Thinking of getting a Mac Mini

jalu6

jalu6

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just wondering if anyone had any opinion of these...i work as a windows guy, but i was thinking of picking one up because hey are only around $600 and i figure its the cheapest way to learn the OS. it comes loaded with enough software to keep me busy and i thought that it would be cool to have as a web/email computer while I keep my windows PC as my gaming rig.


just wondering what everyones opinions of the new macs are...
 
I work as a Windows guy as well but was considering picking up one of these to familiarize myslelf with the OS. I think they look nice and wont take up much space. It comes to about $800 after all the upgrades I want though...
 
I was thining the same thing. If I picked up some extra paying work I could justify it. The market may be smaller but the porfessional Mac users in need of assistance are inclined to pay well.

I used to do a lot more Mac but a lot of it was driven by customers who somehow earned seven-figure incomes but couldn't deal with the simplest of troubleshooting. I'm convince that MacOS in the 68x00 days had a hidden command known only to screenwriters that would erase the whole hard drive and get me sent over to recover their files. It always seemed to be screenwriters.

There was one guy who had been saving files tot he same floppy for five years on a Mac Plus. Despite making over a million annually he couldn't se the point of getting a hard drive or a newer model with one built-in. Eventually that floppy failed and it contained his only copy of the first three scripts for a soon to be very well known 90's sitcom. My then employer recovered the files in 10 minutes, then spent a few hours playing Doom and billed the guy for the entire time. No objections were made.
 
[quote name='flizmo007']I work as a Windows guy as well but was considering picking up one of these to familiarize myslelf with the OS. I think they look nice and wont take up much space. It comes to about $800 after all the upgrades I want though...[/quote]

Resist the upgrades. The only thing you really need is more RAM. OS X and the major apps can be utter memory pigs. Most of the serious MAc users I know recommend one gig of RAM as merely adequate.

If you find yourself really liking the environment you'll be better off saving the oney for a G5 or a PowerBook. IF you start making more money thanks to MacOS X knowledge you'll know what to buy first.
 
if you do decide to purchase, upgrade RAM yourself. I think it only has one slot for RAM,so you need to get as much as possible and mac will charge you an arm and a leg for this. Looks cool, but for me it doesn't justify the cost.
 
well there is a mac store by me that I'll probably go chec k out tonight. thanks for the hints about the RAM, i had a feeling that the standard 256MB that it comes with will no way be adequate.

I don't really think I'll ever fully transfer over to the Mac lifestyle, most of my livelyhood is based on Microsoft and I've taken too many cert tests to give it up.

plus, as I once said on a job interview, "Do I have Mac experience? No, but the mouse only has one button, how hard can it be?"
 
[quote name='epobirs']Eventually that floppy failed and it contained his only copy of the first three scripts for a soon to be very well known 90's sitcom. [/quote]

BTW, thank you for saving this guys files and ensuring we would all be able to experience Blossom as it was originally intended. WHOA!
 
I'd recommend that you do the math first, as the Mac Mini does not come with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Unless you already have existing peripherals, you'll need to add the cost of these add-ons to your final total. It might make more sense buying a more full-fledged Mac than the Mini.
 
the 1 Gig mem upgrade costs 425...i think with some looking around, you can pick up the same thing for 150, and install it yourself. There are already a few DIY pages online. I actually found the links through Penny-Arcades forum
 
[quote name='cheapass Gundam']I'd recommend that you do the math first, as the Mac Mini does not come with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Unless you already have existing peripherals, you'll need to add the cost of these add-ons to your final total. It might make more sense buying a more full-fledged Mac than the Mini.[/quote]

yeah, i realize it doesnt come with anything but thats how they are marketing it. basically they want you to push your windows PC off to the side and just plug everything into this one. they want to make it easy as possible for you to switch I guess.

i already use a USB keyboard & mouse and VGA monitor which are all supported, so I'm not too worried about that. The only thing I may consider is an external USB HUB because there are only two, and both will be needed for my keyboard and mouse.
 
The hardware is decent (needs more ram!)
The design is freaking awesome
but the real secret is the included software.

iTunes- I am sure you know about
iPhoto- a great photo managment tool with a ton of new editing features, and a very cool book printing features. Also cheap prints from Apple.
iMovie- a really powerful yet simple video editor. Now in HD.
iDVD- a solid DVD authoring program (note burning DVD is built into the OS) this does more.
GarageBand 2- I recently starting messing around with this program. For the amatuer musician, it is completely awesome. Multi-track recording, plenty of loops, easy importing and exporting. Plus I just plug my guitar into an adaptor and I can play along (Garageband has a good virtual amp).

all included with the computer.
 
[quote name='sblymnlcrymnl'][quote name='evilmax17']I like my Macs big and with fries.[/quote]

My favorite kind of nut is a MACadamian.[/quote]
berniemac.jpg
 
[quote name='Wshakspear']I just want to know how WoW will run on the 1.4 w/1 gig ram...[/quote]

good question. i play too. however, its only a 32MB radeon 9200, so who knows how well it will run?
 
[quote name='usickenme']The hardware is decent (needs more ram!)
The design is freaking awesome
but the real secret is the included software.

iTunes- I am sure you know about
iPhoto- a great photo managment tool with a ton of new editing features, and a very cool book printing features. Also cheap prints from Apple.
iMovie- a really powerful yet simple video editor. Now in HD.
iDVD- a solid DVD authoring program (note burning DVD is built into the OS) this does more.
GarageBand 2- I recently starting messing around with this program. For the amatuer musician, it is completely awesome. Multi-track recording, plenty of loops, easy importing and exporting. Plus I just plug my guitar into an adaptor and I can play along (Garageband has a good virtual amp).

all included with the computer.[/quote]

that sweetens the deal for me. if i didn't have a laptop, hence no keyboard or monitor, i would be all over this.
 
[quote name='jalu6'][quote name='Wshakspear']I just want to know how WoW will run on the 1.4 w/1 gig ram...[/quote]

good question. i play too. however, its only a 32MB radeon 9200, so who knows how well it will run?[/quote]

yeah...but there's no windows behind it...and it depends how much they would have optimized it.

I dunno. Really havent found any reports online yet (googling), but if i find one i'll post it.
 
Plus OSX is such a *sweet* operating system.

I've been using Macs professionally (and back in college) for years, and I can't even imagine going back to the old system 7-9 days.
 
[quote name='jalu6'][quote name='epobirs']Eventually that floppy failed and it contained his only copy of the first three scripts for a soon to be very well known 90's sitcom. [/quote]

BTW, thank you for saving this guys files and ensuring we would all be able to experience Blossom as it was originally intended. WHOA![/quote]

No, it was a much cooler show, I assure you, although I only watched it occasionally. I can't be specific because these people as a class are intensely litigous, especially when being exposed as idiots in public.
 
well i ended up ordering one from the Mac Store today. I was hoping to pick one up tonight, but they dont have prebuilt models with 512 MB or RAM and there is no way I'm picking one up with the minimun after all the reviews I've read said otherwise. I also splurged for the faster model with the extra storage.

Got my educational discount though, and the extra ram ended up only being $62 more, which is about what a stick of DDR 2700 RAM goes for anyhow. The whole thing ended up costing me $640.

After seeing the thing in action though i was really impressed. The design was super sweet and the display model was fast and I opened about 15 browser windows to see if it held. It did, but I got the sales guy to finally admit that the floor model did have the 512MB in it, which I thought was a little misleading.

So, in 2-3 weeks ill have my cute little Mac. It'll look cool next to my gamecube. But as Tom Petty says... Waiting is the hardest part.
 
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