Considering getting my 1. Mac

uikni · Oct 13, 2006

Hi i am considering getting a mac mini (the cheap version for 599$ unless you give me a good argument to buy the expensive one). I have never owned a mac before and have not tried the os for more then like 5 minuts or so. So I have a bunch of questions which I have gathered together for some time. They are:

1. How will it run hl2 and WOW run?

2. Does it have TV-Out?

3. Do games which are supported run good with crossovermac? Maybe even better then windows?

4. Are there any problems of buying in USA when you are from Europe? Because I know one who can pick it up for me there.

5. How much will it cost to upgrade to leopard when it is out? Would it be possible to upgrade to my native language if I feel like it?

6. Does an american mac have the ability to use a foreign keyboard?

7. 6. When upgrading to Leopard, will I still have the ability to use the Ilife package that came with 10.4 or do I have to upgrade that too?

8. Should you sacrifise the extra money for the more expensive mac mini?

9. How can I know if my mouse, keyboard and screen and such is supported?

10. Could it really be that the cheap mac mini has a 80gb harddrive at bestbuy? Link http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8040309&type=product&id=1157068036589

11. Will it be better then my current pc? The specs are:
2.8 ghz celeron.
512 mb ram.
ati radeon 9200.
80gb harddrive.

12. I sometimes like messing around with linux and such. Can I do this with the mac mini and will it run things such as xgl and beryl?

Thanks for your time.

sursuciofla · Oct 13, 2006

uikni said:
Hi i am considering getting a mac mini (the cheap version for 599$ unless you give me a good argument to buy the expensive one). I have never owned a mac before and have not tried the os for more then like 5 minuts or so. So I have a bunch of questions which I have gathered together for some time. They are:

1. How will it run hl2 and WOW run?

2. Does it have TV-Out?

3. Do games which are supported run good with crossovermac? Maybe even better then windows?

4. Are there any problems of buying in USA when you are from Europe? Because I know one who can pick it up for me there.

5. How much will it cost to upgrade to leopard when it is out? Would it be possible to upgrade to my native language if I feel like it?

6. Does an american mac have the ability to use a foreign keyboard?

7. 6. When upgrading to Leopard, will I still have the ability to use the Ilife package that came with 10.4 or do I have to upgrade that too?

8. Should you sacrifise the extra money for the more expensive mac mini?

9. How can I know if my mouse, keyboard and screen and such is supported?

10. Could it really be that the cheap mac mini has a 80gb harddrive at bestbuy? Link http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8040309&type=product&id=1157068036589

11. Will it be better then my current pc? The specs are:
2.8 ghz celeron.
512 mb ram.
ati radeon 9200.
80gb harddrive.

12. I sometimes like messing around with linux and such. Can I do this with the mac mini and will it run things such as xgl and beryl?

Thanks for your time.

1. Don't know.
2. No.
3. Don't know but doubt it.
4. Yes. I think warranty issues arise and maybe if jacks are different for power.
5. $129, there is no special upgrade price for Mac OS.
6. Yes.
7. Yes. No upgrade will be needed.
8. Depends on user preferences. only buy what you will use. Only you know how much power and features you will need.
9. If they are usb or bluetooth then no problem. Otherwise check product specs. I believe you will need Apple keyboard though.
10. Check. Don't really understand your question anyways.
11. Can't compare PC to Mac really or vice versa, not really fair to do. All comes down to how you will use it, ie needs for your computer.
12. Somebody more knowledgeable will answer that for you.

Hulk_SMASH · Oct 13, 2006

in addition to the above, yes it'll be faster than your curent machine as it's core duo tech vs celery. You can install all kinds of Linux on a Mac. Lastly, if you want to play games, go build a PC with a big-honkin $300+ GPU or go get a console, that's not really what a Mac is for.

uikni · Oct 13, 2006

Hulk_SMASH said:
in addition to the above, yes it'll be faster than your curent machine as it's core duo tech vs celery. You can install all kinds of Linux on a Mac. Lastly, if you want to play games, go build a PC with a big-honkin $300+ GPU or go get a console, that's not really what a Mac is for.

Oh yeah but I dont really game alot. But if I can play half life 2 and wow I would be happy. So do you know if it is possible?

Actually does anyone have some benchmarks for the apple mini?

uikni · Oct 14, 2006

bump..

RiDE · Oct 14, 2006

uikni said:
Oh yeah but I dont really game alot. But if I can play half life 2 and wow I would be happy. So do you know if it is possible?

Actually does anyone have some benchmarks for the apple mini?

Here is a link to a very old thread.... http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20835&highlight=wow

The OP in the thread is playing WOW on a much older/slower mini without any problems at all. With the new Intel+Core Duo mini's you won't have any issues at all.

