I need some advice on buying my first Mac. I'm a more than competent PC professional, but I've little exposure to Macs. On the advice of my company's CTO who is a "Mac guy" I'm looking at a new or refurbed February 2011 MacBook Pro 13" 2.7GHz dual core i7 base model. I'm going to upgrade the RAM and HDD myself to 8GB and a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD.
Questions:
1) Will this configuration last me at least 2 years without much of a hit to performance?
2) Am I better off waiting to see if there is a MacBook refresh at the end of the month when they are supposedly refreshing the MB Airs?
3) Should I just get a refreshed MBA at the end of the month if they don't refresh the MB?
4) Should I wait for Lion to release before buying?
5) What are my realistic gaming (Steam) expectations for performance (I'm a casual gamer)?
6) Does anyone have first-hand experience with and thoughts on the OWC Data Doubler?
7) Running Windows 7 on it; what are my options for running both OS X and Win7 other than Boot Camp?
Thanks all in advance.
Questions:
1) Will this configuration last me at least 2 years without much of a hit to performance?
2) Am I better off waiting to see if there is a MacBook refresh at the end of the month when they are supposedly refreshing the MB Airs?
3) Should I just get a refreshed MBA at the end of the month if they don't refresh the MB?
4) Should I wait for Lion to release before buying?
5) What are my realistic gaming (Steam) expectations for performance (I'm a casual gamer)?
6) Does anyone have first-hand experience with and thoughts on the OWC Data Doubler?
7) Running Windows 7 on it; what are my options for running both OS X and Win7 other than Boot Camp?
Thanks all in advance.