“Support My Friends” Saturday, part 1: Buy Nic’s MacBook ($600)

Click the photo to see Nic’s Craigslist ad.

Once in a while, I like to use the reach of my blog to help out my friends. This is one of those times.

In cities with decent-sized populations, Craigslist is popular, which is good news and bad news for sellers. The good news is obvious; the bad news is that their wares are lost in a sea of everyone else’ offerings. My friend Nic, whom I met over a decade ago at a little local drinking-and-mischief club called The Thirsty People of Toronto, is selling his MacBook, and I thought I’d help him move it.

It’s 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo 13-inch “unibody aluminum” MacBook, with 8GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. This is the model with the replaceable battery. It currently has OS X 10.5.6, and I believe — based on my experience with an iMac with a slower processor, less RAM and from the same era — that it will run the latest OS X (version 10.9, known as “Mavericks”) quite well.

For those of you who want more specs:

• Processor and bus details: 45 nm “Penryn” 2.4 GHz Intel “Core 2 Duo” processor (P8600), with two independent processor “cores” on a single silicon chip, a 3 MB shared “on chip” level 2 cache, 1066 MHz frontside bus.
• RAM details: 8 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500) installed in pairs (two 4 GB modules). This is the maximum that can be installed on this model.
• Hard drive: 250 GB Serial ATA (5400 RPM) hard drive.
• Optical drive: 8X DL “SuperDrive”, which reads and writes CDs and DVDs.
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory.
• Display: LED-backlit 13.3″ widescreen TFT active-matrix “glossy” display (1280×800 native resolution).
• Webcam: Integrated iSight camera.
• Networking: Loads!
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n)
  • Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • USB 2.0 ports (2 of ’em)
  • Optical digital/analog audio in/out
  • Mini DisplayPort supporting an external display at 2560 * 1600

Apple’s internal reference for this machine is “Macbook 5,1”, and you can see its factory specs here.

What can you do with such a machine? A fair bit, actually. Yes, it’ll do the web browsing, word processing, spreadsheeting, and presentations, but I’ve been using an older, slower, less-RAM-outfitted iMac to do graphics work and iPhone development. If you’re a web or mobile developer or designer on a budget, you should consider this machine, especially given what Nic’s asking for it:

$600. That’s right: $600.

Nic says it’s in impeccable condition, nice an clean, and has been used in a non-smoking environment.

Check out his ad, and then buy it from him!