19910319]

3 hours ago, SammyGoad said:

I went for the 2010, only difference is i5 2520m v 520m, which I don't think will be a huge dealbreaker for performance with slightly higher L2 cache and 100mhz bump. I got a great deal on it for $300.

I was afraid that the 2010s won't get as many update as the 2012 ones.