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"Ive switched from windows for good!!" on by niko521
Pros: super cool experience,stable,quiet,
Cons: must add memory 256 not enough,must buy usb hub 2 not enough, insane 1 gig memory price
Summary: I have been a windows user and pc builder since 1996. I have always critisized mac users, and now Ive become a diehard one! why? its so stable and simple to use! Do what everyone is telling you and get the extra memory. I got the 1.42g and 80 g hd only because it was the last one left at the apple store in tampa fl otherwise I would have gotten the 499 one. I added ram up to 512 and its very quick! I went from a 2.4 gig p4 1gig of ram to this and I really dont feel like I sacrificed anything. If your new to macs, youll need to download "acquisition" its a peer to peer software like kazza or imesh only for macs (had mac and pc stuff) because software is out there!!! you know when you go to copy a cd and it asks if you want to burn the image to the hd first? well thats how it works on a mac, only you TELL it where to burn that image, and they actually have a file name for that! You can send that over the internet, take it, burn it to a cd and it acts just like the cd itself!! I downloaded Virtual PC and that lets you load a windows operating system onto a virtual computer it creates for you. once done, you can load programs to your virtual computer and use programs that you cant use on a mac. It really gives you a sense of whats going on in the world when you can play with windows xp like its some kind of toy, but thats what windows OS is to the Mac OS X panther version you get. the ilife is great, I was making movies in no time. I am saving the garage band for later!! I got the apple keyboard because its so cool looking, and its a small usb hub too. I plugged my mouse and printer (my printer has a power supply) into the keyboard, and keyboard into usb 1 of the computer. USB 2 of the computer is where I plugged the Belkin USB hub (get the kind you have to plug a power supply in). My Scanner and Ipod go into the belkin. Then I got Microsoft OFFice for mac and I can use that for classes. There are so many choices on what you want to use for a browser (install mac aol, mac Mozilla, mac netscape, or use the safari, or internet explorer for mac already on there. several programs for pop 3 email, but I like the mac mail with Ilife. I tunes and I photo will change the way you work with photos and songs and I just got my Ipod photo today and its seamless integration with the computer is incredible. No more anti virus, adaware, regclean,defrag, scandisk, !!! make sure you bring up all those and more norton system programs when someone trys to tell you that a pc has more software than a mac!! I think this review is getting too much on pro of mac vs PC, but I cant help it, thats how I feel like Ive been sold! I also got a 99.oo printer with 99 rebate so its on ebay right now! I have my mac mini on my dest and I had to clean around it because its so small!! everyone who sees it is impressed with how small it is! worried about problems? you have a one year warranty. when thats over, if the cd drive takes a dump? well you go buy any external usb or firewire cd-dvd-r/rw drive! hard drive goes out on you? you can replace it with any 2.5 " ide laptop hard drive, or any usb2 or firewire external hard drive. put your mac cd rom in (that came with the computer) and choose install operating system (mac osx) to the external hd. when your done, you go to start up section, choose the ext. hd, and restart. now your booting off the external hd!! Overall , Id have to say Im very impressed with how well the computer works! If I could change anything, Id say to apple, add more $ and included the keyboard and mouse, and add one more usb port (there is room for one if they wanted to).one more thing, stop asking so much for the 1 gig of ram! you can sell more of them!!! THATS IT! GOOD JOB steve jobs, youve gotten another windows user to switch over to the dark side.....(oops, I mean, er, FROM,.....
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"The Review Failed to mention that there is no Viruses,Spyware,Worms,Adware, Trojans, w/ Mac OS X!!!!!" on
Pros: You can overclock the G4 1.25GHz to 1.58GHz in seconds, The Low-End Mac Mini will run more efficiently than a Son*Vai* @ $2000 P4 1.7GHz & that’s more than most Hi-End PC laptops come with today. Not to mention the draw back of Windoz and over 70,000
Cons: I would have liked to have seen a Power Mac G5 Processor in it. Although you just never know what Apple will do next!
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"Excellent first Mac for PC users - surprisingly powerful!" on by pruss
Pros: Small, Quite, stable OS, VERY easy to use, reliable, inexpensive and attractive.
