Impressions of the Mini Mac

Any feedback welcome

[Bob_Trotta]

What are people first impressions of the mini mac. We are considering replacing about 10 low-end pcs and thought about having a look at these new systems. How have people found them so far?

Bob Trotta

[dom86]

Yes I would really like to know too.

Q1: will it work with my TFT flat screen, integrated speakers?

Regards

Dominic Naylor

[tstaheli]

My macmini's specs:
1.42ghz
80gig HD
512RAM

The DVI works beautifully with my 19" LCD.
Zero problems, very quiet, I use Pages, iLife, Keynote, Office, Photoshop without any hickup, iTunes is constantly streaming audio. I love it, it's quiet and fits anywhere!

If you have any specifics that you would like sticky me.

[Bob_Trotta]

Thanks for the response. I think the most attractive thing is the price. I will be buying a test machine to see how it runs before committing more cash, but it sounds promising.

Bob Trotta

[steve40]

I have just bought one as a test before committing to a full blown G5 , thinking of moving from PC over to a MAC as main developer machine

steve

PS anybody got feedback on bbedit before i purchase please

[lZakl]

Bob_Trotta,

We are getting our first Shipment of minis within a month! I hope that all goes well with them! I too wanted to buy just one to 'test it', but my boss said, "what could it harm?" We have several G5's, but this is a cost effective way to get those people in the lower ranks of our company a descent PC.

steve40,

For fear of hijacking the thread... Check your sticky mail for my input on BBedit

[tstaheli]

Bob,
I would definetly upgrade the RAM to 512 if you are going to purchase one to test.

[Musicarl]

Steve-
BB Edit is good stuff. I've been using it most of my computer-using life as both a text editor and word processor. It's simple, very effective and worth the price.

[Bob_Trotta]

After all the great advice I've just put in an order for a test machine. I look forward to seeing what I get.

Bob Trotta

[AmericanBulldog]

Bought home my mac mini last night, easy hook up to an existing monitor, plays well with the wireless network.

Not as intuitive as hardcore mac users would have you believe. Gotta play with it some now and take for some test runs.

[Syzygy]

Got a 'Mickey-Mac' coming into work on Tuesday as part of a reconfiguration from OS9 to OSX for our editorial/studio depts.

Will let you know how it goes...

Syzygy

[griz_fan]

As a diehard PC user, I finally got the chance to give the Mac a try when we got a Mini at work. I must say, I was very impressed. There's the usual issues when moving from the very familiar (WinXP) to something new (OSX), but nothing that can't be overcome.

A few observations. First, the standard 256MB of memory is no where near adequate. 512MB should be the minimum, and our Mini is pretty swift with 1GB. I was really impressed with the bundled software. You could easily get by without having to spend a dime on new software. Also, until you see one in person, it really is hard to appreciate how small the Mini is. And, this thing is whisper quiet and draws very little power. The power brick is only 85W, which is less power draw than most higher-end Intel and AMD processors. End result, a quiet, cool computer. Finally, the DVI-VGA adapter is the nicest I've seen.

Is it enough for me to switch over to the Mac world? No... But, I'd love to have one on my desk at home with a KVM switch to share a monitor with my PC.

[Bob_Trotta]

Well,

Finally got it here and have been playing for the past couple of days. Pretty impressed, the size is very amazing when you actually get your hands on it.

The mac interface is not as intuative as I first thought it might be, but then as a solid windows user for so many years it's probably not suprising.

It's actully quite nice to just 'have a play' with a machine again. Takes me back 15 years or so when I first got a PC!

Bob Trotta

[oodlum]

"Not as intuitive as hardcore mac users would have you believe." etc.

True. However, the biggest difference between the two operating systems, and the one that most Windows users have trouble with, is that to quit a program on a Mac you have to select "Quit" from the menu or type Command-Q (Command is the key with the apple on it). You don't just close the window - the program will still be open.

I've seen countless people have trouble with this. eg. I watched my sister try to quit Photoshop by closing all of the windows - the tools, pallettes etc. Then she wondered where all her tools were the next time she started it up.

Are you listening Apple? Why not have a little slide show when a Mac is first started up that asks "Are you new to Mac?".