Should I spend ?400 on a Mac Mini or a Laptop?

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

Well I'm finally getting a bit pissed off with my PC.
Its slow,
bulky,
sometimes switches itself off & when I get a MS prompt to infrom MS of the problem that caused the shut down MS tell me they cant determine the problem (brilliant!!),
It doesnt recognise any albums I play thru my PC anymore,
PDF doesnt work anymore for some reason,
I havent played any games on it for about 3 yrs because its tempremental.

So I'm thinking about splashing out on a Mac Mini from Apple's website or a Laptop from my local PC World.
Mac minis look great & take up minimum space. I had a go on 1 in my local PC World & although some ppl say they are hard to get used to I found them okay. The dashboard was the only thing I found different which is no biggy. They come with security software, so no need to buy countless other software packages which arent really very reliable.
Laptops on the other hand are versatile & u can just take em anywhere & everythings in 1 package.

So what do u guys think?
Anyone on here using a Mini Mac or Laptop on a permanent basis?
Any comments/advice/help from u guys would be appreciated, thanx!!

[H.I.]

My main computer is a Mac mini. No complaints. Has everything I need in one box that is almost silent under the desk. You may want to wait until springtime, because a new major version of the operating system and the iLife software should be out then. Also watch out for Apple's Mighty Mouse because it has some major annoyances like the scroll ball getting stuck. But you can use any USB mouse & keyboard. One more warning, if you've been a Windows user for a long time, you might not get used to the Mac OS for a while, maybe never if you're stubborn.

[Revolution6000]

I don't see how it can take anyone with any real computer experience any trouble at all to get used to OSX. I switched a few years back, and I think within a day or two I pretty much knew everything I needed to know about using OSX. The only thing that could cause any sort of confusion is the whole .dmg way of installing things. Basically you download an image that is mounted, you then drag the icon to your Applications folder, or anywhere that you want, and then have to eject the mounted image and then delete the downloaded image. It's not exactly complicated, but it might confuse at first.

If you don't play any PC games, or maybe all you want to play is some older ones then definitely go for a Mac Mini. OSX is far better than anything Microsoft could ever put out, and it's just really nice to be using a system were you don't need to worry about what you do, as there's no risk of viruses.

Oh, and you will try and use Expose if you ever use another OS. Installed XP last night via BootCamp, opened a few windows and my reaction was to hit F9 to try and move between them.

Edit: I use a MacBook connected to my Dell 2005 as my main computer and it does everything that I could ever need it to do.

[ascender]

Once you've used OS X for a bit, you'll see why IMO XP still has some way to go to be user friendly. I've got an iMac here dual-booting XP and OS X, but having gotten used to OS X now, its just such a nicer place to work in. XP is handy for gaming, but is a bit of a pain when you're doing anything else. I've used Windows for as long as I can remember and still do in my job, but I got used to OS X pretty quickly. If we were talking OS9, then I could understand as I tried it and just couldn't get used to it, but OS X is a pretty fantastic piece of software.

One thing though, as with a PC, add as much RAM as you can afford.

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

My main computer is a Mac mini. No complaints. Has everything I need in one box that is almost silent under the desk. You may want to wait until springtime, because a new major version of the operating system and the iLife software should be out then. Also watch out for Apple's Mighty Mouse because it has some major annoyances like the scroll ball getting stuck. But you can use any USB mouse & keyboard. One more warning, if you've been a Windows user for a long time, you might not get used to the Mac OS for a while, maybe never if you're stubborn.

Yeah, but does 'new OS & iLife' also mean its going to cost a fair bit more?!!
Whats the specs on yours H.I.?

[H.I.]

Yeah, but does 'new OS & iLife' also mean its going to cost a fair bit more?!!
Whats the specs on yours H.I.?

The new OS and iLife are free with every Mac, so they would cost nothing if you wait for the spring. Sometimes if you're lucky, Apple will give you a free or discounted upgrade price if the new software comes out within a month after you buy a computer.

My own Mac mini is last year's PowerPC system with 512 MB. These days even the cheapest one has an Intel Core Duo. Apple might switch to the even faster Core 2 Duo soon, they have done it with some of their other systems.

[andrewfee]

My own Mac mini is last year's PowerPC system with 512 MB. These days even the cheapest one has an Intel Core Duo. Apple might switch to the even faster Core 2 Duo soon, they have done it with some of their other systems.

I wouldn't expect Core2 on the Mini/MacBooks any time soon - the chips are in very high demand, and Apple is using all the ones they can get for their MacBook Pros / iMacs, and the Mini/MacBooks are "low end" machines, if you can call them that.

I wouldn't bother waiting for Leopard / iLife personally, but it would save you ?150 if you were to upgrade. The only thing I use out of iLife is iTunes, and that's free - the bundled versions of each app are great now anyway.

If you can afford it, I would recommend the MacBooks - they're amazing machines, with just about everything you would want in a laptop. (unless you plan on gaming on it) Great size, and good battery life - this one gets about 3.5hrs surfing via WiFi.

If not, I'd definitely go for the Mac Mini over a PC notebook. Once you've used OSX for any length of time, you'll wonder how you managed to put up with XP so long. For what it's worth, I used to have Macs, and always thought they were a bit clunky/slow, but that was back in the OS9 days. I switched a few years ago now (iMac G5 when they launched) and haven't regretted it at all.

[segages]

I use a MacBook as my everyday machine. It's nice to turn your computer on and do what you set out to do without worrying about all these XP problems. I still use XP occasionally (not by choice) and have used Macs since System 7 (now there's an OS you wouldn't like) and Windows since well, er, DOS

I switched to OSX for my daily machine once it hit 10.2 (Jaguar). Prior to that, it was still in transition from 9->10.

