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Moving to the dark side-getting a 15" rmbp tomorrow!

S

sochahca

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 4, 2013
6
0
I have been considering moving to Mac for my next laptop purchase for a few months now. Used to be a Mac hater *hangs head* but there is no denying that it is the best quality and will probably last me far longer than other laptops (which is my goal). Found a Mid 2012 15" rMBP 2.6 ghz 16gb ram 256 ssd for $1900 on Craigslist!

I already checked out the serial number and everything looks good, it was purchased around last December, so I still have about 9 months to do Applecare- my wallet will need to wait. It is more than I need as far as RAM but I plan on having this thing for 6-7 years. I own a graphic design business selling pretty things on Etsy, so there will be heavy Adobe use.

Here is the bad thing: I have never used a Mac computer so I will definitely look like an idiot trying to figure out how to check this thing over. Yes, I played with one for 20 minutes at the store and marveled at how amazing it was, but as far as how to get around in Mountain Lion and understand Macs in general... I will need a couple of weeks.

I plan on checking the battery cycle count, matching the original box serial number to the one on the computer itself, about this mac, and just generally fiddling with it and checking the screen for dead pixels. At least it is covered under warranty for another 8 months, so that is good. We are meeting at a Mac store, so I was wondering....Is there a special test or thing I need to look at other than the items above to just make sure it is ok? Will the apple salespeople be willing to check it out for me as well? Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
Here are some additional suggestions:

  • Run the Apple Hardware Test (AHT) on the MacBook (hold down D while hitting the power button)
  • Upload a set of solid pattern images onto cloud storage like Dropbox so you can view them on the MacBook to check for dead pixels (maybe upload a good IR test image as well, see below)
  • Run the Terminal command to determine what brand display you'll be getting and/or check for IR straight away:
    ioreg -lw0 | grep \"EDID\" | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6
Good luck!
 
sochahca said:
I have been considering moving to Mac for my next laptop purchase for a few months now. Used to be a Mac hater *hangs head* but there is no denying that it is the best quality and will probably last me far longer than other laptops (which is my goal). Found a Mid 2012 15" rMBP 2.6 ghz 16gb ram 256 ssd for $1900 on Craigslist!

I already checked out the serial number and everything looks good, it was purchased around last December, so I still have about 9 months to do Applecare- my wallet will need to wait. It is more than I need as far as RAM but I plan on having this thing for 6-7 years. I own a graphic design business selling pretty things on Etsy, so there will be heavy Adobe use.

Here is the bad thing: I have never used a Mac computer so I will definitely look like an idiot trying to figure out how to check this thing over. Yes, I played with one for 20 minutes at the store and marveled at how amazing it was, but as far as how to get around in Mountain Lion and understand Macs in general... I will need a couple of weeks.

I plan on checking the battery cycle count, matching the original box serial number to the one on the computer itself, about this mac, and just generally fiddling with it and checking the screen for dead pixels. At least it is covered under warranty for another 8 months, so that is good. We are meeting at a Mac store, so I was wondering....Is there a special test or thing I need to look at other than the items above to just make sure it is ok? Will the apple salespeople be willing to check it out for me as well? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Prediction...You will have the OS software down in two to three days. OS is made so a child can figure it out. And of course there will always be a few things that you have questions about, just google it. OR...Make a appointment at the Genius Bar and they will be happy to walk you thru it...FOR THE LIFE OF THE PRODUCT. I once didn't know how to work with iMovie, I made a appointment and the guy spent a hour with me and made a movie with me. All for free. Enjoy your new Mac. I think you'll love it. If you have a iPhone or iPad you'll love the synergy of the iCloud ecosystem
 
I hate my rMBP...

It's so amazing I always want to touch it, kiss it, hold it and its ruined my life.

jk. Love mine.
 
Thanks all... nice tip about the hardware test. And Orlando, I am cracking up at your comment.


I think most of all I am terrified that the kid will have someone reply tonight and offer what he was asking for the thing (he came down 100 for me) and then there goes my precious.
 
I was just like you. PC guy my whole life. Owned iphones and ipads but never bought into a mac or its OS. But once my vaio desktop took a dump it was time to expand my horizons and purchased a mbpr....lets just say its probably one of the best purchases i have ever made. This thing is quality and the screen/performace is amazing.

Dont know what took me so long but im glad i waited cuz this computer met and exceeded all my expectations.
 
Windows is the dark side. :) When I first made the switch over to Mac, I was ecstatic, pleasantly surprised at how everything just works. Congrats on your soon-to-be purchase. I'm sure the Apple people won't mind helping you out. Good luck!
 
