| After straying away from my Apple roots, I am finally back. My first computer was a Macintosh Performa 6200 (I believe) and I loved it as a kid, but when it finally died, I switched to PC (HP Pavillion) for about three years and now I am back to Mac, simply because of all the virus/ spyware woes on my PC despite having software that supposedly prevents it. I have had my Mini for a month now and no viruses, spyware, or anything of that nature...so I guess its true that they don't get that stuff. I must say that I am impressed with the mini and Mac in general. (even though I did have some bad luck) OSX Tiger is simply elegant. For some reason everything about Mac just looks better, the comp. itself and the OS to match, and the OS just feels simple. i'Life 05 is a great value too and it comes standard on every mac. You get Garage band, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD. All of which are easy to use! The main reason I bought my mini was to do some light video editing and to be introduced to this software. The only complaint I have about this software (iMovie) is my camera was not compatible so I had to go buy a DV converter (Pinnacle), but I have an older camera (2002) so I let this one slide ;). Also when I got the movie transferred, it did not automatically cut the movie into clips for me. Its not really a big deal because I usually have to go and cut the clips anyways but it would be nice to deal with smaller chunks of film. I guess this was due to the converter, but I dont know, I have not really messed with it that much, so I may figure something out. It does a pretty good/fast job of burning dvds too and the menus and such in iDVD are great! they really give your movie a professional touch. Another area I had a touch of bad luck was the wireless reception. I have an Airport Express 2 rooms away and it would not hold a signal. I switched all the channels, updated software, still nothing. I finally had to end up getting an AirBase from Griffin, put the router on a table, and that did the trick. The base was in a bad spot at first I will give it that, but now it works really good so I am not complaining. The only other complaints I have are not really Apple's fault. Yahoo Messenger looks like crap on the Apple. I feel like I am using the web version! The smilies are not animated, and there are simply just not as many features. Also the chat rooms from yahoo do not work on a mac, nor does Launch. Launch used to but they haven't updated it in so long that is only works on an older OS9 MSN looks better but there are no "winks" or "nudge" like on PC. AOL is probaly the best messenger for the mac because it seems to be the only one to support the "iSight", and it looks good too ;). Other than the few very minor complaints I have so far the mini is perfect! Its small footprint, quiet/cool nature is perfect for in my bedroom. If you get one you will not be disappointed. Well I may have more to come but thats all for now! In the mean time go get a mini ;) |
