Do you have a Mac? (Or Mac Mini?)

[Rip the Jacker]

Call me crazy, but I think I wanna try out a Macintosh... I've always loved the user interface, customizing my Windows Desktop to look like a Mac. I think I'm ready to get the real thing.

I'm considering buying a Mac Mini for $800 (1.83 GHz Intel Dual Core // 512 MB Memory // 80 GB HD).

Has anyone done this? Was it worth it?

By the way...
- I'm not looking to play any games.
- I'm looking forward to using BBEdit and Safari browser (Web Development)
- Looking forward to the sleek user interface

The only downside would be that, the hard drive is only 80 gigs.. and MAC hardware costs more and is harder to install (I think).

 

[amol]

*sets up lawnchair and grabs a :beer:*

this'll be fun

 

[AznAnarchy99]

get at least a gig of ram with mac. 512 on mac is really slow

 

[GhettoFob]

I :heart: my Macbook.

 

[uhohs]

mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

 

[Oil]

Originally posted by: uhohs
mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

True

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: uhohs
mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

The processors are upgradeable. It's already been done.

 

[mpitts]

Macs are great. You will be surprised how much you like using them once you have some experience with one of your own.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Call me crazy, but I think I wanna try out a Macintosh... I've always loved the user interface, customizing my Windows Desktop to look like a Mac. I think I'm ready to get the real thing.

I'm considering buying a Mac Mini for $800 (1.83 GHz Intel Dual Core // 512 MB Memory // 80 GB HD).

Has anyone done this? Was it worth it?

By the way...
- I'm not looking to play any games.
- I'm looking forward to using BBEdit and Safari browser (Web Development)
- Looking forward to the sleek user interface

The only downside would be that, the hard drive is only 80 gigs.. and MAC hardware costs more and is harder to install (I think).

OK, you're crazy.

But I like to play games on my 'puter so I'm biased. Besides, I can build a really sweet rig for what those Apple products go for.

But they are right for some people.

 

[KoolDrew]

But they are right for some people.

:laugh:

 

[AmigaMan]

If you're looking at getting the cheapest mac just to try out, why not get the slower one for $599? Get that, upgrade the RAM to 1GB and you should be good to go. You can upgrade to Merom later if you'd like. I'm on a MacBookPro and absolutely love it except for playing games. But Windows is only a dual boot away if I want to play Oblivion or FEAR. OSX is a great OS and is the perfect combination of Windows and Linux.

 

[krunchykrome]

I have a Dell, and my Dell is an honor roll student........

 

[DCFife]

I've always been a Windows user until the I picked up an iMac 17" in May to see what the hoopla was all about. I'm still a Windows user. For me, the iMac is an iPod with a 17" screen - but at least it has 2GB of RAM!

 

[BobDaMenkey]

I've been really tempted to try and pick up a mini as well, just to have another toy to play around with. Unfortunately though I don't have that kind of spare change sitting around.

 

[BRObedoza]

got a 12" powerbook for school, but since i graduated i'm probably going to sell it and get an imac

 

[kmrivers]

Originally posted by: uhohs
mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

Hmmm.
Standard notebook optical drive.
Standard sata 2.5" drive
Standard Intel CPU (upgradeable as someone said, and I have done it)

So, he can have fun upgrading more than the RAM.

 

[kmrivers]

My recomendation is to pick up a used/refurb Core Solo and upgrade it.

I got my g/f a Core solo mini for $450, got a 1.83 Core Duo for $150. Found a 1GB stick for $50.

So here mini is spec'ed as follows:
1.83Ghz Core Duo
1.25GB RAM
60GB HD
CD Burner/DVD Combo

For just $650

 

[Kaido]

G4 Mini Upgrade Guide
Intel Mini Upgrade Guide

Basic upgrades:
Processor
Ram
Hard drive
DVD burner

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Call me crazy, but I think I wanna try out a Macintosh... I've always loved the user interface, customizing my Windows Desktop to look like a Mac. I think I'm ready to get the real thing.

I'm considering buying a Mac Mini for $800 (1.83 GHz Intel Dual Core // 512 MB Memory // 80 GB HD).

Has anyone done this? Was it worth it?

By the way...
- I'm not looking to play any games.
- I'm looking forward to using BBEdit and Safari browser (Web Development)
- Looking forward to the sleek user interface

The only downside would be that, the hard drive is only 80 gigs.. and MAC hardware costs more and is harder to install (I think).

First, get this book:

OS X Missing Manual

Second, get at least a gig of ram. The Mini requires matched pairs for optimum performance (same size/speed of memory) since the video card is based on system memory, so don't get a 256 stick and a 512 stick or whatever, make sure they're both the same.

Parallels is great for running Windows virtually. I'm a web designer; it's nice to be able to test Firefox, IE, Netscape, Opera, etc. in Windows, plus Safari, Camino, etc. in Mac.

 

[uhohs]

Originally posted by: kmrivers

Originally posted by: uhohs
mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

Hmmm.
Standard notebook optical drive.
Standard sata 2.5" drive
Standard Intel CPU (upgradeable as someone said, and I have done it)

So, he can have fun upgrading more than the RAM.

i should've been clearer. i didn't mean it wasn't possible to upgrade, but that it's more of a hassle upgrading a tiny pc then dealing with a larger system with more room and that has pci/expansion slots and stuff.

main point of my post was to let the OP know that mac hardware is the same as pc hardware.

 

[Shawn]

I have an old G3 that I put OS X on.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I have an older one... 8100/80 or something like that IIRC. Once Windows 98 was released it became useless to me.

 

[0roo0roo]

its fine, dual core is good. buy extra ram yourself off crucial since osx likes lots of ram.

 

[halik]

I have no mac, but I run OSX

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: uhohs

Originally posted by: kmrivers

Originally posted by: uhohs
mac hardware = pc hardware
have fun upgrading anything in a mac mini besides the ram.

Hmmm.
Standard notebook optical drive.
Standard sata 2.5" drive
Standard Intel CPU (upgradeable as someone said, and I have done it)

So, he can have fun upgrading more than the RAM.

i should've been clearer. i didn't mean it wasn't possible to upgrade, but that it's more of a hassle upgrading a tiny pc then dealing with a larger system with more room and that has pci/expansion slots and stuff.

main point of my post was to let the OP know that mac hardware is the same as pc hardware.

well the purpose of that type of pc isn't to be upgraded to the hilt really. its for normal office/browsing tasks. expansion is with external usb2.0/firewire addons. for those kinds of needs its perfectly adequate, esp with todays dual core processors. only big thing it needs is ram.