About to buy a Mac Mini, bluetooth keyboard question.

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silverpenguin

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Hi everyone, I stumbled on this forum whilst doing research for my next purchase, a Mac Mini and have a quick question:

What is the average battery life of the bluetooth keyboard?

I'll be ordering my Mini over the next week or so once I have a second VGA board for my plasma as the Mini will be used downstairs connected to the home cinema setup. The keyboard issue is about the only factor I'm not %100 on as I don't want any wires but I don't want to be changing batteries every week!

I'm really looking forward to owning my first Mac and glad this thing has arrived when it did as I was about to buy a second pc and stick that in the living room! I was even trying to work out where I could hide it so nobody could see it lol. The Mini however is exactly what I wanted, a small good looking machine that will surf the net and allow me to play mp3's through the HC setup, its absolutely perfect (for me!).

I look forward to being a member of these forums :)

EDIT: One other thing (clearly I'm not %100 on everything but the keyboard lol), does anybody think it would be worth me upgrading to the Super drive, I've not had any need to burn DVD's up to now and don't 'think' I'll have any real need to in the future if I'm honest, but just wondering if anyone thinks its something I should get just to be safe if nothing else?
 
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mynameis


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silverpenguin said:
EDIT: One other thing (clearly I'm not %100 on everything but the keyboard lol), does anybody think it would be worth me upgrading to the Super drive, I've not had any need to burn DVD's up to now and don't 'think' I'll have any real need to in the future if I'm honest, but just wondering if anyone thinks its something I should get just to be safe if nothing else?
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I have one in my PC, I used it once just to see if it worked, I wouldn't spend the money unless you know you are going to use it.
 
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silverpenguin

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Yeah thats what I'm thinking, I can't see myself really needing it. And if I ever did need one I could just shove one in the pc anyway!
 
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silverpenguin said:
EDIT: One other thing (clearly I'm not %100 on everything but the keyboard lol), does anybody think it would be worth me upgrading to the Super drive, I've not had any need to burn DVD's up to now and don't 'think' I'll have any real need to in the future if I'm honest, but just wondering if anyone thinks its something I should get just to be safe if nothing else?
Click to expand...

I think you have answered your own question here. Save the money, should a need ever arise to burn dvd's buy yourself a nice firewire external burner, then you could use it on either your mini or pc.
 
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silverpenguin said:
Yeah thats what I'm thinking, I can't see myself really needing it. And if I ever did need one I could just shove one in the pc anyway!
Click to expand...

You could also purchase an external DVD burner if you decide you need one in the future. With regard to the Bluetooth devices, I did a quick search on Google, and found the following information in a PCWorld.com article:

"Apple estimates that the mouse will last for three months on one set of batteries, and the keyboard nine months, depending on usage patterns. Both also have switches that let you turn them off to conserve battery life. The System Preferences dialog box has battery level indicators for both devices.
 
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I have the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard still shows full power since christmas and the mouse has 3/5 cells still available
 
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I too, have been reading this forum since the Mac Mini was announced. I won't be getting it until late this year, most likely October, however.

About your question about the SuperDrive, is there any chance with the setup that you will have that you will be able to also use the Mini as a DVD Recorder straight from the television?
 
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gdestiny

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if you're a dual PC/Mac user, i'd stay w/ the PC for DVD burning. PC DVD burners are usually lower in price and faser.
 
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KendallParis said:
About your question about the SuperDrive, is there any chance with the setup that you will have that you will be able to also use the Mini as a DVD Recorder straight from the television?
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You would need some kind of TV tuner for your mini in order to be able to do that, it would have to be firewire or USB, I have seen a couple but none of them have been cheap. Stand alone DVD recorders for televisions aren't that expensive, it would probably be more cost effective to just get one of those.
 
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silverpenguin

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Thanks for the replies everyone, most helpful :)

I do not really have the need to copy tv on to the Mac as I have had Sky+ for about 8 months now and have never once had the desire to keep something once I had watched the recording. Also, I have my Sky+ connected to the plasmas VGA input and my xbox connected to the Sky, so there is no way for me to connect it to a tv card type device even if I had the need. And as the plasma has picture-in-picture I can watch tv whilst using the Mac anyway.

As you have all been suggesting I will stick with the combo drive I think.

Regarding the keyboard, I'm pleased with the results you can get with battery life! Although I may not go for the apple mouse as I much prefer using multi button mice. Loooking at the Logitech MX1000 which seems to be a nice step up from the MX700 I have on my PC, did read up on the MX900 BT one but seems to have some lag issues so I'll go the RF route for now.

There is a Mac shop behind my work so I shall be speaking to them tomorrow with regard to availability, then I'll be ordering that and the second VGA terminal for the plasma and off I go!

Should look nice once sitting in its new home, very excited! I'll post some pictures once its all in as the ones I have now of the setup are irelevant to this forum seeing as right now there is no computer in them!

Watch this space :)
 
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T

Thud

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silverpenguin said:
Thanks for the replies everyone, most helpful :)

I do not really have the need to copy tv on to the Mac as I have had Sky+ for about 8 months now and have never once had the desire to keep something once I had watched the recording. Also, I have my Sky+ connected to the plasmas VGA input and my xbox connected to the Sky, so there is no way for me to connect it to a tv card type device even if I had the need. And as the plasma has picture-in-picture I can watch tv whilst using the Mac anyway.

As you have all been suggesting I will stick with the combo drive I think.

Regarding the keyboard, I'm pleased with the results you can get with battery life! Although I may not go for the apple mouse as I much prefer using multi button mice. Loooking at the Logitech MX1000 which seems to be a nice step up from the MX700 I have on my PC, did read up on the MX900 BT one but seems to have some lag issues so I'll go the RF route for now.

There is a Mac shop behind my work so I shall be speaking to them tomorrow with regard to availability, then I'll be ordering that and the second VGA terminal for the plasma and off I go!

Should look nice once sitting in its new home, very excited! I'll post some pictures once its all in as the ones I have now of the setup are irelevant to this forum seeing as right now there is no computer in them!

Watch this space :)
Click to expand...



I have a logitech wireless keyboard on my PC, I think I bought it last spring... still has the original alkaline batteries in it. The reason they last so long is that the keyboard only uses power each time you press a key, and it's one short little radio blip. No LED's or anything to use power. The apple keyboard is probably the same.
 

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