Well guys, I pulled the trigger this afternoon. I had decided to hold off, because of the $1K deductible for the car damage, but. . . Last Monday, one of my students, who's a doctor, came in and asked me if I had gotten the car back yet, and I told her that I had, and was happy with the work, but that I had put the search for a new Mac on hold. . . Man, she lit up like a candle and said, "Now I know what I can get you for Christmas! I've been going to medical "educational updates" for the last 4 years, and they're really expensive, but each year they give us a $1,000 Apple gift card to help alleviate the pain. At this point, I have a Macbook, an iPhone and and iPad, and there's nothing else I want from them, so the last card I got has been sitting on my counter for 4 months; I'll bring it in for you next week!" And she did! So, I just finished ordering a 15" Macbook pro with the retina screen, 16 gig of ram, and a 768 gig flash drive, for about $1,500, which I'm picking up at the Mall on the 9th!
I wanted to thank you guys for your input, and I decided to go ahead and get a "refurb", since the warranty is the same for both new & refurbs, and because several of you, over the years, have vouched for these machines.
But, as to the topic title, I have the feeling that I'm going to be picking your brains over the following few weeks. . .