Need a stopgap machine in the next week; want a Mac - recommendations anyone

[Pandamonium]

Cliffs:
- Need a new machine that runs OS X stably in the next week or two
- Use it mainly as a desktop
- Planning on getting the rMBP refresh this fall anyway, unless its abysmal
- Would prefer to not overspend for what is sure to be a stopgap machine
- Not too excited to void warrantees to get a SSD into a Mac Mini, but would do it after the warranty period
- Recommendations?

Details:
I still dabble in PC a bit, but my daily machine for the past 2 yrs or so has been my wife's old 2008 Macbook 13" Aluminum unibody (before they renamed it a MBP). I use it as a desktop though- the lid is always closed. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's on its last legs (random restarts, but especially when it's taxed hard enough to get pretty hot). So I need another machine ASAP.

99% of my usage is as a desktop, but for that 1% of the time I'm on the road, I really need to have access to my typical workspace. I can borrow the wife's rMBP, but she wouldn't be super happy.

What I really want is a rMBP 13" with TB3 to an external GPU docking station that can drive a 5k retina display. Clearly that doesn't exist. It sounds like TB3 is a given in this summer/fall's refresh, and maybe I can cobble together a hot-swappable eGPU in the future.

Alternatively, I would like a 27" 5k with TB3 and an easily swappable VESA mount, but that also doesn't exist. (My current LCD is on a VESA arm, and I couldn't go back)

So as a stopgap, I'm stuck. I don't want to spend more than necessary, but I want OS X. A NUC hackintosh is about $580. A miniITX hackintosh is about $600. Are these builds stable enough for work? If not, then I'm looking at a Mac Mini. I would want to buy one that I could repurpose later. So I'd want 16GB of RAM and ideally a PCIe SSD. Those options push me into the $1400-territory. A refurb 8GB/1TB Fusion would give me the option to upgrade to a PCIe SSD later for $850 if I can get over the 8GB RAM thing. Or a new 16GB/mechanical HD would allow me to upgrade to a 2.5" SSD later for $900.

 

[Commodus]

One alternative might be a refurb MacBook Air from the past generation or two, although that depends on how much storage you need and whether or not you can find one with 8GB of RAM.

If you're sure you won't need a laptop, the 8GB/Fusion Mac mini refurb sounds best. The SSD will help overcome the RAM bottleneck, and that should be enough until the fall.

 

[Tyranicus]

Before you buy a stopgap, if you haven't already tried this, I'd recommend taking the bottom panel off the MacBook, and spraying the fans and vents with compressed air. It may simply be overheating because of a buildup of dust.

 

[DigDog]

it's like you're saying, i want half of two things neither which exists.

hackintosh builds are as stable as any x86 build, once the install is done (correctly) it will behave as a mac would .. which is easier said than done. look at tonymac's website and see if they have a gold build that fits you, because installing OSX on a custom build is not something you want to go at alone, in my first-person experience. You need to fight with a ton of boot flags, get one wrong and the install fails.

and they do not come with retina display - you need a mac for that. a real, expensive mac.

if you want a mac, why not just buy a mac? a real one, regardless of the cost? the days when you would get abysmal hardware are gone, just do your own RAM upgrade. think of it as buying a WinPC from Dell, with the OSX option added on.

 

[Pandamonium]

No luck on the MBA. Low ram configs are a killer for me - I have to run a few instances of citrix through a VPN to get anything done. It's been barely tolerable on the system I've been using recently.

Tried cleaning it out with compressed air (usually do that about 1x/yr anyway, but it forced my hand when the battery finally got swollen). No luck there either.

I am definitely wanting half of two non-existing product lines. The main reason I'm entertaining an idea of a hackintosh is that the entire product line is outdated, and a refresh (had better be) imminent. Like I said before, my expectation is that I'll be buying the next 13" rMBP.

The problem is that as of last week, I don't consider my machine to be stable enough to work on. Too much lost productivity. I suppose there's still a small chance for an announcement at WWDC tomorrow, but I will need to buy something unless Apple has found a way to launch a refreshed rMBP 13 within the next two weeks (and even then, it'll be a rough two weeks).

 

[TheStu]

Used 2012 Mac Mini. CPUs haven't improved SO much in the past 3-4 years that you'd notice a huge difference, and it can actually have its RAM upgraded.

 

[paperwastage]

take MBA to the apple store and see if they'll look at your laptop for free to troubleshoot issue?

maybe your machine has an affected GPU that's covered by warranty exchange (unlikely though)

 

[manly]

Before you buy a stopgap, if you haven't already tried this, I'd recommend taking the bottom panel off the MacBook, and spraying the fans and vents with compressed air. It may simply be overheating because of a buildup of dust.

I had this problem, and didn't even know it. Was blaming Lion a lot because Snow Leopard used to be rock-solid years back.

One of my internal fans made gnarly noises. When swapping it out, it was pretty crazy how much dust was clogged up in there.

However, I would say don't use compressed air cans. Borrow an air compressor if you can, they are a lot more powerful than canned air. Even a small air compressor will be a lot better than canned air.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Other idea is to buy a used MBP. My 2011 15" quad core i7 MBP is still going strong (albeit after 2 mobo replacements due to GPU de-soldering, on Apple's dime). You can find models similar to mine on Craigslist all day around $600. Easy upgrade to 16GB of RAM and whatever SSD you want. Even the 13" models go up to 8GB.

Pre-Retina MBP's are just as upgradeable as the Mac Mini's and still quite affordable.

 

[KeithP]

Cliffs:
- Not too excited to void warrantees to get a SSD into a Mac Mini, but would do it after the warranty period

FYI, installing a SSD in a Mac Mini doesn't automatically void the warranty. The upgrade would have to be directly responsible for whatever you are trying to get warranty service on for the warranty to be void.

-KeithP