On OSX
It's *nix Done Right. It's got the pretty interface and Everything Just Works. But if you need/want it, there's the Terminal application that allows you full command-line access a la the Unices.
-Mike (who's obviously not going to dissuade you from that previous generation MBP... ;-)
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania