USB Ports Mac Mini

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I am currently a PC user but with Vista being what it is and XP becoming obsolete the PC is no longer a reasonable option. I am inheriting a Mac Mini but I hear that there are not enough ports to support a printer, monitor, keyboard and mouse. Is this true? If so what is the remedy? Are there splitters that allow the peripherals to share the same port.

Ideally I would like to run the Mac OS on my Sony VAIO. Do you think that will ever be an option? There are a lot of powerful PCs out there that cannot run VISTA. Mac could make a fortune selling a version of their OS that would run on a PC. That would put a much needed end to MicroSoft.
 
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I doubt you will ever be able to run Mac OS on your PC.

The Mac Mini has 4 USB ports and a DVI/VGA port for the monitor. You can get USB hubs to add more USB devices if you need to.

Have a look at the Apple website. http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/
 
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I doubt you will ever be able to run Mac OS on your PC.

The Mac Mini has 4 USB ports and a DVI/VGA port for the monitor. You can get USB hubs to add more USB devices if you need to.

Have a look at the Apple website. http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/

Cool. Thanks! The Mac Mini should be here in a week and I am looking forward to using it.

I heard there was a hack for running the Mac OS on a PC but it is illegal.
 

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All Intel based Mini's have 4 USB ports. That should be enough for what you want to do, and if not, get a USB HUB.

Putting OSX on a PC is against Apple's EULA and there for against the rules here at Mac Forums to discuss it.
 
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All Intel based Mini's have 4 USB ports. That should be enough for what you want to do, and if not, get a USB HUB.

Putting OSX on a PC is against Apple's EULA and there for against the rules here at Mac Forums to discuss it.

I think this one has the G4 processor but I'm not sure.

Could someone direct me to the forum rules? I don't want to discuss anything off limits. I was just curious about the Mac OS given the Vista disaster. If I had known discussing PC hardware and the Mac OS in the same thread I would not have brought it up. Sorry. It seems funny thought that if one pays serious bucks for a piece of software as long as they don't duplicate they should be allowed to do what ever they want with it.

I think computer users are being screwed. There are next to no brick and mortar support locations for Macs which was why I started with PCs but now with the VISTA nightmare I am forced to go with Mac hardware and with that the choices are limited to Mac. It seems unfair. As it stands now you can get a good OS and OK hardware or you can have a choice of poor cheap hardware or really good hardware and a worthless OS. If you want the best hardware and the best OS you're screwed.
 
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Well... that's your opinion of Apple hardware really.

The thing is some of the stability of OS X must come from the hardware - there are no variables. Apple knows exactly what is in the machines and the OS. With a PC you can build them like lego... just seems to me that it's never going to be as good as hardware and software that have been designed together and for each other by the same people.

I could be talking rubbish though, but that's my two cents.

If you want better hardware you should consider getting a new mac mini instead of one that's 3 years old.

The G4s seem to only have 2 USB ports, so for a USB printer, mouse and keyboard you'll need to get a hub, or get a bluetooth keyboard or mouse, or connect your printer to your router.
 
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Well... that's your opinion of Apple hardware really.

The thing is some of the stability of OS X must come from the hardware - there are no variables. Apple knows exactly what is in the machines and the OS. With a PC you can build them like lego... just seems to me that it's never going to be as good as hardware and software that have been designed together and for each other by the same people.

I could be talking rubbish though, but that's my two cents.

If you want better hardware you should consider getting a new mac mini instead of one that's 3 years old.

The G4s seem to only have 2 USB ports, so for a USB printer, mouse and keyboard you'll need to get a hub, or get a bluetooth keyboard or mouse, or connect your printer to your router.

Does a hub plug into one of the USB ports?

There are good PCs and there are some bad ones. A lot depends on the manufacturer/vendor. I think that a non proprietary machine gives the consumer more options and competitive prices for upgrades. I was given a G-3 power book a few years ago and the logic board went bad. It was not worth the cost of replacement especially when I found out that this was a problem that affected most of that model. Putting only 2 USB ports on a machine is not what I would call thoughtful design. I am not saying that Mac hardware is bad. I believe that PC hardware is somewhat better because there is competition among vendors for both price and quality.

The Mac Mini is not costing me anything. I will be using it mostly as a word processor and to play around with Garage Band. I have been burned several times by Micro Soft Word. I am using ABI word processor but it is not all that great. I hear that Text Edit is a decent program.

PCs crash mostly because of Windows and other micro soft malware. XP is not that bad. It is the best OS MicroSoft has put out since 3.0.
 

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There really was no PC the size of the Mac Mini at the time the G4 Power PC Mini was released that had any more than 2 USB ports. The Machine is so small. A Hub will work wonders. I love my Belkin 7 Port powered USB 2.0 Hub.

As was already stated the Intel Mini's have 4 USB 2.0 ports which is amazing for it's small size.
 
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There really was no PC the size of the Mac Mini at the time the G4 Power PC Mini was released that had any more than 2 USB ports. The Machine is so small. A Hub will work wonders. I love my Belkin 7 Port powered USB 2.0 Hub.

As was already stated the Intel Mini's have 4 USB 2.0 ports which is amazing for it's small size.

This plugs into a USB port and then it functions like a 7 extra USB ports?

G4 mini has: One FireWire 400 port; two USB 2.0 ports; DVI output; VGA output (adapter included) It seems then that I can plug in a keyboard and mouse (if the mouse is still part of the keyboard in one port) use the other USB for a printer, the DVI output for the monitor. Typically what is the fire wire port for?

Thanks.
 
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All sorts of things. Connecting to other macs, external harddrives, cameras etc. Like things you use with USB.

USB hubs - you plug it into one USB port and it will have 4 or 7 or whatever extra USB ports on it - powered ones are good because you can still power things from the USB ports - like iPods and webcams etc.
 

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