Anyone own a Mac Mini?

[snusgetter]

...
I spent 20 years hacking and messing with hardware and software, at this point in life, I just want something that is very reliable.
...

Sounds like we're in the same boat...

In my 'younger' days it was fun/exciting to fiddle around with software and hardware but after years of encountering the same problems over and over, enough was enough.

A friend of mine still likes to tinker but now it's mostly with various Linux configurations... although he did buy an iMac for his wife and she loves it (and he likes the fact that it's practically maintenance free!).

Reliability sums up my Apple experiences.

[ProudMarineDad]

I am not a person who tinkers with their tech stuff so I do not make any changes. The only thing I have ever installed is a fan on a Gateway that I had several years ago.

My current PC keeps getting stuck on the intro screen and some other minor problems once it comes on. I used command prompt to see when the install date and it was March 11, 2006. Info from control panel listed has Dell XPS DXP051 with Pentium CPU 2.80GHz 2.79 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM. Compared to my two previous PCs that were Gateways, I think the Dell has lasted longer than both. So if I do decide to go back with a PC, I am considering either a Dell or maybe going with an Asus tower.

I had thought about getting a laptop but I don't really like the keyboards on any of them.

I am fortunate enough to have an Apple store as well as my local Best Buy having a dedicated Apple person. The Geek Squad's rep is not too good and the regular sales person didn't impress me too much yesterday at Best Buy. If I do go back to a PC, I am probably going to just purchase it online and pick it up at the store.

The Apple employee I talked on the other hand was very knowledgeable.

Decisions, decisions.

[snusgetter]

@ProudMarineDad..

Stick with the Apple Store where you'll get the right info you need on the Mac Mini.

I agree with Ainkor that you should wait till after the 14th when Apple will be announcing the latest configurations of their hardware. No one will know until then whether the MM will be refreshed but it's certainly due for at least a speed bump (usually at no additional cost).

[shikitohno]

I would have to be the dissenting opinion on here and say avoid a mac. In my experience, they're overpriced compared to buying a regular pc, and all Apple products I've owned have died within days or weeks of crossing over the warranty's expiration date. As for ease of maintenance, they're are several other free UNIX-based OSes out there that require no more of a learning curve. If you were to go that route, Ubunutu or Linux Mint would probably work quite nicely for you, while being free and pretty accessible to the non-techies. Honestly, I think you'd be fine with Windows, though. It takes all of about 2 hours time when you're first setting things up to install a solid anti-virus and spyware scanner, and set them up to run automatically. Just pick a time when you'll never be using it, like 3AM, and you can forget about it.

Also, if you're going to buy a new computer, do it online. Go to newegg or tigerdirect or something. A lot of those bonus packages offered by Best Buy, Geek Squad, and other retail locations are just a huge waste of money, and sometimes they won't let you opt out of it. Play with the damn thing if you really HAVE to play with it first at best buy, but order elsewhere and save yourself some money.

[lxskllr]

I would have to be the dissenting opinion on here and say avoid a mac.

I was trying to be balanced. I'd never own any Apple product :^D


I'm typing this on a 2.8ghz box. I do everything you do PMD While it isn't the fastest thing around, it works well for these low end tasks. I would suggest Linux also, but on your current box. It should refresh the system nicely, and give something fun to play with. Every week you hold off buying a new system, means you'll be able to get a better system, with less money when you do buy.

[Ainkor]

I'll break down the prices for you:

Apple Mac Mini : $699
Mini Displayport to VGA adapter : $30

Dell entry level desktop: $469
Entry Level Dell desktop

The Dell has a faster processor, more memory but is in a larger package and it takes more power and will be a louder device. It also comes with a new keyboard and a mouse.

If you are using an old CRT monitor (think old TV type of picture tube) then a new flat panel monitor would be a good upgrade. I'd personally just go to Best Buy and buy a sub-$200 one and you will be fine.

For the same price as the Mac Mini you could get a whole new computer, new keyboard, mouse and monitor.

While that is a good deal, some do value the aesthetics and power draw of a Mac Mini, but if you just looking for a run of the mill computer to do basic functions on, I don't know that I would go for the Mac. If you've always used Windows, that's another thing too. Somethings are just different on Mac OSX.

Mac's are more of a luxury item but they've never done me wrong.

Lastly, you might want to consider a laptop but you won't get as good a device and if something breaks outside of warranty, its much more expensive to repair.

Either way, I wouldn't buy a no name brand of a desktop from Tigerdirect or other website like that as warranty work might be a pain.

As always with a major purchase, have your budget in mind and stick to it! It's easy to get sucked into buying more than you actually need.

Hope this helps!

Oh, and a little side note and disclaimer.... I use a windows 7 desktop at home and a macbook air as my laptop. I find that I actually do prefer windows 7 to even OSX Lion (The new version being released) but the hardware for the laptop is top notch. There isn't a single laptop out there in the same price range with a decent touchpad. Hell, for any price range, all of the windows laptops touchpad's blow chunks compared to even the low end macbook touchpads. It's pretty silly, but thats probably about 90% of the reason that I use a macbook.

[devilock76]

I will probably be repeating what others have said but some perspective. I have a friend who let us just say is a pretty l33t *nix admin. Does a lot of high level professional work particularly on RedHat in the past and more recently Solaris and FreeBSD.

At home he owns a mac mini.

The reason he owns the Mac Mini though is he is also a photographer and uses Adobe Lightroom for photo processing. He likes the Mac Mini, and quite frankly I like the way Mac has done a lot of things. It offers more out of the box than PC's as far as things just working for a non tech user. That being said a non tech user can still get themselves in trouble on a mac.