Jammers · Oct 14, 2006

WoW will be fine because there is a Mac version. You can only play HL2 if you use boot camp and have install a copy of Windows on your machine.

baggss · Oct 14, 2006

uikni said:
1. How will it run hl2 and WOW run?

Yes. You can play Windows games if you install Windows on it via Bootcamp.

uikni said:
2. Does it have TV-Out?

No

uikni said:
3. Do games which are supported run good with crossovermac? Maybe even better then windows?

From what I have read, yes. Some play better than on off the shelf PCs.

uikni said:
4. Are there any problems of buying in USA when you are from Europe? Because I know one who can pick it up for me there.

No, you just have to buy a power core for your country.

uikni said:
5. How much will it cost to upgrade to leopard when it is out? Would it be possible to upgrade to my native language if I feel like it?

$129 or whatever the equivalent is where you live. OSX supports many languages by default. Look at Apples website to see if yours is one of them.

uikni said:
6. Does an american mac have the ability to use a foreign keyboard?

Yes

uikni said:
7. 6. When upgrading to Leopard, will I still have the ability to use the Ilife package that came with 10.4 or do I have to upgrade that too?

Yes, you will be able to use the old iLife packages.

uikni said:
8. Should you sacrifise the extra money for the more expensive mac mini?

If you think you need the extra power, then yes.

uikni said:
9. How can I know if my mouse, keyboard and screen and such is supported?

If you have a VGA screen and a USB keyboard, they will work by default. The Mouse will work, but if there is special software to support enhanced functionality then you need to see if there is a Mac version of that software. If it is just a 2 button mouse, you will be fine.

uikni said:
10. Could it really be that the cheap mac mini has a 80gb harddrive at bestbuy? Link http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8040309&type=product&id=1157068036589

Yes.

uikni said:
11. Will it be better then my current pc? The specs are:
2.8 ghz celeron.
512 mb ram.
ati radeon 9200.
80gb harddrive.

Yes. Add RAM, OSX is VERY RAM hungry.

uikni said:
12. I sometimes like messing around with linux and such. Can I do this with the mac mini and will it run things such as xgl and beryl?

Yes, again via Bootcamp.

uikni · Oct 14, 2006

So since there is no tv-out, is there not any way I can display whats on my mac mini on my television?

stevescivic · Oct 15, 2006

yes you can display a picture on the tv by using the dvi output (I think mac mini has one) using the mini dvi to SVGA adapter.

I know on my imac 20" that I can use a mini dvi to svga adapter that apple manufactures.

uikni · Oct 15, 2006

stevescivic said:
yes you can display a picture on the tv by using the dvi output (I think mac mini has one) using the mini dvi to SVGA adapter.

I know on my imac 20" that I can use a mini dvi to svga adapter that apple manufactures.

So it isint very expensive, nor a big hassle to set up? At apples homepage it says the mini comes with a dvi to vga adapter. So do I just need to buy a scart stick to make it work with my tv?

dtravis7 · Oct 15, 2006

uikni said:
So it isint very expensive, nor a big hassle to set up? At apples homepage it says the mini comes with a dvi to vga adapter. So do I just need to buy a scart stick to make it work with my tv?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...ore.woa/wo/2.RSLID?mco=4BB568D3&nplm=M9267G/A

That gives you Composite Video and S-Video.

djlee12 · Oct 15, 2006

The mac mini does have TV Out. Purchase the adapter listed by dtravis above and you're there.

uikni · Oct 16, 2006

dtravis7 said:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...ore.woa/wo/2.RSLID?mco=4BB568D3&nplm=M9267G/A

That gives you Composite Video and S-Video.

My TV has a regular scart stick. Is it possible to connect from a mini to a tv with scart stick then?

dtravis7 · Oct 16, 2006

I really do not know what a Scart Stick is, but you can connect to a TV with Composite RCA, S-Video or DVI that is on the newer flat panel monitor type TV's. None of my PC's have any more options to connect then my Mac Mini.

Tell me what the Scart Stick is. I googled it and came up with some ET thing!

NanoBite · Oct 16, 2006

dtravis7 said:
I really do not know what a Scart Stick is, but you can connect to a TV with Composite RCA, S-Video or DVI that is on the newer flat panel monitor type TV's. None of my PC's have any more options to connect then my Mac Mini.

Tell me what the Scart Stick is. I googled it and came up with some ET thing!

This is a Scart Plug but I'm not sure about a Scart Stick....

dtravis7 · Oct 16, 2006

Pulse-8 said:
This is a Scart Plug but I'm not sure about a Scart Stick....

That is one of the pics I came up with also.

NanoBite · Oct 16, 2006

Ok this is the illusive Scart Stick:

uikni · Oct 16, 2006

Im sorry guys It might just as well be a scart plug im looking for. It is just that my native language is not English, so I might just have messed a little round with the words. I apologyse.

Considering getting my 1. Mac

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