What's the best way to get my feet wet?

I was thinking about buying a Mac Mini, I've never owned a Mac and wanted to try one with out spending a lot of money. I am going to try and use the DVI connection to hook it up to my HDTV and use the bluetooth keyboard/mouse. I think it would be good enough to surf and check e-mail on. I wouldnt mind eventually trying to switch to a Power Mac later if I like it. My PC is a AMD 2500+ Barton with 1 gb of RAM, everything is very quick. My friend has a similar P4 system and uses a Power Mac at his work. He is a graphic artist and uses photo shop at home and at work. I'm not sure exactly how old the Mac is but he says it seems a lot slower than his PC. I think it has 512 or 1gb of Ram. I was wondering if there was something he might be doing wrong or if he needs to tune up his system some how. I just had always heard that a Mac was faster in photo shop period. Someone told him he would have to get at least 4gb of RAM to really take advantage of the system but that seems a bit extreme.

Since the Mini is the cheapest Mac ever the best way to get your feet wet would be to jump right in. That's what I did with my iBook and never looked back since. Hey, if ya don't like it they don't seem to lose their value as PC hardware does. I'm sure you can sell it w/o losing too much.

As far as your friend's system, if could just be an older model. If he's been upgrading his software on the system but not adding more RAM this could be the cause of the problem. Newer sowtware typically dictates newer hardware.

Welcome aboard and good luck!

I was just wondering if thats the general rule for Mac vs PC is that you have to have more RAM in the MAC to get it to perform equally with the PC. I think his PowerMac at work is the first model to come with OS X. His PC is a 2.6 gb P4 with 1 gb of RAM.

How long do you think it will be before the Mini ships with Tiger? Do you think the DVI connecter will work on my HDTV? I'm using the DVI for my HD satellite receiver right now but I'll go back to the RGB cables for that.

No, not a general rule. If your friend had a Athlon 1800+ w/ 512MB RAM but got the latest/greatest graphically intense software to render and whatnot, he'd have to upgrade the RAM in the Athlon machine as well. My statement was a very general one.

I believe they'll want to sell their Mini stock that already has Panther loaded on it before they'll ship w/ Tiger. However now that Tiger is released you should be able to pick it up at a discounted price if your Mini doesn't come with it (as an upgrade).
As far as the DVI, I could not say. I have the mini VGA w/ a composite/S-Video adaptor and it's only useful for movies/video files. Resolution on the tele isn't what it is on a computer monitor.

FWIW, I do some moderately hefty Photoshopping on 1GB and don't have any problems. I'm not talking pro work, but many-layered high res panoramic digital photos.

The Mac-Mini is a great way to experience a mac environment - but bottom line is which ever model you buy get the 512MB upgrade - thats the most important thing - probably other thing you might need is a USB2 hub

I dumped my old PC 2 weeks ago -- I can't see going back -- but then I've pretty much given up on playing extreme 3D games ..... for all the standard stuff the mini does great - surfing - email - office apps - ripping and burning - digital photos ...................

PC_Puke said:

The Mac-Mini is a great way to experience a mac environment - but bottom line is which ever model you buy get the 512MB upgrade - thats the most important thing

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I concur, with memory prices as they are currently the upgrade to a gb might be worth considering, but 512mb is a must.

I got my feet wet with an iMac G5, well my whole body was soaked really! It's the only way to go, the combination of awsome power, functionality and design. You're guarenteed to love it and never look back. Buy an iMac!

I'd get the 17 inch 1.8 ghz model with airport extreme bluetooth and 1gb of ram. The hard drive is up to you but my 80gb one is doing fine.

Get the iMac!

Ignore these other people, they're silly. The best way to get your feet wet is to dip them in some kind of liquid, I suggest water.

spend alll the cash u have on the best mac u can get.U mostly will like mac os x so go all out. Find a friend or go to a apple store and play on a mac there to"get ur feet wet''

edgefusion said:

Ignore these other people, they're silly. The best way to get your feet wet is to dip them in some kind of liquid, I suggest water.

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Ahh...didn't know you were on these forums edgefusion

This is Ameen by the way, from RJ and PS.com

Ameen said:

Ahh...didn't know you were on these forums edgefusion

This is Ameen by the way, from RJ and PS.com

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Oh my god you people are everywhere! neye:

^Look on the brighter side, we all love Macs!

Ameen said:

^Look on the brighter side, we all love Macs!

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You all love macs but none of you have one lol.

I made the switch last summer,I bought a G5 powermac 1.6Ghz with apple display, i spent alot of hard earned money,but i have never looked back,a mac is more personal,i know this sounds stupid,but some times i feel my mac knows what im thinking and what i want.