To me, I only keep a windows machine around for peripheral compatibility, for example my all in one scanner copier printer from Lexmark I have been unable to get a driver to work under Linux. If it wasn't for the printer my only windows installs would be on VM's when needed. Otherwise this is pretty much an all *nix household. Getting *nix systems to run what I want them to run is a matter of the time I spend on configuring it, not money spent. To me making the switch to mac is basically trading money instead for time. My afore mentioned friend would mostly agree with that assessment. For media applications Mac has more out of the box user friendly software titles out there that are pro level. Heck if I bought a mac, Logic Studio would be my next buy. For now I do just fine with FOSS solutions like LMMS, Ardour, Qtractor, etc.

So in short, I like Mac, for now I choose to do things in Linux, as a matter of comfort and prefer to invest my time in that endeavor vs money. In the end anything I do is just furthering my skills and experience in the job market so why not. I see lots of *nix servers and winblows boxes at work, very little mac.

As for the mini vs imac. The advantage of the mini is it is easier to upgrade since it is not an all in one. The advantage of the imac is after adding up the price of equivalent peripherals to the mini you will probably come out better with an imac price wise.

Also consider buying refurbished from apple. They used to carry the exact same warranty as a new (I think they changed that recently) and most of the response I hear is very positive from mac refurbished items for the apple store.

I always end up in a debate about buying mac for a computer. One day I will probably end up giving in for the sake of what the kids need in a computer, but we shall see. I know the Ipad2 is something I am looking to purchase in the next few months. I already have the iphone and as far as mobility devices go the mobile music apps are way more mature and feature rich in IOS than they are in Android. I hope that changes one day as I really like the concept of Android.

One last side note, when comparing mac to windows, I would opt Mac. That is just in the absence of installing Linux or a BSD (or even OpenIndiana). In the end it is because I prefer to use *nix systems and that is definitely not windows.

Ken

[GoVegan]

I am on my second emachine computer and have no complaints as I have easily gotten over 5 years of reliable performance with each computer. When Circuit City was around they usually carried them for well under $500.00 which was dirt cheap at that time. Now I believe that Best Buy still carries them. I mostly use mine for the net and listening to music. I also have EV speakers with a massive bass box. EV stopped making computer speakers a while ago but if you find one grab it. I found my last one on ebay and got the bass box with 4 speakers for less than $150.00.

[devilock76]

I am on my second emachine computer and have no complaints as I have easily gotten over 5 years of reliable performance with each computer. When Circuit City was around they usually carried them for well under $500.00 which was dirt cheap at that time. Now I believe that Best Buy still carries them. I mostly use mine for the net and listening to music. I also have EV speakers with a massive bass box. EV stopped making computer speakers a while ago but if you find one grab it. I found my last one on ebay and got the bass box with 4 speakers for less than $150.00.

E-machines are a decent budget machine. Over the years having several of them I still use them as a desktop here and there but I tend to avoid their laptops. In both desktops and laptops they seem to use some subpar components that seem to fail early and although this is easy enough to rectify on a desktop, it is not so easy to rectify on a laptop (depending on the component). I have run an emachine desktop as a development server with little to no problems for years. For laptops I am a fan of Toshiba. Fujitsu's are nice as well but they are a little more expensive. I have never been that impressed with Dell offerings. Not a critique just they aren't my first choice.

Ken

[lxskllr]

For laptops, I'm a fan of cheap. I buy low end machines, and treat them as disposables. I've pretty much given up on laptops though. I'm a huge fan of netbooks. They got the cheap part right, and I like the portability. I wouldn't get anything that has a screen greater than 10"

[Mawdryn]

For laptops, I'm a fan of cheap. I buy low end machines, and treat them as disposables. I've pretty much given up on laptops though. I'm a huge fan of netbooks. They got the cheap part right, and I like the portability. I wouldn't get anything that has a screen greater than 10"

Totally with you on low end laptops, lxs...as long as they've got a decent touchpad and a large display. I love the portability of a small netbook, but have eye fatigue problems using small screens.

Have spent a lot of time looking at tablets lately, though...

[devilock76]

For laptops, I'm a fan of cheap. I buy low end machines, and treat them as disposables. I've pretty much given up on laptops though. I'm a huge fan of netbooks. They got the cheap part right, and I like the portability. I wouldn't get anything that has a screen greater than 10"

My mobile requirements are different. My laptops do triple duty.

1. Development environment, so many different IDE's potentially running.
2. On demand server environment - to test said development when not up on my main network. So instances of Apache, Tomcat, MYSQL, etc.
3. Mobile media

No granted all three of those could be done on a netbook. But take each item:

1. Screen real estate starts to become a big issue with most IDE's like eclipse and Netbeans.
2. Horsepower of course becomes a concern here.
3. Mobile multitrack recording with current atom processors is not realistic, plus netbooks and firewire aren't that common or productive a combination.

Even still I have a netbook as well, it is for quick pop it on and run. Although when I get an Ipad I will be dropping the netbook as the Ipad will replace everything I currently use the netbook for. I know you are saying the keyboard on the netpad is better than the ios keyboard. With my ape hands it is even. I would rather have an ipad and a bluetooth keyboard or some other external keyboard than 99% of the netbook keyboards out there.

Again requirements vary.

Personally I agree on the laptop thing in a different way. I buy used. The main reason is I am going to flush the laptop and install linux anyway there is little bonus to buying new for me.

Ken

[Ansel]

What about getting a Hackintosh Mini?

http://lifehacker.com/5815715/how-to...-less-than-600

[GoVegan]

A Hackintosh. I love it!

[devilock76]

What about getting a Hackintosh Mini?

http://lifehacker.com/5815715/how-to...-less-than-600

Same friend I mentioned before also built one. Truth is installing linux is easier and yields better results. Still a neat project but technically a violation of the OSX license.

Ken