Ummm, Mac Mini....

Beach · Post by **Beach** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:02 pm

Have you all seen the new miniture Mac's from Apple? The official name is "Mac Mini". Small too; W-16.51cm x D-16.51cm x H-5.08cm (W-6.5" x D-6.5" x H-2"). The prices start at $499, which is good, but you will need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

Now, let me see what I can sell around here...

Kale · Post by **Kale** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:19 pm

I use Macs everyday at work and i just can't wait to get back to my pc at night! Mac = style over substance! i hate em!

dmoc · Post by **dmoc** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:29 am

oooo, like the format but having never used a mac how do they compare to PC? Can anyone answer these...

OSX - as good as linux? Do you get a lot of sw or do you have to start shelling out 100's/1000's for mundane stuff? Can you run most popular open source on it, eg, OpenOffice, GIMP, APACHE, etc? Are bug fixing updates free?

Drivers - usually drivers and/or driver support from manufacturers on any thing but pc's are poor if non-existent. True for mac's?

CPU - what would be the intel/amd spec equivalent to say a 1.42GHz PowerPC G4?

Psychophanta · Post by **Psychophanta** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:44 pm

Kale, i don't know why, but once more you and me are in accordance

freedimension · Post by **freedimension** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:10 pm

Kale wrote:Mac = style over substance! i hate em!

FullAck
Kindergarden-OS

Kale · Post by **Kale** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 1:39 pm

Kale, i don't know why, but once more you and me are in accordance

he he... The technology under MacOS is quite impressive but it just doesn't make sense to hide everything from the user and to gimp the processor speed by using over the top eye candy on windows/genie effects etc.

I used to like macs being simple, fast workhorse, computers but now the're slow, treat you like a child and crash constantly (if its not the os its the apps).

Mini-Macs looks like a bit of a gimmick, me and me work collegues were trying to decide what it would be useful for? We came to the conclusion you could only use it for a mp3 jukebox/server (but wheres the server software?) or (with a touchscreen) a kitchen mate to store recipes etc.. other than that its useless, especially since you can't upgrade it. :roll:

Give me a pc anyday

.

[EDIT] Infact just before christmas i bought a second hand HP Vectra e-pc which is very small but upgradable. It takes full size 3.5in ATA66 HDDs so i lobbed in a 40gb disk with WinXP and loads of mp3s. installed winamp and the browseamp plugin (control winamp over a lan via a configurable web interface(html)) Then i installed a belkin fm transmitter by splicing the hdd power lead to power the transmitter. Now it can be used as a standalone mp3 jukebox which transmits a signal to any nearby fm radios or connected to a stereo or speakers and fully controlable from any computer with a internet browser installed!

It has a PIII 866Mhz cpu and standard pc133 ram, i am amazed how quick it runs!

Beach · Post by **Beach** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 2:39 pm

I have a G3 iMac now running OSX Panther but I do not use it that much. I really like the clean interface but the available apps are limited. Either I play my server based MP3's with iTunes or i'll surf around a little on Firefox. I will hang on to it so I can play around with PureBasic testing (when it matures).

The only reason I would get a new Apple would be to use Garage Band. I have not seen its equal for the Windows/Linux world.

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:01 pm

I loved OSX when I had my powerbook. Coming from a Unix background it really did combine the best of the Unix world (stability, scalability) with an excellent GUI.

I won't buy another mac, though, as the hardware is extremely overpriced. if Apple would release OSX for x86, Windows would finally have some *real* desktop competition.

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 4:03 pm

and yet it might be interesting, the price isn't too bad, and i would like to use it as an allround media player in the living room

LarsG · Post by **LarsG** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:10 pm

Mac's are cool... period!

newbie · Post by **newbie** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:08 pm

I don't like mini Mac, even it's best of, I prefer the best of big mac

Shannara · Post by **Shannara** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:55 pm

Kale wrote:
Kale, i don't know why, but once more you and me are in accordance
he he... The technology under MacOS is quite impressive but it just doesn't make sense to hide everything from the user and to gimp the processor speed by using over the top eye candy on windows/genie effects etc.

You have just described Windows XP. Too bad the MacOS is following XP's footsteps and mistakes. I'm eyeing to buy one of those bacause of what you said, there are hardly any apps for the OSX. So it leaves the doors wide open to PB developers when Fred releases a viable and uptodate osx pb. Then it's a whole new ballgame

Anybody who have done video and computer art know that mac is the only way to go. That have been the main use for a Mac since 94 (as far as I know). So it has many uses, but only for those creative enough to use it for the special fields it's targetted for.

thefool · Post by **thefool** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:03 pm

yeah its actually a new door for pb.
but no he didnt describe XP. My xp is running very stable, and it doesnt use
much cpu power. On my little brothers machine wich is slower than mine, it runs fine too... [you can even disable some of the candy in xp easly

]

Shannara · Post by **Shannara** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Yeah. That describes XP because by default there is all that eye candy turned on that bogs down the cpu majorly. Same if you have lots of programs/games installed (like over 25 ..grr) the computer slows down majorly due to xp. The newest version of XP havent crashed on me, but pre-sp did daily. But ah well

A nice new door opened though.

thefool · Post by **thefool** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:14 pm

hehe yeah i have had some problems but not anymore.

btw i HAVE about 60 apps i think.
and 23 games

[30.1 gigs of games] INSTALLED