Discussion
Plotloss,
I can buy a mini mac for 400 all in.
Its silent tiny and will work.
I have loads of PCs and they are large and noisy compared the the mini mac. Yes sff pc's have come on leaps and bounds but they are still much larger, and will cost alot to make silent.
Mac OS X seems a laugh as well.
I can buy a mini mac for 400 all in.
Its silent tiny and will work.
I have loads of PCs and they are large and noisy compared the the mini mac. Yes sff pc's have come on leaps and bounds but they are still much larger, and will cost alot to make silent.
Mac OS X seems a laugh as well.
Given what you're going to use it for it should be OK.
No way would I use a Mac generally due to lack of software and problems with PC compatibility.
I would use a dedicated Mac for media (pics/vids) work as it seems to have attracted excellent developers for those kinds of app since its inception.
Oh...and the pro-Mac-anoraks get sooooo defensive about them....that in itself is a good reason to use a PC just as a wind-up!
No way would I use a Mac generally due to lack of software and problems with PC compatibility.
I would use a dedicated Mac for media (pics/vids) work as it seems to have attracted excellent developers for those kinds of app since its inception.
Oh...and the pro-Mac-anoraks get sooooo defensive about them....that in itself is a good reason to use a PC just as a wind-up!
rich1231 said:
here you go
<a href="http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/">www.apple.com/uk/macmini/</a>
now that looks like a great bit of kit , thanks for the link . I have mates who have been importing Ipods from the far east , i wonder what these can be picked up for in Singapore
>> Edited by Marki on Friday 8th April 20:01
Don said:
Given what you're going to use it for it should be OK.
No way would I use a Mac generally due to lack of software and problems with PC compatibility.
I would use a dedicated Mac for media (pics/vids) work as it seems to have attracted excellent developers for those kinds of app since its inception.
Oh...and the pro-Mac-anoraks get sooooo defensive about them....that in itself is a good reason to use a PC just as a wind-up!
I think that this is a massive myth! Exactly what software (beyond games I admin) do you need? In many cases there are Mac versions or alternatives. Mac OSX is very PC compatible (OS 9 and earlier may well not have been, I only started using a Mac when OSX in public beta). Modern Macs can read PC hard drives and optical media, have built in PC compatible file and printer sharing and generally use the same file formats (jpegs for photos, can use MP3s for music...). The built in text editor (TextEdit) can even open and save basic word documents (which is rather more than Notepad can). TextEdit in Tiger (any day now) can even deal with tables in Word documents.
I was going to reply with exactly the same comments robbie. Complete tosh about software.
So far the ONLY piece of software I cannot sort out on a Mac is the Sony MP3 ripping stuff. And frankly, that makes me more pissed off at Sony (who very nearly had a killer head unit in the MEX1HD until they cut both its hamstrings).
I'll take a challenge - give me a list of software you need to use, and I'll have a go at giving you the alternatives which will be equally as good.
I only use PCs at work because I *have* to. The Macs a significantly better experience all over.
So far the ONLY piece of software I cannot sort out on a Mac is the Sony MP3 ripping stuff. And frankly, that makes me more pissed off at Sony (who very nearly had a killer head unit in the MEX1HD until they cut both its hamstrings).
I'll take a challenge - give me a list of software you need to use, and I'll have a go at giving you the alternatives which will be equally as good.
I only use PCs at work because I *have* to. The Macs a significantly better experience all over.
robbieduncan said:
I think that this is a massive myth! Exactly what software (beyond games I admin) do you need? In many cases there are Mac versions or alternatives. Mac OSX is very PC compatible (OS 9 and earlier may well not have been, I only started using a Mac when OSX in public beta). Modern Macs can read PC hard drives and optical media, have built in PC compatible file and printer sharing and generally use the same file formats (jpegs for photos, can use MP3s for music...). The built in text editor (TextEdit) can even open and save basic word documents (which is rather more than Notepad can). TextEdit in Tiger (any day now) can even deal with tables in Word documents.
so why not just use a pc which is cheaper?
gopher said:
so why not just use a pc which is cheaper?
With the Mac Mini available I'm not sure that's true. You can by cheaper PCs but they tend to have serious flaws like integrated graphics. One reason to use a Mac is that there is software available for the Mac that is not available for the PC. iPhoto and iMovie come to mind.