The dark side for a Windows fan is Apple, and for Mac geeks it is PC :p
 
JWorld127 said:
I was just like you. PC guy my whole life. Owned iphones and ipads but never bought into a mac or its OS. But once my vaio desktop took a dump it was time to expand my horizons and purchased a mbpr....lets just say its probably one of the best purchases i have ever made. This thing is quality and the screen/performace is amazing.

Dont know what took me so long but im glad i waited cuz this computer met and exceeded all my expectations.
Click to expand...

Same here.Now i hate using my Win7 laptop.
 
6 months in and i love osx, id hate to have to go back to windows permanently now. i have bootcamp on my mbp for cad and when i use it i cant wait to get back to osx
 
Alright, so I got the laptop... drove into Chicago to get it which was only an hour and 15 but a PAIN! But we met at the Apple store, I checked everything out and other than a little bit dirty (cmon dude wipe the screen off and dust the keyboard off if you are trying to sell this thing) everything looked good-clean hardware test, speakers, usb, serial numbers, etc etc. Now is the time to figure out everything, load stuff on and get Photoshop on here.

The screen is....... dum dum duuummmmmm LG. Honestly unless I see IR I am not gonna care one bit, and even then, this thing is still under warranty anyways. The battery count is 73, but this was a college student so I understand that he most likely brought this to class and on campus a lot. Understandable. Overall, for a 16 gb ram, 2.6 ghz that was purchased 3.5 months ago brand new, 1900 was a steal. I pulled the trigger on a 13 inch i7 for 1750 at B&H a couple of weeks ago and got nervous and canceled before they shipped.... SO glad I did!

Thanks for the encouragement and the help with the extra tests. I will definitely be lurking on these forums now a bit more! :)))))
 
I was kinda in the same boat. Been a windows guy all my life but picked up a MBA about 6 months ago and loved it. I liked it so much I bought a 15in rMBP at BestBuy last week for $1280.00. It was a display model but it was perfect. It's definitely the best computer I've ever owned.
 
Man, $1280! That is great-nice find! The lowest of the 2.3 ghz 8gb RAM model I was able to find was 1500 so you did really well... For an extra 400 dollars, I figured why not go for the mac daddy? It is really fun to buy from people that just bought this for almost 3k just a few months ago and take it off of their hands for 800 less because they have to have the nnewwweesssttt and beessssttttt.
 
I'm pretty happy with the price. It's not something I expected to get. It was marked down at $1725.00 but the "Apple Manager" gave me another 35% or 40% off. Apparently they have a lot of leeway with display models. I thought about ebaying it for a second but...nah :). I heard about these deals on slick deals.

I went back the next day to see if they had any 13 inch rMBP's that were display models but they had already sold them.
 
tanyet said:
I'm pretty happy with the price. It's not something I expected to get. It was marked down at $1725.00 but the "Apple Manager" gave me another 35% or 40% off. Apparently they have a lot of leeway with display models. I thought about ebaying it for a second but...nah :). I heard about these deals on slick deals.

I went back the next day to see if they had any 13 inch rMBP's that were display models but they had already sold them.
Click to expand...

Awsome price! LG or Samsung?
 
If i were you i would make sure find my mac is off after you buy it. not saying it will happen but he could remote lock / wipe it after he sold it to you if find my mac is active. this can be really bad if there is as mentioned below a firmware password on it.

make sure there is no firmware password on it otherwise you wont be able to reinstall anything on it and if the person locks it since your not the original owner apple will not unlock it for you.
 
Congrats on the rMBP purchase...you won't be sorry. It's by far the best machine I've ever owned and the screen is light years beyond anything else out there. And OSX is simple to learn for all the basic stuff you'll probably ever need. Keep in mind OSX is also very powerful and feature rich for advanced users that are familiar with UNIX.

As far as the LG panel, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Mine shipped with an LG and was perfect for about 3 or 4 months after which it developed some IR. Apple replaced it without any hesitation or question, just as they will if yours develops the IR problem. It's a "known" problem and it wouldn't surprise me if Apple replaces the LG panels even after the warranty is expired.

Have fun with it - it's a great machine...
 
Wow, thanks for mentioning that acorn. He completely wiped the computer, so can find my mac still work? I started from the very first screen and signed up with a new computer name, etc. He also said that he didn't have a firmware password, but how do I go about checking whether there is one or not just to be sure? Thanks!
 
Nope, if it was wiped, you're fine. It's your job now to apply passwords, etc.

Congrats on the purchase. After starting on Apple in the early 80s...I switched to Windows for the better part of two decades...switched back to Mac in 2005 and haven't looked back. The rMBP is easily the best Mac purchase I've made...and we've bought many of them:)

J
 
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