If you went for the Mac Mini (Intel Core Duo) you'd be able to test drive OSX as it were and run XP via BootCamp if you need to. I really couldn't recommend XP over Tiger. And, from what I've seen of it, I doubt I'll be recommending Vista over Leopard

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

I'm getting some good info from u guys!!

Thanx dudes!!

I dont use my PC to its full capacity. Its only used to create/view/print documents/pictures & for the internet, & it isnt used for gaming at anymore as I've decided gaming is only for my consoles.

I really meant wether I should get a Mac Mini or a regular Laptop as I only have about ?400 to spend. I'd love a MacBook, but just cant afford to spend ?700 minimum on 1. It looks like the Ma Mini gets the thumbs up from u guys & its great to hear your advice.

Hey segages are u talking about the ability to use XP OS on a mac mini? I had heard that this was possible, as well as being able to use your regular PC mouse/keyboard/other USB devices, but does this also go for MS Office 03 as I use excel/word quite a bit?

[bignige]

I'm getting some good info from u guys!!

Thanx dudes!!

I dont use my PC to its full capacity. Its only used to create/view/print documents/pictures & for the internet, & it isnt used for gaming at anymore as I've decided gaming is only for my consoles.

I really meant wether I should get a Mac Mini or a regular Laptop as I only have about ?400 to spend. I'd love a MacBook, but just cant afford to spend ?700 minimum on 1. It looks like the Ma Mini gets the thumbs up from u guys & its great to hear your advice.

Hey segages are u talking about the ability to use XP OS on a mac mini? I had heard that this was possible, as well as being able to use your regular PC mouse/keyboard/other USB devices, but does this also go for MS Office 03 as I use excel/word quite a bit?

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

[Vince]

Out of interest do torrent files and all media files work ok on a mac, ie xvid, divx etc? Also how easy is it to network one to a pc and share documents?

[bignige]

Out of interest do torrent files and all media files work ok on a mac, ie xvid, divx etc? Also how easy is it to network one to a pc and share documents?

Yup, all that stuff works. For Torrents use either Bittorrent or Bit Rocket, UnrarX and to watch them use VLC. Networking, although I haven't tried it is supposed to be pretty easy to do.

[H.I.]

If you want to use your Windows version of MS Office then you will have to boot the Mac into Windows & run it there. Or you might be able to buy the Mac bundled with the Mac version of Office.

To watch Divx files, I prefer to get the codec from divx.com and watch the movies with Quicktime Player or with RealPlayer which has a full screen mode.

To play Windows Media files I use the Flip4mac component that is here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx

It seems to play just about anything but unfortunately not the audio if it uses the windows media voice codec.

[segages]

Hey segages are u talking about the ability to use XP OS on a mac mini? I had heard that this was possible, as well as being able to use your regular PC mouse/keyboard/other USB devices, but does this also go for MS Office 03 as I use excel/word quite a bit?

Indeed. All of Apple's products now run on Intel, meaning they can all run OSX or Windows natively using BootCamp. Basically, it partitions your drive and you pick which OS to run when you startup. Easy.

You can also run XP (and Linux, etc) inside of OSX at good speeds via a neat program called Parallels. Think of it as VMWare. It doesn't feel emulated and slow. You don't get native graphics card power but it's a minor trade off to have both OSs running at the same time and being able to switch in and out in an instant.

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa64cb_qwms&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mc_THfACAQ

If you're stuck to a budget of ?400 I would recommend the Mac Mini. If you want to run Parallels, I would recommend boosting the RAM as much as you can. A ?400 laptop isn't going to be that great from my experience. Bulky, heavy, low battery life... not my idea of a portable machine at all.

For the other questions. Networking, torrents, movies, codecs are all fine. There's been a serious increase in ease of use for these over the past few years which was nice to see. Another barrier out of the way. Front Row is great for watching trailers and much more.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/frontrow.html

Version Tracker is a good site to look at what's available for OSX.

[Hodge]

Well I'm finally getting a bit pissed off with my PC.
Its slow,
bulky,
sometimes switches itself off & when I get a MS prompt to infrom MS of the problem that caused the shut down MS tell me they cant determine the problem (brilliant!!),
It doesnt recognise any albums I play thru my PC anymore,
PDF doesnt work anymore for some reason,
I havent played any games on it for about 3 yrs because its tempremental.

So I'm thinking about splashing out on a Mac Mini from Apple's website or a Laptop from my local PC World.
Mac minis look great & take up minimum space. I had a go on 1 in my local PC World & although some ppl say they are hard to get used to I found them okay. The dashboard was the only thing I found different which is no biggy. They come with security software, so no need to buy countless other software packages which arent really very reliable.
Laptops on the other hand are versatile & u can just take em anywhere & everythings in 1 package.

So what do u guys think?
Anyone on here using a Mini Mac or Laptop on a permanent basis?
Any comments/advice/help from u guys would be appreciated, thanx!!

The switching of issue sounds hardware related (possibly your graphics card overheating)As for your other issues, you could try reinstalling acrobat reader which will cure your issue with pdf files.

As for having a mac, I have thought about it before, then I think why limit myself. Bang for buck you get more with a pc plus you know everybit of software you download is gonna work with Windows. And people who say OSX is far more reliable than Windows isn`t true. If your hardware inside your PC is functioning as it should, you won`t get any issues with Windows. Software side use a web browser like Mozilla to stop spyware getting onto your system, then your machine should run perfectly with Windows. I`ve been using Windows xp for years now and haven`t had any issues with it. I`d say go for another pc, or if you don`t play games anymore and want to save room, go for a laptop.