Can you recommend me a Mini Mac?

junkeR · Post by **junkeR** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:19 pm

I'm seriously considering getting a Mini Mac as my next computer purchase. The design is extremely cool looking and it's so small I can basically bring it anywhere I go..

I'm looking at getting the Intel Solo model with the 50 dollar Dual Layer DVD burner upgrade. So all in all we're talking about 650 bucks.

60GB HD
1.5GHZ Intel Core Solo
Mac OS X (which I really want to have..)
All the other essentials are included..

Anyone have one of these? My computer needs aren't the best since I don't do any high end gaming... I use a bunch of mid-late 90's PC's at the moment. I'm on a 400mhz celeron and it suits me just fine now but i'd really like to upgrade to one of those macs very soon.

Thanks for your help..

D · Post by D » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:28 pm

Will you be running Windows XP or OSX?
If you know about OSX I'd say go for it.
Else try the OS out first.
To me IMHO it seems that it has less options and somethings require more action to execute, for one there is no right mouse button.
Then again it's much safer for virusses, etc because less virusses are written for OSX. Perhaps these mini-macs can be booted with XP in which case you can always do that if you want or perhaps make it duo-bootable.
That would be awesome.
For any non gaming non video editing and non Reaso"n music making purposes all systems (pc and mac) have been powerful enough for the last 5 years (guestimate)

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:28 pm

I have one of the older models with PPC processor. It's a quality product. Works fine, doesn't consume much space and is totally silent. Can't comment on the new model, though, but I expect it to be fine as well.

junkeR · Post by **junkeR** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:43 pm

Well i'm currently using XP Pro, and I have used OS8/9 before. I think the duo-core model could dual boot XP w/ that bootcamp software.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:00 pm

D wrote:Then again it's much safer for virusses, etc because less virusses are written for OSX.

It's getting less safe all the time. And with these new Intel based computers, I'm thinking that us Mac users will have to pay attention to viruses more and more. That's a damn shame.

The only real complaint I have about is OSX is that they update it pretty frequently (it's gone from OSX.2 to OSX.3 to OSX.4 in the last 4 years) and you have to pay to if you want to get the updates (well, legally anyway). You can always just not update but software developers seem to update so their software only runs on the newest version extremely quickly.

bpe · Post by **bpe** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:47 pm

I've got one, and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't use it that much, I just bought it just before the switch to Intel so I'd have a non-i386 chip to develop on, but when I do use it, it's ok, responsive, slick, the works. Rightclick definitely works, so that no-right-mouse comment is a little 1997

It's true you need to pay for upgrades, but if you buy a mini and apple then announces 3 days later that OS.X whatever comes out, the store doesn't make a big deal out of a free upgrade. It's also cool that for the low price you still get stuff like wireless and bluetooth connectivity. I don't know how long it takes when you use "for real" until you get frustrated by the amount of software on it.. I have no idea, but I do know that the line up of games in the apple stores just has "pathetic" all over it -- stuffing things out with boxes of HexenII and similar, ouch. Half the line up is stuff for 3 year old kids that was propably easy to port because it's just a narrated slideshow.

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:51 pm

Save up a bit more and get the $800 mini instead.

Compare:

$600
1.5GHz Core Solo
60GB hard disk
Combo Drive (+$50 to get a SuperDrive)

versus

$800
1.66GHz Core Duo
80GB hard disk
SuperDrive

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:57 pm

[Flame bait]Just buy a PC and load it with Linux, man.[/Flame bait]

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:07 pm

Linux? Not a bad idea actually. JunkeR said he already has a 400MHz Celeron. Sounds good enough, and there are light distros - like Xubuntu, Puppy, DSL, BeatrIX... to put old hardware to good use!

junkeR · Post by **junkeR** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:26 pm

Stormwatch wrote:Linux? Not a bad idea actually. JunkeR said he already has a 400MHz Celeron. Sounds good enough, and there are light distros - like Xubuntu, Puppy, DSL, BeatrIX... to put old hardware to good use!

I've been through all of those "light" linux distros.. XP is still faster than all of them and much easier to use. I know that's hard to believe but even with fluxbox, xfce, etc. the loading times/performance just wasn't that much improved.

I'd like that mac mini so I can bring it with me if I go on trips or whatever cause it's so small. We have an intel core solo at the college I work at and I looked/messed around with it today.

My gripe with buying the 800 dollar mini is that well.. for only 300-400 dollars more I can get the Imac that INCLUDES the keyboard, mouse, and display.

gah it's just so confusing at times...

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:03 pm

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:19 pm

junkeR wrote:I've been through all of those "light" linux distros.. XP is still faster than all of them and much easier to use.

Really? XP is kinda sluggish in my dad's PC - a Pentium 4! We tried Kurumin for a while, and it was very snappy!

junkeR wrote:My gripe with buying the 800 dollar mini is that well.. for only 300-400 dollars more I can get the Imac that INCLUDES the keyboard, mouse, and display.

More precisely: the difference between the high-end mini and the low-end iMac is $400; the iMac has the parts you mentioned, and is also a bit more powerful.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:42 pm

junkeR wrote:
Stormwatch wrote:Linux? Not a bad idea actually. JunkeR said he already has a 400MHz Celeron. Sounds good enough, and there are light distros - like Xubuntu, Puppy, DSL, BeatrIX... to put old hardware to good use!
I've been through all of those "light" linux distros.. XP is still faster than all of them and much easier to use. I know that's hard to believe but even with fluxbox, xfce, etc. the loading times/performance just wasn't that much improved.

Same here. If you avoid spyware/adware (which isn't hard if you're not a dumbass), and uninstall the shitty, unnecessary software that ships with your computer, XP isn't half bad. Using the Windows Classic theme on older machines makes a big difference, too.

bpe · Post by **bpe** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:34 am

gah it's just so confusing at times...

That's apple for you. Try deciding on an mp3 player sometime.
"My budget is X.. but for 50 bucks more I could have Y more memory... Hm... but when I'm going over my budget, I might as well add another 50 bucks and get the super duper Z... arggg"

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:18 pm

More $$$ = more power/storage/whatever.

That's any computer maker for you!