FINALLY replaced the family Dell with a Mac, much to their approval and bought a Mac Mini with the specs on my sig. For £500 i got all that and a keyboard and mouse - very good value for money IMO. We already have a 15" Dell tft, which is good enough for the family and the pq is quite good - good enough.
First impressions:
The box. As usual, smart, clean and simple box not much bigger than my iPod 20gb Box and is so light - the Mac Mini with the box (and the custom bags they have come out with) is very portable. Everything is laid out spectacularly in the box, it screams quality. On the other hand I remember opening our Dell (i was excited - this was ages before i properly considered a Mac) from a plain and cheap brown box and again being confronted with cheap manuals/layout.
Out of the box - wow. It is tiny, you see them on the net and perhaps in the store but when you have it in your hand it is just silly and amazing how technology has moved on. It is also gorgeous, the smooth edges and the simple but again quality look that Apple has to all of its products. Then came the white brick lol, about half the size of the Mini but it is actually pleasant, we have white walls so it is hid underneath the desk - no problem.
Connecting up - I was prepared for only 2 usb ports and bought a cheap 4 way port hub...but i didn't need to. With the Apple keyboard you get an extra two usb ports so i easily connected up our usb speakers/Apple mouse/keyboard and printer. Although the hub comes in handy when connecting usb memory sticks e.t.c and of course my brother iPod Mini for charging (sigh). Anyways within minutes i was all connected up, quickly plugged in the dvi-vga and connected Dell (no issues at all btw).
Turning on - Heard the chime from the Mini inbuilt speakers, which are literally only good enough for system audio feedback - as they were designed to do. A bit dissapointing was that the Mini recognized my display fine but set it at 800 X 600 which needed going into the preferences, which is fine for me but i wonder how many no techies would just think the output was poor quality and too zoomed in. Anyways, set up at 1024 and i have a nice quality signal - it is a Dell but we may be getting an Apple one soon, if they ever release a 17" model which they SHOULD do a.s.a.p with an attractive pricing point to accompany the Mini. Setting up the printer again was a complete doddle...connect and then add printer. This is one of the many things i love about OSX with all the preinstalled drivers.
Performance - 512mb is a must, it is as simple as that. Start up time is quite long, about 10-20 seconds more than my iMac, this is obviously due to the 4200rpm hard drive. But i stress this - it is fine for it's target audience and it is still quicker than our Dell P4 2.5ghz in everyday tasks.
The hd aside the 1.42ghz Mini is a very competant performer, app start ups are hardly longer than my iMac and it rarely lags behind. It is used exclusively by the family for Word/Mail/iChat/Safari and a few other everyday apps - for this the Mini is absolutely perfect. On the 15" screen the 32mb Radeon does a fine job, displays the Cube effect and activates expose perfectly. For games..lets not go there because the Mini was NOT designed at gamers and in our house, as in many, it won't be used with games.
To conclude: the Mac Mini is the perfect computer for a situation like ours. People who have a Dell, with a screen and want to get a Mac. It does everything we need for it and what a majority of its buyers will need. It is also damn f-in gorgeous and saves a lot of space, you can fit about 15 in our old Dell. The biggest worry i had was mum (not very computer literate) clicking no to block a hacker or something or opening an email virus attachment. Also i knew mum would enjoy and find it a lot easier on the Macintosh, the layout is so intiuative which is perfect for her.
I am actually quite a recent switcher with my iMac G5 in November and have since pretty much got my whole family on a Mac, or will do soon. I was astounded with OSX when i bought a second hand G3 iBook last November at 700mhz, i bought it because i was intrigued about OSX and i have never looked back. Hope you enjoy the review, and if you are thinking of getting a Mac Mini feel confident about getting it.
Oh also i will get Tiger for £10, which isn't bad at all, despite ordering it last friday
.
First impressions:
The box. As usual, smart, clean and simple box not much bigger than my iPod 20gb Box and is so light - the Mac Mini with the box (and the custom bags they have come out with) is very portable. Everything is laid out spectacularly in the box, it screams quality. On the other hand I remember opening our Dell (i was excited - this was ages before i properly considered a Mac) from a plain and cheap brown box and again being confronted with cheap manuals/layout.
Out of the box - wow. It is tiny, you see them on the net and perhaps in the store but when you have it in your hand it is just silly and amazing how technology has moved on. It is also gorgeous, the smooth edges and the simple but again quality look that Apple has to all of its products. Then came the white brick lol, about half the size of the Mini but it is actually pleasant, we have white walls so it is hid underneath the desk - no problem.
Connecting up - I was prepared for only 2 usb ports and bought a cheap 4 way port hub...but i didn't need to. With the Apple keyboard you get an extra two usb ports so i easily connected up our usb speakers/Apple mouse/keyboard and printer. Although the hub comes in handy when connecting usb memory sticks e.t.c and of course my brother iPod Mini for charging (sigh). Anyways within minutes i was all connected up, quickly plugged in the dvi-vga and connected Dell (no issues at all btw).
Turning on - Heard the chime from the Mini inbuilt speakers, which are literally only good enough for system audio feedback - as they were designed to do. A bit dissapointing was that the Mini recognized my display fine but set it at 800 X 600 which needed going into the preferences, which is fine for me but i wonder how many no techies would just think the output was poor quality and too zoomed in. Anyways, set up at 1024 and i have a nice quality signal - it is a Dell but we may be getting an Apple one soon, if they ever release a 17" model which they SHOULD do a.s.a.p with an attractive pricing point to accompany the Mini. Setting up the printer again was a complete doddle...connect and then add printer. This is one of the many things i love about OSX with all the preinstalled drivers.
Performance - 512mb is a must, it is as simple as that. Start up time is quite long, about 10-20 seconds more than my iMac, this is obviously due to the 4200rpm hard drive. But i stress this - it is fine for it's target audience and it is still quicker than our Dell P4 2.5ghz in everyday tasks.
The hd aside the 1.42ghz Mini is a very competant performer, app start ups are hardly longer than my iMac and it rarely lags behind. It is used exclusively by the family for Word/Mail/iChat/Safari and a few other everyday apps - for this the Mini is absolutely perfect. On the 15" screen the 32mb Radeon does a fine job, displays the Cube effect and activates expose perfectly. For games..lets not go there because the Mini was NOT designed at gamers and in our house, as in many, it won't be used with games.
To conclude: the Mac Mini is the perfect computer for a situation like ours. People who have a Dell, with a screen and want to get a Mac. It does everything we need for it and what a majority of its buyers will need. It is also damn f-in gorgeous and saves a lot of space, you can fit about 15 in our old Dell. The biggest worry i had was mum (not very computer literate) clicking no to block a hacker or something or opening an email virus attachment. Also i knew mum would enjoy and find it a lot easier on the Macintosh, the layout is so intiuative which is perfect for her.
I am actually quite a recent switcher with my iMac G5 in November and have since pretty much got my whole family on a Mac, or will do soon. I was astounded with OSX when i bought a second hand G3 iBook last November at 700mhz, i bought it because i was intrigued about OSX and i have never looked back. Hope you enjoy the review, and if you are thinking of getting a Mac Mini feel confident about getting it.
Oh also i will get Tiger for £10, which isn't bad at all, despite ordering it last friday
.
