Apple's OSX, based on the Unix operating system, is both stable and robust, allowing the machine to go forever between full reboots without suffering from the OS-rot that plagues Windows users who try to do the same.Shopping for an inexpensive PC? Make it a Mac Mini. You won't regret it.
For $499 For $599 CPU 1.25GHZ PowerPC G4 1.42GHZ RAM 256MB 256MB Hard Drive 40GB 80GB Optical Drive Slot loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW Graphics ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB DDR SDRAM Ports 2 USB 2.0, 1 firewire, ethernet, DVI -- Up to 1GB memory
-- DVD-burning super drive
-- 80 GB hard drive
-- Internal Bluetooth adaptor
-- Internal Airport (802.11x) adaptor
-- Apple keyboard/mouse
Inexpensive
Powerful, yet quiet
Small and sexy
Loaded with features
Easy to use
A safer computing platform than Windows
Little room for internal upgrades
Could use a couple more USB ports
See more at the Apple Mac Mini website
Mini_magic
Apple's Mac Mini has been out for a little more than a month now. Have you been tempted to make the switch from Windows?
Hardly a week goes by that I don't get asked the same question at least once or twice: "I need a computer, but don't want to spend a lot of money. What do you recommend?"
Until a few weeks ago, my pat answer was to send those folks clicking through the Dell Web site, looking for the basic Inspiron series of PCs.
Not any more. Not since one of Apple's Mac Minis took up residence on my desktop. Now, even my performance-oriented, home-built PC is getting a run for its money from Apple's latest, greatest product. How much money? Try a starting price of $499 for a well-appointed 1.25 gigahertz Mac computer equipped with OSX in a box that's probably smaller than the phone sitting on your desktop. And a heckuva lot prettier.
The machine, the Apple PR folks tell me, is aimed square at the people who are asking me those questions: Computer newbies and would-be PC-to-Mac switchers who may have balked previously at Apple's pricey boxes. They're people who may already have an investment in monitors and mice and keyboards and don't need a full-blown, multi-thousand-dollar, all-in-one iMac.
They also may have already tested the Apple waters by becoming one of the 10 million owners of the company's wildly successful and equally well-designed iPod.
"There are a lot of PC owners who also own iPods who are open to looking at a Mac now," said Jai Chulani, senior product manager for Mac Mini. "The customers see the iPods and see Mac OSX and iLife and tell us, 'Wow, this stuff is awesome.' But many of them come back and say 'I wish Apple would make a more affordable Mac.' That's what the Mini is."
Could it make a switcher out of you? Definitely.
It had been years since I had used a Mac for anything mission-critical or for anything more than just tinkering. My last machine was an old PowerPC 7500 with an upgrade chip and MacOS 9-point-something. It was slow. Software, especially once the Unix-based OSX hit the market, was difficult, if not impossible to find. The machine was nothing more than a curiosity for me.
Immediately on unpacking the Mini, I knew it would be different. Its sleek, sexy, 2-inch tall, 6-inch square, 2-1/2 pound brushed aluminum and white plastic case screams style. And setting it up was a breeze. With the included adaptor (the mini has a digital video interface -- DVI -- output for modern flat screen LCDs, but uses the adaptor for standard CRTs), I connected the box to my existing monitor. I plugged in my USB keyboard and trackball. And I jacked it into my ethernet switch.
Turning the machine -- if it can really be called that -- on, I was greeted with an easy-to-follow wizard that set up all the basics. Less than five minutes later, I was off and running, connected to my home network and to the Internet beyond.
I soon discovered the Mini ships with a host of outstanding pieces of software, for fun and play, all of them as capable as anything I've seen on the PC: iTunes, for managing your music, iPhoto, for managing your digital image collections, iMovie for turning home movies into home cinema, and iDVD, for authoring those movies to be distributed and shared. Also included are excellent calendar and address book utilities, the AppleWorks office suite, Quicken 2005, the excellent Safari web browser, MAC OSX mail, and a host of utilities and games.
In short, the machine was fast and efficient and it had everything Windows XP has and more. Or less. It doesn't have any of the vulnerabilities. Few, if if any, worms and viruses target the Mac platform, and it's not nearly as susceptible to malware planted by rogue Web sites. And it's stable. How stable? As I'm writing this column on the Mini, it occurs to me that the machine hasn't been through a full reboot in nearly three weeks. It goes to sleep when I'm not using it, and wakes up immediately when I need it. And it never seems to suffer from the inevitable slowdowns that plague Windows when you try to run it the same way.
The Mini just runs and runs and runs. And it does its job very, very quietly. At 22db, it's below the level of a human whisper. With the jet-turbines cooling my PC silenced, it's impossible to tell the Mini is even on.
"It really changes what you think about a desktop computer," Chulani said.
But what about software and compatibility? Surely the Mac platform would stumble there, I thought, and immediately set out to prove it. But one by one, my suspicions fell. I found many good Mac applications that rivaled their Windows' counterparts. I managed to configure and connect it over the Internet to the Virtual Private Network at the office. I found drivers for my scanner, for my USB device server, my label printer and my digital camera, and even managed to convince OSX that the driver for Minolta's newest color laser would work fine on mine, which is last year's model. And it did.
I realized that I could be a switcher. And I'd like it.
It's safe to say you will, too.
Tom Gromak can be reached at tgromak@detnews.com.
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