So after a TWO MONTH wait I finally have my Mini! The delay was due to me wanting bluetooth/wireless and upgraded memory apparantly, but its here now so I won't go on about how frustrating it was having a mouse and keybaord sitting here for two months! lol
So far I am loving the Mini. Getting it hooked up the plasma was a bit of an effort to start with so I'll get the only negative out the way now: Basically the plasma native res is around 800x400 (I forget exactly what it is now) and I am running the Mini at 1280x720 which at first worked fine with my current VGA cable that I use to connect my Sky+ to the plasma. But as soon as I swapped cables to the second vga one I had to buy I lost the 1280x720 option from display prefrences and the Mini didn't give the name of my plasma, as if it didn't know what it was connected to. Also, rebooting the Mini would result in it loading back up in the wrong resolution! Lots of cable swapping and head scratching followed but I eventually got it sorted out what the problem was, seems the issue was with my second vga port, using the built in one that the plasma came with as standard the problem doesn't appear to be there (touch wood).
Other than that all I can say is WOW! I am loving everything about the Mini. It detected the bluetooth keyboard on first power up and it detected my new wireless router straight away (where as the pc in the bedroom thats hard wired to it gave me grief!). I was a little unsure how the plasma would handle the picture being its native resolution is lower than the 1280x720 I am running it at but it looks stunning! I have always been impressed with the PW6 picture quality and this has again confirmed what a great display it is! I put some high res pictures from my website on het screen aver and it looks soooo good!
Obviously it is not as sharp as a dedicated high res monitor, but for browsing the web, viewing downloaded video content and playing music via iTunes it is MORE than good enough. Video or picture editing I don't do on it anyway so the resolution (and lack of power as some people say it has) don't bother me.
The spec I went for was:
1.42ghz with 80gig hd
512mb ram
bluetooth/wireless
Here are a couple of pictures I took quickly just before I ran out the door for work. I will be swapping the dvd and Mini round so the Mini is sitting under the speaker at some point.
Desktop:
iTunes and the dock:
Episode 3 trailer running full screen:
Quick question, I have pretty much had it on 24/7 since I plugged it in about 3 days ago. Is this ok to do? I felt it and it never feels like its getting very hot so i'm guessing I'm ko to do this?
Location: The home of the free and the land that did for Braveheart.
Posts: 1,301
Mac Specs: 24"iMac, 15"MB-Pro, MacBook, G4 iMac, PM G5 2x2Ghz, G4 iBook & Some PCs
Quote:
Originally Posted by silverpenguin
Quick question, I have pretty much had it on 24/7 since I plugged it in about 3 days ago. Is this ok to do? I felt it and it never feels like its getting very hot so i'm guessing I'm ko to do this?
Mine is on 24/7 as are all my machines, they always seem to prefer this to powering up and down a lot.
Not at all bembol, I have the following equipment:
Panasonic PW6 plasma
Denon 2805 DD/DTS amp
Harmon Kardon 2550s mutli-region DVD player (does ntsc & pal progressive)
Sky+ (for anyone in the US its like Tivo - but better lol )
Speakers consist of 5 x Monitor Audio Radius 180's ad a Rel Storm sub
And its all controlled with a Pronto Pro NG lcd remote
You can see some more pictures of it here although these were taken the week I moved in so its changed a bit since then (well the window and door have been replaced) and its not such a mess now either! lol
Still need to get the plasma on the wall and hide the cables in the walls.
So after a TWO MONTH wait I finally have my Mini! The delay was due to me wanting bluetooth/wireless and upgraded memory apparantly, but its here now so I won't go on about how frustrating it was having a mouse and keybaord sitting here for two months! lol....
Mac Specs: 20" G5 iMac; 14.1" G4 iBook; 60Gig iPod Video
Quote:
Originally Posted by silverpenguin
Many thanks guys
I also have a passion for cars too, I go through phases - having got a new car 6 months ago I'm back in home cinema mode again lol
Hahaha! You sound just like me! I have three phases... I have my car phase, where I spend every expendable dollar on my car, then when I'm done getting the parts I want for that I move to my computer phase, then when I tire with that, I have my Audio/Video home entertainment phase. All of these have a 'background task' phase known as my "buy way too many DVDs anytime I see ones I even remotely like just to get my DVD count higher" phase. :bomb: I'm currently researching how to start a "save some money" phase.
Mac Specs: 20" G5 iMac; 14.1" G4 iBook; 60Gig iPod Video
A little off subject, but that is some awsome photography on your site! Were most of those photos taken at wild animal parks have you actually been to their native locations?
Top photos by the way. Just looking at a DSLR at the moment. Possibly a Canon 350D with a sigma lens suitable for motorsport photos when I goto Le Mans in June
Mouse and keyboard are on the pouf thingy in front of the sofa. Well, right now the keyboard is on my lap and the mouse is next to me, my feet are up on the sofa...lol
