[Earsly]

Hello all,
I'm debating if I should get rid of my PC for a mac mini. I currently have a 2.8ghz, 1gb ram, top of the line video card but I fell in love with the Mini. I recently gave up gaming so I could probably just sell my video card which would cover the basic mini. So I have a few questions for all of you mac users. Sorry if this is repeated questions.

1. If I only plan on webbrowsing, chatting via AIM, take and post up pictures, listen to music, use Microsoft Office programs....is this Mini good enough to do the job at a non slow pace?

2. Does Iwork work with microsoft word documents?

3. I have a Dell 2005fpw... Is it basically the same monitor as the Apple 20 inch display? I would rather sell it since the apple monitor looks way better but if its the same I'll probably just keep it.

4. There are only two USB's on the Mini...If I buy one of those 1 usb that turns in 4 would it work with the Mini?

5. How fast is this when compared to a PC machine...like 2.2 ghz, 2.4 ghz, etc.....

6. How much ram would be suffient to do the things I do because I have read that you need 1 gb to run the operating system efficiently.

I'm about to convert to Mac, please help me by answering my questions. Thanks

[RonnieoftheRose]

1. Anything over 400Mhz is more than fast enough for what you listed. My machine is only 1Ghz and has a slower video card than the mini and I do all that, render video, burn DVDs and play a game or two.

2. Yes and it should improve with a couple of inevitable free minor updates.

3. If money is a problem keep your monitor.

4. USB hubs are plug and play on any platform.

5. A 1.25Ghz G4 is roughly the same as a 2hz Pentium IV is most tasks. Some applications that take advantage of Altivec can be a little faster. The 1.42Ghz chip would be about the same as a 2.2Ghz Pentium IV.

6. I have only 512MB and never needed more.

[Ganesha]

And there is always Mac edition of MS Word if you need a high level of MS Word compatibility.

[Earsly]

Thanks for your reply. I just put one on hold at a local apple store. I was wondering if this dvd/rw drive would work with the mini since I can't upgrade to super drive at apple stores.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=&refurbished=

[recogniser]

Originally posted by Earsly:
Thanks for your reply. I just put one on hold at a local apple store. I was wondering if this dvd/rw drive would work with the mini since I can't upgrade to super drive at apple stores.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=&refurbished=

This is guaranteed to work, and pretty cool, too. But of course, it doesn't ship until mid-February. LaCie products have always been great for me, though.

[alphasubzero949]

Originally posted by Earsly:

1. If I only plan on webbrowsing, chatting via AIM, take and post up pictures, listen to music, use Microsoft Office programs....is this Mini good enough to do the job at a non slow pace?

2. Does Iwork work with microsoft word documents?

3. I have a Dell 2005fpw... Is it basically the same monitor as the Apple 20 inch display? I would rather sell it since the apple monitor looks way better but if its the same I'll probably just keep it.

4. There are only two USB's on the Mini...If I buy one of those 1 usb that turns in 4 would it work with the Mini?

5. How fast is this when compared to a PC machine...like 2.2 ghz, 2.4 ghz, etc.....

6. How much ram would be suffient to do the things I do because I have read that you need 1 gb to run the operating system efficiently.

1. Yes.

2. I don't see why not. There's always MS Office 2004 (and a student/teacher version for ~$150).

3. Yes.

4. USB hubs will work regardless of platform. I have 3 of them (1 really old) and all work with Panther.

5. The G4s are roughly equivalent to the PowerBook line, and if us PowerBook owners can do heavy photo and movie editing on them with ease, you shouldn't have any trouble. IMO they are more than adequate for basic computing.

6. 512 MB should be the minimum, 768 MB the sweet spot for most tasks, and 1 GB as plenty.

[hudson1]

Originally posted by Earsly:
Thanks for your reply. I just put one on hold at a local apple store. I was wondering if this dvd/rw drive would work with the mini since I can't upgrade to super drive at apple stores.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=&refurbished=

Many people have external Plextor drives with their Mac. Look on the internet for a small software patch called Patchburn that will allow the external DVD burner to appear as native.

[Earsly]

Thanks for your replys. I just got a mini. I hope I made the right choice.

[Lothlorien]

Originally posted by Earsly:
Thanks for your replys. I just got a mini. I hope I made the right choice.

I am thinking of getting a Mac Mini as well. So are you happy with it? Did you make the right choice? and did you get iLife?

[Dog Like Nature]

Originally posted by Earsly:
I just got a mini. I hope I made the right choice.

You did! Enjoy

[Earsly]

After my first day of using it. I am very happy with it. I am only dissapointed that its feels kinda slow. Even as I'm typing here and using AIM its lagging I'm guessing that its the 256mb of ram. I plan to upgrade to 1gb but don't know which memory to get and a cheap price. Apple's price is outrageous.

