Late 2008 13" MacBook Unibody...Modern Enough For Newb?

I am wanting to get started on a Mac, but am limited financially (severely) right now. I can buy a near-mint late 2008 13" aluminum unibody MacBook for $450-500 from a local seller. $500 is really all I can afford.

First of all, is that a good deal?

Second, is it a modern enough Mac for me to learn the Mac OS and do all it needs to do? Is it fast? Should I get a different machine? Will it run Lion (running Snow Leopard now)...and be open to updated OS's?

Sorry for sounding like a rank newbie...but I am, and I appreciate the help!

The price range is about right. Of course if you can get it for less....

And yes, it's still a good machine, can run Lion, is fast enough, and should suffice for learning the Mac OS. I would leave it running Snow Leopard for now, however.

As for future operating systems from Apple, it would be impossible to predict whether or not that machine could run an OS after Lion or not.

I just sold a first generation intel macbook from 2006 to a new mac user. Still a very good machine and serving him well.

I have to agree with chscag on staying with snow leopard. To tell you the truth i have considered several times switching back to it because lion bothers me with some of the little things they removed from snow leopard.