Me and my Mac mini

I really should be sleeping right now, but I don’t think I can. If I went to bed now, I would spend three hours thinking about this entry (instead of sleeping) -- when it will only take me an hour to compose. And since I am the first kid on the block to get a Mac mini, I figure I better write about it.

For a refresher on our computer woes, please refer to this weblog entry on my brother JD’s site. To make a long story short, we were tired of dealing with all of the problems associated with Microsoft programs and PC ownership in general, so we made the switch to Mac. I used to think of Mac as the BOSE of the computer world, but not anymore (BOSE is kind of a joke in the speaker world).

I ordered my Mac mini, my Apple keyboard, and my Epson printer on Friday the 14th. The keyboard and printer shipped almost immediately, but the mini was not scheduled to ship for a full month longer. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I got notification on the 20th that FedEx was in transit with my mini.

The last few days were spent compiling files to transfer from PC to Mac, as well as trying to get the PC ready for it’s new roll on my workbench -- mainly as a CD player, but also as a loudspeaker measuring device. We were able to get DSL back up and running with the PC, but we still had to endure countless freeze-ups and crashes while using Internet Explorer -- and while using one of Noah’s Jump Start Learning System CDs. The Preschool CD would work just fine, but the Toddler disc just wanted to crash the whole system.

My mini arrived at work at about 1:00 this afternoon. The packaging was very robust -- some might say overkill (which is always good). After digging through two Kraft boxes and some Styrofoam, I finally got to a handsomely designed display package (complete with carry handle). Inside that was some more foam and, lo and behold; the mini itself. Along with the mini was a very simply packaged start-up set (including a User’s Guide and a few start-up discs), and a power cord / power supply -- which had to be at least a third the size of the whole computer.

I grabbed one of the many monitors we have on hand, and started hooking things up. I hooked the keyboard to one of the mini’s two USB ports, and then hooked the mouse up to one of the keyboard’s two USB ports (very nice). The VGA monitor connected to the Mac’s DVI output via the supplied adaptor. I plugged everything into a power strip, and boom -- I was in business.

JD, a Mac veteran, walked me through the initial setup -- as he had recently done the same thing with his iBook. He gave me a mini-tutorial of how Mac applications, folders, and files work; then it was time to tear it all down and bring it home.

Setup at home went very smooth -- and my DSL and email worked perfectly on the first try. Noah was right beside me during the whole installation process, and he was ready to play his Jump Start disc. I tried the Preschool one first, as it had worked fine on the PC (and it has a train that Noah really likes). I quickly found out that my computer was way too modern for this disc -- it wanted to run on OS 9 -- so I emailed JD. At the same time, I went to Apple tech support and found out that OS 9 should have been included with my mini. I searched through the supplied discs, and sure enough; OS 9 was there. I quickly installed it and retried the Jump Start disc -- and this time it worked flawlessly. Later on we tried the PC crashing Toddler disc, and it too worked just fine.

I have spent most of this evening on the mini; transferring Word documents, photos, etc. over from the PC. I did get a chance to have a little iChat session with JD and Jeremy -- which was quite entertaining at times. I have also been skimming through the book Mac OS X Power Hound, a very handy reference book written by Rob Griffiths. I have gleaned some very handy tips from the brief skimming I have done, and I look forward to reading it in full (I may have to give it back to JD to read before that happens, though).

The mini runs absolutely silent -- you don’t even know it’s there -- unless it is constantly accessing a CD, in which case it is fairly noisy; but no louder than most PCs I’ve used. Everything about the mini is smooth and silky -- from the connections to the overall execution and operation of applications. There are things that my PC at work will toast the mini at, but the mini seems more efficient overall.

I had hoped to get Photoshop Elements for the mini, as that is what I use at work; but Jeremy says I can do everything I need to in iPhoto. We will see. If iPhoto compresses the photos small enough to satisfy the AWL (Almighty Web Lord, aka JD), then I guess it will work just fine. If I can successfully publish this entire entry using AppleWorks and iPhoto, then I probably don’t need anything else.

So, if you are fed up with the idiosyncrasies of Microsoft products and you have fairly basic needs from a computer, I highly recommend the mini.

Posted by jethro at January 25, 2005 11:33 PM | TrackBack