Getting a Mac Mini advice needed - Page 7

Semi On · 04-05-2005, 21:46

Congrats, the iMac is a fine machine. Nice to (finally) see 512MB of RAM as standard and GPU bumped to 128MB.

I'd be tempted myself, but I'm too used to dual-procs.

Once my bills are paid a dual 2.7 will be winging it's way to me.

BTW, what is up with the low-end PowerMac? The iMac has twice the hard-drive space, twice the RAM, twice the video memory and a 17" LCD, for the same price. It wasn't so bad before the iMac was refreshed, but now it looks terrible.

LostintheNW · 04-05-2005, 22:12

I looked at the power pc and was thinking about getting one but you dont get much compared to the iMac now they are updated and i want to be able to use the pc and mac together so need one with a screen...the iMac looks great from what I have seen and i upgraded to 1gig of ram so hopefully that might make things run smoother?

So much for the mac mini lol!!! but well i have always had a pc and thought it was time for a change, i will just use them both as well here is the next question...are they easy to network together? (I have heard the macs are great for networking so i am hoping this is a yes!!)

My pc has xp pro on it at the moment so is it better the mac connects to this or should the pc connect to the mac (not sure if that makes sense at all but I am tired from lack of sleep!)

And thats crappy you dont get the discount and you should seeing as you area student!!

punky · 04-05-2005, 22:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

are they easy to network together? (I have heard the macs are great for networking so i am hoping this is a yes!!!

Yup, Macs work just fine with Windows. I have never had any problems, but oddly, I get more resistance from XP Pro, rather than from Macs

LostintheNW · 04-05-2005, 22:29

seeing as it comes with wireless built in is that easy to setup to network and share the net connection?

Semi On · 04-05-2005, 22:38

Networking is easy enough. You could also control your PC via the Mac using MS Remote Desktop.

punky · 04-05-2005, 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

seeing as it comes with wireless built in is that easy to setup to network and share the net connection?

Yup the router is OS-inspecific, so no worries there.

If you want to control a Windows machine from Mac/Windows/Linux, then I use VNC... Its excellent (and free)

LostintheNW · 04-05-2005, 23:38

I shall have to give that a go when it turns up - guess it will be fun to figure out a whole new opertaing system and see what things can be done with it

punky · 04-05-2005, 23:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

I shall have to give that a go when it turns up - guess it will be fun to figure out a whole new opertaing system and see what things can be done with it

TBH its not so new and scary (although a background in Linux helps) The filesystem is probably the biggest thing that is new and different, but easy enough to work out. Aside from that, it is the little things, like the minimise/maximise/close buttons are on the left, not right, and that the menubars aren't attached to the windows, they are attached to the desktop. You see them by clicking the owner window. One thing that gets beginners at first, is that closing the window doesn't always close the program (I have only ever seen 1 Mac program do that). You close it, it disappears, you think its closed, but it is still running in the Dock (thing at the bottom), with the ^ under it. You have to click-hold on itand close it there.

Oh year, and you need to grow some extra fingers per hand. Macs not only have Windows-styled 2 button shortcuts, but 3 and 4 button shortcuts too

Getting used to the Linux backend, and getting Linux apps to run on Macs is the biggest/toughest thing you'll probably need to know, but there are good books out there (and websites).

**Chris** · 04-05-2005, 23:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

One thing that gets beginners at first, is that closing the window doesn't always close the program (I have only ever seen 1 Mac program do that). You close it, it disappears, you think its closed, but it is still running in the Dock (thing at the bottom), with the ^ under it. You have to click-hold on itand close it there.

Of the stuff that comes with Mac OS, only the Calculator genuinely goes away when you click its red button, AFAIK. Always catches me out, that.

For getting rid of programs, I have learned the habit of keyboard shortcuts. apple-Q is always Quit in Mac OS.

LostintheNW · 05-05-2005, 00:00

All i know about it is that cd's get mounted, and to uninstall a program you drag its icon to the trash can - so thats my mac knowledge should get me far....not!

Oh one other thing, is it easier on the mac to dump a list of songs in my iTunes library into an excel/word doc? as it cannot do it on my pc!! (random questions i know)

Lew · 05-05-2005, 11:34

In both the Mac and Windows versions of iTunes:

1: Click on "Library"
2: Click on "File -> Export Song List"
3: Import the resulting tab-delimited text file into Excel

LostintheNW · 05-05-2005, 15:22

thanks!

ntlrocks · 05-05-2005, 19:42

You will get to know your mac well, i always use Apple + W to close a window....Apple+Q to quit the program....and Apple+H to hide the whole program so its running but not visible at all.

Just have a wee look through the book, and apples help program is amazing - even compares some bits to windows, for people like yourslef and me.

LostintheNW · 05-05-2005, 20:07

cool! well I cant wait to get it, will be nice to finally get to know my way around OSX, plus is it true that OSX is more stable than windows?

Chris W · 05-05-2005, 20:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostintheNW

cool! well I cant wait to get it, will be nice to finally get to know my way around OSX, plus is it true that OSX is more stable than windows?

about 1,000,000 times more stable

and no... i'm not exaggerating!!