Mac mini
I am sitting in silence and typing this post. I can hear the wind outside my window which is a novelty for me as I usually only hear the wind blowing from my Coolermaster PC case!! I have spent a day with my new Mac mini and so far I am absolutely stunned with it. The performance out of the box is not too bad at all, it runs silently, the graphics system is surprisingly powerful, it has not crashed once and it looks cool as heck!! I am so very pleased that I spent this small amount of money as I can honestly say I love this computer already… it really is paving the way for a Power Mac. I bought the 1.42Ghz version that has the standard 256MB RAM which I plan to upgrade to 1GB soon!!! So far it has done everything I have asked, playing DVD’s is excellent, the quality of the movies is great but the lack of any discernible noise really makes a lot of difference. I am not even going to start with my comments of the operating system as I am far too pleased with it at the moment and I do not want to be too biased towards the computing platform that I mocked for most of my computing life!! It would seem that I have joined the elitist ranks of Apple ownership and it looks like my theory was correct… Mac’s are cool 
!!!
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#1
Upgrade the ram and use your own multi button mouse. If you have any other problems adjusting to the switch just ask. The Mac community will be glad to help with software hints, keyboard shortcuts, whatever. Once you learn and gain confidence in the system you may never go back.
Comment by Al — 14/2/2005 @ 3:09 am
#2
Mac users are not elitist, we simply know good stuff when we use it. If you had a choice between a Yugo and a Volvo, which would you choose? Welcome to the ranks of those that appreciate quality.
Comment by HogKiller — 14/2/2005 @ 4:13 am
#3
Welcome to quality computing.
Comment by Nuno — 14/2/2005 @ 4:29 am
#4
Thanks for your comments guys!! I am really happy so far and I expect I will be calling on people for help as soon as I need to do something more advanced with the system. I managed to get OpenOffice installed including the x11 server though and I am quite pleased with that!!
Comment by Phrixus — 14/2/2005 @ 9:43 am
#5
good idea of upgrading the ram.
you’ll love mac os x. it’s not perfect (no operating system is), but it’s leaps and bounds better than what’s currently available.
and the online community is always ready to help.
a favorite site of mine is macsurfer.com, which links to a lot of the latest mac news. good place to find out hints (from macosxhints.com — another very cool website which can open your mac up to new heights) to security issues.
enjoy!
Comment by jack — 14/2/2005 @ 2:07 pm
#6
If you need any help or ideas on how to get the most from your mini, head over to the forums over at Dealmac. It’s a great board.
Good luck, and enjoy!
Comment by Sensate — 14/2/2005 @ 2:42 pm
#7
every platform has its elitist elements. sadly, they are usually the most vocal. ignore them and you’ll find that you’re in good company. I work in music and video, and switching to the mac felt like being freed from the grip of an incurable disease. with all its warts (and the mac has many), I am still very glad to be here all these years later…and got tons more work and self expression accomplished as a result of the switch.
welcome!
Comment by J — 14/2/2005 @ 5:19 pm
#8
Thanks for the links… I will be sure to check them out as I know I will be needing help. So far so good though, I was expecting it to react a bit slower than it does. My PC is 2.8GHz, 1.5GB Ram, Radeon X800 graphics… the Mac mini really doesn’t seem like less than half the physical specs at all!
Comment by Phrixus — 14/2/2005 @ 5:47 pm
#9
Not entirely sure if you CAN upgrade the RAM without taking it to a mac dealer (you basically have to take the entire machine to bits because all the components are packed into such a small place). Although it could be like the powerbook in that the RAM is the ONLY thing you can upgrade yourself
Comment by David Russell — 23/5/2005 @ 3:10 pm
#10
You can upgrade the RAM and quite easily in fact. I used a flat scraper to release the tabs on the cover. This just slides off and you get access to the MOBO and the RAM is just sitting there crying out for an upgrade!! I would guess 3 out of 10 for difficulty!
Comment by Phrixus — 24/5/2005 @ 5:01 pm