Sooo... a few months ago I contacted you guys because I wanted to know whether it was wise to get this:

I'm getting a Macbook

1.Refurbished Macbook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Aluminum

Upgrades:

1. OWC 4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz DIMM Upgrade Kit
2. Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive - OEM
3. acomdata HDEXXUP-240 2.5" Black USB 2.0 Enclosure Kit - Retail (Making the most out of 160GB)

Total (tax+ship incl.) $1143.12

Am I the best at mac bargains, or am I the best at mac bargains?

Wow, looks great.

Good job on the sata plus the enclosure. Most people wouldn't do that.

What does the enclosure do? It just seems to me as though it would keep more heat in.

I think I should change that one. It looks like it doesn't have a fan, or any ventilation.

Yeah, I'll change that option.

I have an IDE hard drive and an aluminum enclosure, it doesn't get hot at all.

But what's the point of the enclosure in the first place?

I plug a sata connector into the hard drive, and then through a USB wire, I connect it to a USB port on my computer to use as an external hard drive.

He plugs in the SATA HDD into the enclosure so that he can use it on the go instead of plugging it into a tower.

I did that with my old laptop's HDD and now I use it as an external drive.

It's a lot cheaper because companies charge more for external drives than internal.

Okay... you can still do that open air though, i've done it on occasion. It's your choice.

I don't think anyone wants to carry a fragile hard drive naked from class to class...

And you wouldn't be able to plug it in USB...

He's using it as an external drive because the Macbook doesn't have a big enough drive...

Silicone covers ARE available... as are cheap external enclosures.

Well, all I know is that I bought an aluminum case for mine that had an IDE to USB dongle for only 10 bucks.

I have a USB Gadget thing that just lets you plug it into the power, SATA/IDE ports etc and view it from there, i've only used it so for for salvaging stuff from HDDs of dead laptops, but i'm sure it's the same principle.

I'm going to put the 500GB in my mac, but then I'll have a useless 160GB HDD.

Hence the enclosure.

I would just use it as back up, until you run out of space. That won't be for a while though, so i wouldn't worry about it now.

Or he could use it for Time Machine, much more worth it

...what are you talking about now?

Incredibly awesome backup system.

Oh right, i thought something was amiss, how could you turn a hard drive into a time machine

Besides, what happened to Macs being so stable and free from Viruses. Besides, System Restore on Vista does exactly the same thing and that works fine for me, not that i've ever had to use it mind you.

Trust me, it comes in handy being able to scroll through different versions of your computer, as it was every hour (I'm basically the IT guy for the office my mothers works at, and I've used it many many times).

Should I wait for the next MBP 13.3 to come out on the refurb market before I buy?

If you're willing to wait 2+ months for a SD card slot and slightly better specs (I guess it will be cheaper though)

I'm guessing $1099