should i get a mini

i am thinking of getting a mini for Christmas. my school got some imac's and i really like how they look and work. i already have a spare monitor and i don't have a lot of money to spend so the mini seems perfect for me. one thing though, is there any decent word processing apps for the mac? mainly for school work. i have read that the mac mini has built in wireless. would this work with my linkskys router?

thanks

Microsoft Office is avalible for the Mac but if you are poor or broke, Open Office or Neo Office are free and very compatible with MS Office.

The Airport which is the name for WiFi on a Mac will work perfectally with your Linksys router. I have a Intel Mini, iBook, iMac all with WiFi and all work perfectally with my Linksys WR54G's or any Router or Access Point I have tried them with. I take my iBook with me everywhere and it always connects.

would i just be able to install the windows version office of a usb pen? or will i need a mac version? would i be able to use a normal usb external hard drive?

All USB Flash drives work great. Just be sure they are formatted in FAT if you want to share between the Mac and Windows systems. Same with USB Hard Drives. If they are FAT32 they will work back and forth between platforms.

thats good to know. will a normal monitor cable work with the mac mini? do i need speakers or are there some built in?

In response to your other question, you will need to purchase Microsoft Office for Mac and install it from the original CD. You can't run the Windows version of Office on a Mac.

The Mini comes with an adapter that has a VGA connection on it. You'll be able to connect a standard VGA monitor to that adapter.

There is a small speaker built into the Mini, but I would recommend a good set of external speakers.

thats good then. ill probably get one for christmas

Ask Santa nicely, won't you.

the airport card has some trouble with linksys routers, i had one in my house and it would connect find for the first 2 months i owned my macbook, then all of a sudden wouldnt work so we had to get a dlink router and that works perfectly

Neo Office, the Mac port of OpenOffice will do you fine. At work on Windows although we have Office installed company - wide I use OpenOffice as it does everything I need (and it's free) and has PDF export built in.