Many thanks to everyone for their input. Much appreciated. Seems like the 600 is the better choice, and MacResQ and SmallDog versus eBay. So, hopefully sooner than later I'll join the fray. Thanks again - cheers, -tobias. PS: Not having used X _at all_: what are this lists feelings about starting out with two OS-partitions, one for 9 and one for X (plus one for data)?