Another problem is software and games. I use to play final fantasy XI on pc but can't do that anymore. I was selling some stuff on ebay yesterday and didn't have microsoft frontpage on hand so I had to use a PC to do my work. iLife came with the Mini so thats great. Another complaint is viewing pictures. This operating system doesn't seem to have the option of showing you a preview of the picture like windows XP does. You gotta actually click on all the pictures and then open it to see it.

It seems at this point I have more complaints about the MAC OS then windows but I'm sure I'll fall in love with MAC once I learn how to use this thing.

[AssassyN]

CONGRATS!

The ENTIRE reason things "feel slow" is the 256MB of RAM. That is a disgrace and it's a shame Apple doesn't provide more. Get a 1GB DIMM as soon as you can and watch your tasks fly. Go to ramseeker.com and search for 1GB PC2700 DIMMs. Typically coastmemory.com (or 18004memory.com, same place) has the lowest prices and their memory has ALWAYS worked perfectly in my Macs (PowerBooks, iMacs, and PowerMacs).

Your complaint about preview is one of mine as well. I love Windows preview, and you can actually select all your pics in OS X and right-click and open w/ "Preview" and it works about the same.

And eBay is one of my biggest gripes too. I have to use my Dell w/ IE6 (which I hate b/c I use FireFox 100% except for eBay auctions and yahoo mail e-mails) to list auctions using that easy color/size formatter.

But anyway, enjoy your Mac and your stay here @ MacNN

[tooki]

Mac OS X is a slug with 256MB of RAM. Upgrading to 512-1024MB will result in a massive speed boost.

You are absolutely right, Apple's RAM costs are outrageous! Except for older Mac models, which are less picky about RAM quality, I only buy (or recommend to clients) RAM online from Crucial. It's absolutely top-quality, and reasonably priced, if not the cheapest. (Crucial is the retail arm of Micron, a top-notch U.S. chipmaker.)

You can get picture previews choosing View->Show View Options. One of the options is "Show Icon Preview".

Microsoft FrontPage is just about the worst web design program out there. The HTML code it writes is absolutely horrible. Mozilla (which is totally free) includes a decent web editing component.

The only area of software where Macs lag is in games. Many popular games never get released for Mac (despite the fact that past experience has proven that it's easy to recover the porting costs).

To look for Mac software, use www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com . They both know of pretty much every current Mac program in existence.

As for AIM: are you using AOL's own AIM client, or are you using Apple's AIM client, iChat? AOL's AIM for Mac OS X is badly written, and it tends to be sluggish. iChat is always snappy. (There are also other AIM clients for Mac, like Proteus and Adium.)

tooki

[Ricky]

Originally posted by tooki:
You can get picture previews choosing View->Show View Options. One of the options is "Show Icon Preview".

tooki

Heck, I've been using OS X since it first came out and I didn't know this. Thanks for the tip.

[mitchell_pgh]

256 of ran is OK, but you will grow out of it FAST. I just upgraded my system to 512 and it's noticeable. It feels like I got a CPU upgrade.

[Earsly]

Thanks for the replys.

I just ordered 1gb of ram from crucial. Hope that gets this Mini going.

Is there a Program (free if possible) like microsoft frontpage where you basically design the webpage and it turns it into HTML. I only need that for selling stuff on ebay.

For Ichat, is there a way you can put a profile so that people from AIM can read it. I tried everything and just can't get it to work. Also I don't see an option for an away message. Most of the people I chat with use AIM.

Is there a way to keep OS X from remembering all my recent applications that I open or folders? I don't really like deleting my recent folders or websites that I go to. haha

Thanks

Mike

[osxisfun]

there is a free nVu?

html editor. i don't like it though.

try versiontracker.com i am sure there is either a free or cheap html editor there...


also search versiontracker for ebay. i saw an ebay html / image uploaded a while back.

[macintologist]

Originally posted by Earsly:

Is there a Program (free if possible) like microsoft frontpage where you basically design the webpage and it turns it into HTML. I only need that for selling stuff on ebay.

try Mozilla Link (thanks Tooki).

For Ichat, is there a way you can put a profile so that people from AIM can read it. I tried everything and just can't get it to work. Also I don't see an option for an away message. Most of the people I chat with use AIM.

You can try a program called iProfile [Link], but since it looks like you're not very interested in the non-crossplatform features of iChat such as voiceconferencing, then I highly recommend you download Adium (free, link) It's a great program, and fully supports away messages. In iChat, you can set away messages but they are only one line long, and other people's away messages appear without proper indents and paragraph formatting. It's not a big deal really. I personally use iChat because of its Rendezvous support and I like the interface.

Is there a way to keep OS X from remembering all my recent applications that I open or folders? I don't really like deleting my recent folders or websites that I go to. haha

System Preferences -> Appearance -> Number of Recent Items.

As for preventing your web browser from remembering the sites you go to. If you're using Safari, I think you need to download a free program called Safari Enhancer, or something like that. With that program you can set the History to 0 so that is never remembers any sites.

