01-19-2006, 08:45 AM

A few days after Christmas this year, I bought my first Mac - a Mac Mini (512 MB RAM, DVD/CDR. For sure, it was my iPod experience that pushed me over the edge to finally trying a Mac. Since I bought it, I really haven't used the Windows machines at all, and found that despite my initial fears, there's really nothing I can't do on the Mac that I did on a Windows box. But, last night, I "accidentally" put together a slide show, with music, that looked absolutely amazing. I say "accidentally", because it just happened. I didn't set out to make a slide show. It was more of a "Hmm, so what's this?". Imagine my surprise when it so nicely/easily exported to iDVD! I did hit one glitch. The multiplexing/writing process proved too much for my externally connected USB 2 Sony DVD burner. So, I "burned" the image to the HD, and Toasted it to DVD. The result? Amazing! The subject of my slideshow? Hilary Duff, with one of her tunes as backing music. (Yeah, I'm probably too old to be a Hilary Duff fan, but well, sue me.) Surely, I could have done the same in Windows, but there's no way it would have come together as easily. This project was, as I said, so easy it was almost an accident. What do I need now, after using the Mac Mini for 3 weeks? A PowerMac G5! I have a strong feeling that'll be my next year's "me to me" Christmas gift. So, no help required here, just a excited newbie posting a success story! :cool:

01-19-2006, 08:56 AM

Congratulations, I also have a macmini, and find it much easier to use than any windows computer.

I recommend you save your money on the powermac, and get yourself a macbookpro next year, by then they will have worked out the bugs, and this way you have a desktop (macmini), and a brand new laptop, for portability.

01-19-2006, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by hondagus87

Congratulations, I also have a macmini, and find it much easier to use than any windows computer.

In general, I think I like the interface. A good many things are just more fun to do on the Mac. Some things are certainly easier. Others, I suspect because it's rooted in Unix, are to me, not necessarily easier. For example, mounting images/packages before opening them, and then installing software, while not always necessary, seems a bit odd.
Granted installing by simply dragging to the Apps directory is nice, and uninstalling is nice. But, it's hard to beat just double-clicking on an app to install it (as in Windows). Of course, most such installers then prompt you through a wizard, but I find that provides a bit of added flexibility (where do I want to put it, etc). Then again, I haven't used a Mac for that long yet, so maybe that's why some Windows things still make sense to me.
I've also noticed that Toast, and burning DVD's/CD's in general doesn't seem to be as "smooth" a process with the Mac. And, it makes me nervous that there's no easy way to eject a disc that churns and churns in the slot-load drive. I've seen the Mac dragged down to almost locked up while it tried to read what ended up being a coaster.

But, still overall, the fact that I've used my Mac Mini exclusively since I got it says a lot. It's far better than I ever imagined, and honestly, I regret not making the move a lot sooner.

Originally Posted by hondagus87

I recommend you save your money on the powermac, and get yourself a macbookpro next year, by then they will have worked out the bugs, and this way you have a desktop (macmini), and a brand new laptop, for portability.

Good point. The way Apple's announcing products, some incredibly amazing things might happen by this time next year. Waiting for native Intell apps to become available for the PowerMac seems to make sense too.

Mark