Cons: Minimally configured RAM is insufficient; Hard Drive is slow, VRAM is low, Firewire 400 outmoded.
Summary: While I chose the 1.42 mini maximally configured ($873 from Apple Store). The only thing different about the 1.25 is the CPU. All the options for larger HD, DVD/CD burning superdrive and RAM are the same.
The store had a 1.25 on display (with 512MBs) which had Adobe Photoshop installed. I played with it for a little bit and was quite surprised and impressed with it's performance.
I would have liked to see a couple things differently, but obviously, none were enough to prevent me from buying my first Mac in my Mac SE-30 that I retired about 15 years! Those suggestions, if Apple history is a good indicator, Apple will offer a refreshed Mac mini in some 6 months with some upgrades and improvements...
More Systems RAM - It's already been announced that following Tiger's release, all Macs will come with 512MB, so hopefully the 1GB upgrade will take the price point of the 512 now (Note, I upgraded to 1GB by purchasing a pqi 1GM memory module from newegg.com for $132, including shipping and installed it myself)
Faster Hard drive - At 4200rpm, the drive is the biggest hold-up in the performance of the system once the Ram has been increased. Making 5400rpm drives standard would be very welcome.
More Video RAM (VRAM) - At 32MBs is a little shy of todays standards. They should make this upgradable or standardise on at least 64MBs and preferably 128MBs. This would, by all accounts, be more noticeable with Tiger, so I do see one of these changes as likely.
Faster FireWire. - I really don't understand why they only implemented FireWire 400. They really should have done 800. Maybe with the refresh?
Other things I would like to see, and see likely in the refresh...
Faster CPU - While I have no complaints about the performance of the 1.42 (and the 1.25 seemed equally fine), I would still like to see them offer at least the 1.5Mhz and 1.67Mhz G4s as found in the current crop of PowerBooks as well. I have heard many gripe about Apple using the G4, but until the heat issue is resolved, the G5 in the Mini's case size is unlikely... Maybe if they come out with a taller version of the cae (a la Cube), it's feasible. They could call it the Mac midi (but maybe musicians would get confused and expect to see MIDI ports on the back... hehe).
All in all, I think the mini is awesome. I bought the Bluetooth Apple keyboard, but being an MS Windows user for the last 15 years, I needed a two-button mouse, so I got the Logitech MX1000 Wireless Laser mouse as an upgrade from my older, worn out MX500. I also bought new Altec Lansing speakers ($300), but stuck with my ViewSonic P90F 19" CRT for a display.
One thing is sure, I am totally bitten by the Mac bug and my very high end PC has been relegated primarily to acting as an overpowered file server! -
"Great Media Center Solution" on by botje
Pros: Stylish, fast and very quiet.
Cons: Can only be ordered in one color/design
Summary: It's small-form makes it a great living room PC (although it's specs are enough for a perfect desktop replacement!). Should add some extra memory (DIY is more budget friendly) and Elgato's EyeTV or Miglia's EvolutionTV.
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"Can I tell you -- I love this box?" on by KCL
Pros: Rock solid. Compact. Uses full-size memory (no SODIMM requirement). Great small Unix server. Price is great. Incredibly quiet.
Cons: Not meant for hardware tweaking. Case difficult to open. RAM prices from Apple exorbitant. OEM Video is not fully ATI compatible (ATI Displays does not recognize it)
Summary: This thing is simply beautiful. It's fast, functional and does what I need it to do.
I am a small software developer and I was looking for something to double as a reliable Unix server for testing purposes. I can go as deep as I want, or just use it to serve up pages. The price was right and I made the leap.
I would recommend this to anyone, truly. The thing gets out of my way when I want it to and makes working easy for me when I don't need to do command-line stuff.
Complete setup within 10 minutes of plugging it in. OS and applications preloaded onto hard drive.
NOTE: If you do purchase this unit or it's big brother (1.4) make sure you get the minimum RAM and purchase it seperately. As far as the ATI Displays goes (I have a need for pivot from time to time) I am sure that ATI and/or Apple will release a compatible driver in the near future.
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