Well folks I've gone and done it, I've decided a Mac Mini is for me. Some of you say don't bother and some say they are ok, so I'll see for myself how it goes. In these days of "Convergence" I'll be linking it up with the TV to browse the web and using the Apple TV recorder at a later date. Should be delivered by Friday so I'll let you know how the "Mac" experience goes.I was pleasantly suprised at the discount I received as my daughter is at Uni. and 3 years warranty for £30 instead of £120. Good start, so I hope I don't regret it.

I bought a Mac Mini in May. Loved it so much I bought a Macbook Pro last month.

Even SWMBO prefers it now. Faster, smoother & less hang ups. Use it for Lightroom & CS4 mostly.

Only problem for me now is she wants her Laptop replacing at Christmas for a Macbook Pro like mine...........

So, be prepared for going to the darkside completely

I've no idea what \lightroom and cs4 is. Thats an expensive laptop you've bought mate. I could get a new exhaust and a custom map twice over.

Sorry.

CS4 is Adobe Creative Suite 4 (Photoshop)

Lightroom is Adobe's simplified version of CS4 but is much better at processing large quantities of images & cataloging etc.

I agree, Macs are more expensive, but seem to last longer & do not need upgrading as often.

I've just had an email from Apple advertising a 'One day shopping' event this Friday (27th Nov). Special deals & some reduced prices but no idea of what they are.

Soot1e; don't worry. It won't be anywhere near the amount you got through the education store.

I have a Mac Book Pro and it has Windows XP on it aswell

Got a Macbook Pro a few months ago using the education discount (and a £20 iPod touch to boot) and recently replaced my dead work eMac with a Mac Mini. So far so good, I'm really liking Leopard and Snow Leopard, despite what I've heard about the latter. Thankfully that's on the work Mac, just in case anything goes wrong. Oh, and welcome to the DARK SIDE!

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/11/24/apple-i7-imacs-showing-up-doa

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?p=1526001

Couple of things for the fans of Mac to consider about the latest offering from CoJ

I have been using macs over 15 years from my first Mac LC475 to my lastest 17' MacBook Pro.

It's great have a computer that it works from time you it switch it on and keeps going. Why do people still keep wasting their time and with windows system?

I have been using macs over 15 years from my first Mac LC475 to my lastest 17' MacBook Pro.

It's great have a computer that it works from time you it switch it on and keeps going. Why do people still keep wasting their time and with windows system?

Because they don't have to pay mac tax, can use a wide range of quite often more powerful components, can play games could use big-endlian code from legacy systems without re-eingineering.

Oh and the new intel macs are no more reliable than PC's so I think that argument is gone.

I have been using macs over 15 years from my first Mac LC475 to my lastest 17' MacBook Pro.

It's great have a computer that it works from time you it switch it on and keeps going. Why do people still keep wasting their time and with windows system?

Ahhhh ..... an opinion, just like arseholes, everybody has one Windows is great and gives you flexibility with the hardware and software platform that Mac users can only dream of (I am a Mac User also btw)

My Windows 7 desktop at home works from the moment it is powered up to the moment it is powered off without any problems, however the recent 10.6.2 snow leopard update totally trashed my MBP

Why do people keep wasting their time with the walled garden that is the Mac system?

i've had a mac mini since the day mac os leopard came out, and it's been ultra-reliable. the only problem i've had with it is the ethernet port on it stopped working

i've had a mac mini since the day mac os leopard came out, and it's been ultra-reliable. the only problem i've had with it is the ethernet port on it stopped working

That's a kinda fatal flaw though don't you think Tom?

Has the mac got a warranty on it still so you can get it fixed by apple?

If not, this does show the downside of not using commodity parts.

I actually have a G4 mac mini, and it's great for doing what it is meant to do. When it comes to the intel stuff though, to be fair I'll save the cash and put linux on it for a replacement.

LOL.. Cheezemonkhai, loves vax, hates mac's :P

I would have to agree though, failed ethernet port is not acceptable imo!

if i'm honest, when it failed it was still under warranty from apple, but the cost of driving to the apple shop in southampton for them to say "come back in a week when we've fixed it" was more than the £9 it was from novatech to get a usb to ethernet converter so i didn't bother... mine is a dual core 2.0ghz intel model which was about £600 iirc but i know you can get them second hand off ebay now for like £150 if you shop around. the only other thing i absolutely hate about it is that the hard disc drive is really slow, perhaps that is a symptom of using one of those 2.5" laptop drives to save space. i've also got one of those iomega 1TB external firewire disc drives which is the same shape as the mini and sits perfectly underneath it which is pretty cool too

LOL.. Cheezemonkhai, loves vax, hates mac's :P

I would have to agree though, failed ethernet port is not acceptable imo!

Mmmmm all that DEC Alpha goodness :P

Just to clarify a point. I don't hate Macs and I do have one for certain tasks and use them.

What I hate is when people claim Macs are so much better than everything else and great and worth paying more for and never break down. (The CoJ if you like).

The Mac Mini I have has been repaired twice inside of the apple care policy. Once for a dead motherboard battery that would have officially been £100 to change ooutside of warranty (They must be smoking something). The other for a dead PSU which caused some other issues too.

Agreed on the above Mark, I like Mac's and now have an MBP and waiting at home from Germany is a 27" iMac.

I just hate Mac fanboys thinking that apple is a cure for impotence or the solution to world peace

I just hate Mac fanboys thinking that apple is a cure for impotence or the solution to world peace

tbh i'm not fussed either way about mac or pc, they both have thier weaknesses and strengths, but i will say that at work( i work in theatre lighting/sound) we use macs as they seem to be a lot more reliable in a live type environment, that said i've found windows xp to be a lot better than older versions, i dont recall seing the blue screen of death for a long time now

Went to an Apple store in Manchester today but could not get

near one for all the kids doing their homework .......

tbh i'm not fussed either way about mac or pc, they both have thier weaknesses and strengths, but i will say that at work( i work in theatre lighting/sound) we use macs as they seem to be a lot more reliable in a live type environment, that said i've found windows xp to be a lot better than older versions, i dont recall seing the blue screen of death for a long time now

I've not seen a BSOD since windows 95! :confused:

I've not seen a BSOD since windows 95! :confused:

i use autocad a lot and it's the floating point number calculations for 3d renderings that windows gets it's knickers in a twist over mostly....

now if we all went over to a risc based system that would be different, but alas that's another can of worms tbh

i use autocad a lot and it's the floating point number calculations for 3d renderings that windows gets it's knickers in a twist over mostly....

now if we all went over to a risc based system that would be different, but alas that's another can of worms tbh

Apple dropped RISC when they went to intel, which IMHO was a shame.

I guess you've got only really got SPAR, ARM, POWER, a few specialist MIPS chips and Itanium if you count EPIC architectures too :P

what about the old acorn archimedes machines? they were epic, in fact i've still got one in the loft

I've got the batman edition Amiga 500, plus box, in the garage! Not quite beige as it was though

Well, it's all plugged up and working. The wife looked at the mac mini and asked what sort of chocolates are in there? Ha!

On the Briskoda site within 20secs. off turning on the main switch, speedy? yes! Been clicking around the programmes to see how things work, and using the help menu a lot. Didn't grasp most of it so I'll book up some sessions at the Apple shop over the next few weeks. All my existing hardware has been plugged in and working ok so all those doubters who said things don't work on macs as well as they do on PC's are wrong.

All in all the "Darkside" as you say is going ok.