Many Mac versions are better than their PC versions. Most people who have used both prefer the Mac version of MS Office! I find Omni Graffle to be more enjoyable to use than Visio.
In addition the OS makes all the difference. I don't worry about spyware and viruses, there are none and as Mac OSX is Unix any that do get written are likely to be less dangerous. I like having drag and drop that works (as a test highlight the text in this post and drag it to your desktop. What happens? I get a text clipping that I can now drag into anything else I like or keep for later).
It's all about choice. If you are happy with Windows that's fine.
Buy the Mac Mini
I got mine the moment they were released. Had never used a mac before so wasn't sure if i would like it...
...I can honestly say i love it! Mac OS X (the operating system) is fantastic, the free software (iLife 05) is very cool, and the Mini is plenty powerful enough.
I run Studio MX and Photoshop for my web design and bought the software especially for the Mac - that's a big investment in Apple.
I will be buying more Mac's in the future (PowerMac G5).
My PC on paper is much much more powerful, yet in reality it probably doesn't perform much faster due to all the firewalls, anti virus and security software that it needs.
In 2 months of ownership, the Mini has NEVER CRASHED. I now barely use my PC and the times i have it has crashed multiple times.
I now recommend Macs to everyone - they are compatible with PCs and the software exists to do the same things as you would on a PC, though there is obviously the initial investment needed to buy the new software (assuming you dont get copied software), and they're MUCH easier to live with.
Unless you have used a Mac, you don't know what you're missing out on.
Buy one.
I got mine the moment they were released. Had never used a mac before so wasn't sure if i would like it...
...I can honestly say i love it! Mac OS X (the operating system) is fantastic, the free software (iLife 05) is very cool, and the Mini is plenty powerful enough.
I run Studio MX and Photoshop for my web design and bought the software especially for the Mac - that's a big investment in Apple.
I will be buying more Mac's in the future (PowerMac G5).
My PC on paper is much much more powerful, yet in reality it probably doesn't perform much faster due to all the firewalls, anti virus and security software that it needs.
In 2 months of ownership, the Mini has NEVER CRASHED. I now barely use my PC and the times i have it has crashed multiple times.
I now recommend Macs to everyone - they are compatible with PCs and the software exists to do the same things as you would on a PC, though there is obviously the initial investment needed to buy the new software (assuming you dont get copied software), and they're MUCH easier to live with.
Unless you have used a Mac, you don't know what you're missing out on.
Buy one.
One other thing to add...
I went for the 1.25 Ghz version - it is not much slower than the 1.42 Ghz one and actually contains a faster harddisk (5400rm compared to 4200rpm)
Also, you will want at least 512Mb RAM. I specced 512 at the time of order, though will upgrade to 1Gb at some point (not via Apple though)
I went for the 1.25 Ghz version - it is not much slower than the 1.42 Ghz one and actually contains a faster harddisk (5400rm compared to 4200rpm)
Also, you will want at least 512Mb RAM. I specced 512 at the time of order, though will upgrade to 1Gb at some point (not via Apple though)
robbieduncan said:
With the Mac Mini available I'm not sure that's true. You can by cheaper PCs but they tend to have serious flaws like integrated graphics. One reason to use a Mac is that there is software available for the Mac that is not available for the PC. iPhoto and iMovie come to mind.
MacWorld did an interesting piece comparing a Mac Mini and the cheapest Dell equivalent. On headline specs, the Dell won hands down. However, when you looked at how those specs matched up (such as the Dell's integrated graphics, asmentioned), what it would cost to match the specifications (both ways), the Mac was better, ultimately by quite a margin.
You might consider the magazine biased, and to really appreciate the Mac Mini's advantage you need to be making use of all those iLife applications. But it was clear that if you want a half-decent, reasonably future-safe computer, the Mini is very competitive.
one more thing... they're pretty noisey when they start working a bit hard (that will include streaming video from a hard drive). Because they're so small they get quite warm and the fan switches on and off as it pleases to keep itself cool.
Didn't stop me buying one though - primarily for reasons of space (all I do is photoshop/surf and the odd bit of office..) + I have a Thinkpad for work so never have a compatability prob.
Hope that helps..
Didn't stop me buying one though - primarily for reasons of space (all I do is photoshop/surf and the odd bit of office..) + I have a Thinkpad for work so never have a compatability prob.
Hope that helps..
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