[tooki]

Originally posted by Earsly:
Also I don't see an option for an away message. Most of the people I chat with use AIM.

iChat uses the AIM network.

In your iChat buddy list, see where it has your name, and under it, says "Available"? That's a menu. When you click on it, you see "Custom..." twice: once with green (to set a custom status while you're there), and once with red (to set a custom away message).

tooki

[Earsly]

Thanks everyone for helping me. I'm really falling in love with my Mini. I have a few more questions...

1. Does anyone know why I can't empty my junk mail folder in hotmail when I use Safari or Internet explorer. It works with Mozilla.

2. How often do people restart their Macs. When I had a PC I had to do it at least once a day. Right now I haven't turned off my Mini for 3 days. I want to see if there's any heating problems or anything else.

Thanks in advance for everyone's answers.

[PurpleGiant]

I don't think I ever turn my Mac off. I put it to sleep most nights, and restart after a software update.

[alphasubzero949]

Originally posted by Earsly:
Thanks everyone for helping me. I'm really falling in love with my Mini. I have a few more questions...

1. Does anyone know why I can't empty my junk mail folder in hotmail when I use Safari or Internet explorer. It works with Mozilla.

2. How often do people restart their Macs. When I had a PC I had to do it at least once a day. Right now I haven't turned off my Mini for 3 days. I want to see if there's any heating problems or anything else.

Thanks in advance for everyone's answers.

1. Hotmail has issues with Safari. I know plenty of people who have problems with it. I'd like to use the evil MS conspiracy theory, but...

2. I haven't had to restart any of my laptops except for software updates or installs that "required" it. Having uptimes of weeks or months is not unheard of.

One important thing to note: If you don't leave the computer on all the time there is a fair chance that log files won't be rotated and other maintenance-related tasks will be failed to be backed up. This is not Panther's fault; it's an inheritance from BSD. Unix systems were written on the assumption that the machines were never turned off, so the maintenance tasks would be set to run in the wee hours of the morning. Download Onyx, Maintenance, or MacJanitor (all freeware, searchable from VersionTracker.com) and you'll be able to run those tasks whenever.

Onyx is a good general maintenance utility to run in addition to Disk Utility if you suspect something quirky with the OS (cache corrupted, bad permissions, etc.). It's a good idea to run Onyx once in a while. Others may recommend another program called Cocktail, but its developer got greedy and started charging money for something that can essentially be run from the Terminal itself (if you know the commands of course).

You may be asking about a defragging program. Defragmentation is built into the OS and is discussed at length in the forum (do a search).

Also consider buying DiskWarrior as a preventative maintenance utility.

[Simon]

Originally posted by alphasubzero949:
something that can essentially be run from the Terminal itself (if you know the commands of course).

Here are the commands. You might as well forget Onyx and any other greedy tool, if you know the CLI commands.

To get a list of the last maintenance runs type:

ls -l /var/log | grep .out

You'll get something like:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 122586 25 Jan 06:38 daily.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 528 1 Jan 11:21 monthly.out
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 28092 22 Jan 08:13 weekly.out

If you see that a certain task should have run in the meantime, just start it on the fly with:

sudo periodic daily

or

sudo periodic weekly

or

sudo periodic monthly

After you enter your password it will take your Mac some seconds to run the tasks. When it's finished you can type again:

ls -l /var/log | grep .out

And you'll see that the chosen task now has an updated date.

To find out more about these maintenance tasks, just type

man periodic

Good luck!

[Earsly]

Well I just installed 1gb of ram from crucial. It feels a little faster but still slow. I don't know if its because my PC was a 2.8ghz but I was expecting speed from the Mini. I just expect that when I open up applications and then select Adium it would open up instantly. It takes awhile to open still. I know some people will probably think i'm crazy but I thought the Mini would be a little faster. Maybe its because I'm still new to the Mac format.

Also when I go to www.espn.com and answer the poll question at the bottom of the page....the results open up really slow. Is anyone else having the same problem?

I hoping I can do something to make it faster because I basically just webbrowse and chat. Thanks.

[ApeInTheShell]

If you look at MacNN's news from this week under software there is "GarageSale" which has an HTML editor, lets you resize pictures in iPhoto, and import without being online so you can do it later. I tried it out and it is okay but the interface could use some improving. The cost is $25.

Download Firefox, Camino, or Internet Explorer for Mac and see if this solves your ESPN problem. I know some pages give me problems in Safari because of special plugin's. Also consider downloading Windows Media Player from http://www.microsoft.com/mac for video content.

My applications take about 3 bounces to load while others take 6. I have an iMac G3 which is a slower processor but some applications like Limewire are loading processes in the background that make it slower. It also could depend on how recently you used Adium and whether it is in your Dock or in the Finder. If it takes more than 13 bounces I would enter the ctrl-command-esc combo to see if it is having problems.

Have fun with your Mac Mini!