Thinking about buying a mac mini.

Hello,

I want to switch to mac for a while now because i have less time to spend because of my new job and windows sometimes took a lot of my free time removing ad/spyware, searchbars,reformatting or worse: trojans .

So i need a safe and stable computer that just Works when i get home .
I have tried Ubuntu wich works great for me but the only thing i cannot do with Ubuntu is work with iTunes and that is a must-have for me because i have all my music stored on iTunes and i have to use it for my iPod Touch.

I never used a Mac before so i hope you guys can help me out.

I am thinking about buying a Mac Mini ( the $599 one ) because i don't have a very big budget to spend.

Things i do on my computer are:

- Word processing
- Internet browsing
- Watching movies DVD/.Avi/.MKV
- Listen to music

Can the mac mini do this fast and stable?
Because $599 is a lot of money for me.

Thanks in Advance,

Excuse me for my bad english!

I have the 1.83 Ghz Mac Mini upgraded to 3GB of RAM and it handles all of those tasks very well. The latest Mini's processor is even faster and as long as you get at least 2GB of memory (more is better), you will not regret it. The Mini is a very capable little machine..

Regards

Should 2GB of ram be enough?

Yup, 2Gb will be sufficient. I initially had 1GB and that was a little low, upgrading to 3GB gave the machine a lot of zip. 3GB was the max I could go with my version and it only costs $25..so I did the upgrade.

You can do the same, but go to the max 4GB later on if you feel 2GB isn't enough..

Regards

For what you are going to use the Mini for 2GB should be plenty. I have an older Core2Duo Mini with 2GB and do even more advanced things with it and it always runs fast and smooth.

We have two Mac Minis in our household. One is a "media server" we use to play our iTunes and iPhoto library, play DVD's, etc. in our home theater setup. My wife has the second one which she uses for normal day-to-day activities such as you've listed.

Both (in fact all of our Mac's) are outstanding, rock solid, virus-free and a joy to use. Having been a Windows user for a very long time (since v3.1) I almost forgot how pleasant a good computer can be. We spend our time working with our computers instead of on them now.

If money is an issue you could look at a refurbished model from Apple. You can save 10% to as much as 25% on current models and once in a while a previous generation will pop up on their web site for even better savings. They carry the same one-year warranty (can be extended to three by buying Apple Care). I picked up our most recent Mini that way. We saved $100 and it has been flawless. Used Minis can be found on eBay as well. I purchased a MacBook from eBay at a very good price once and it was in perfect shape.

You'll be more than happy once you make the switch so enjoy!

I unboxed my mini today, im started to learn everything about it now....i am actually really liking it, I have a huge PC box, with 4 hds etc in it, a nd this little thing on my desk. very very cool!

My Mini, with only 1GB of RAM can probably handle all you want to do. I don't use it for movies, and only rarely for music, but all the other stuff you mentioned. I'm sure 2GB will be plenty, as others have said. And, I had no idea English was not your native tongue as I was reading through your post, nor did I notice any glaring errors.

Thanks for the the quick responses , i hope to buy my first Mac soon !
I have been using Apple mp3 players and they work amazing my mom still uses her ipod shuffle 1g wich i bought 3/4 years ago.
Amazing products so i am very excited about getting a Mac that will also last for years without problems.