Mac Mini

[Olan Giech]

Anyone have one?
I'm interested in getting one, but willing to hear any gripes or praises first.

I'll be using it for running Maya5 and After Effects5.5, compositing video and 3D, as well as playing Battlefield 1942.

[TheGurkha]

Never seen one in the flesh but they are intriguing from the write ups. Can be pricey though, by the time you stick in the extra RAM and so forth. But if you already have a mouse, monitor and keyboard there's a saving to be had there. Also the box is absolutely crammed, you can't fit ny more bits in it, they hang outside on cables, also check out some of the options at buying time, because they have to be factory fitted and can't be retrofitted by the end user! (Can't remember what though - might be different types of CDRW/DVD etc.)

[caber]

Still waiting for one ordered at the launch. Current delivery to distribution in UK is 5 March no idea how many machines or who will get them against what must be a huge back order list!

Caber :eek:

[OrbitalPear]

You can get a much better deal on a PC. Sad, but true.

[caber]

Yes you can by a much cheaper PC, I recently got a Dell with monitor and keyboard for the same price as a mac mini, but the macs we have are still running faultlessly after several years, I still have an '84 mac that runs perfectly. The oldest machine I have working online is 7 year old mac running a mail server that has been running 24/7 for 3 or 4 years without any hardware related problems before that it was a workstation and did not have any problems then either!

Macs also come with a good software package including iTunes, iMovie, a pretty good DV editor, iPhoto , Graphic Converter, an excellent image editor converter, a good email client, an acceptable PIM , a DVD editor, a DVD player, an image capture tool that works with most digital cameras and scanners, all installed and working out the box. By the time you get all this together and running on a PC you will be much older probably grey and stressed and have the thing crashing all over the place with all the buggy freeware!

Macs ae a good deal Honest!

Caber :D

[Lacy]

Couldn't agree more.

I am forced to use PC's at work, at home I have a G4 Cube which I bought pretty much as soon as they came out. That's a few years ago now.......still looks a million dollars, no fan so absolute silence and runs 24/7, and has done for years, without a hitch. You can't beat them in my book for aesthetics, reliability and so much more intuitive to use.

[Olan Giech]

I bought one.
Couldn't resist.
A mac mini, or in italian mini mac as it turns out.
The mac mini Plus, 1.42Ghz proccessor, 512Mb ram, with bluetooth, and a mac keyboard for e710 euro, which turned out to be 40euro cheaper than the Apple website.

Bought a VGA monitor adapter so when I bring the mini into work, I can plug it into any monitor around.
Oh and I deleted the games, as it's soooo fast that Battlefields1942 became impossibly addictive. "We've got 'em on the run!"

Currently running After Effects5.5 which is fast.

[Astbury]

If your working with Digital video then the Mac is the way to go. I used PC's for video before and they are dog slow over the Mac. I have a 17" powerbook 1.2Ghz and it whips the @ss off my 3Ghz PC when working with video!

C