- Joined
- Dec 31, 2006
- Messages
- 321
- Reaction score
- 10
- Points
- 18
- Location
- Connecticut
- Your Mac's Specs
- Macbook Pro 13" 2012 2.9 GHz i7, 750 GB HDD, 8 GB RAM
Just figured i'd throw my user experience in for anyone interested...
I registered here a few months back when I was looking into buying a laptop. I decided on a 15" MBP, but after planning a vacation to the Bahamas with my girlfriend and buying a new car, that got thrown to the side for a while until I have the cash. I decided to get myself cheap mac to hold me off until then. I wound up snagging a G4 mini on ebay 1.42GHz/80GB/512MB/Airport/Bluetooth/Superdrive/ect. With a new apple keyboard and mouse, I got in under $400, which is pretty reasonable, IMO. Even seeing that this is an outdated machine by current standards (it's almost 2 years old). Nice little starter mac, exactly what I was looking for.
Anyways. After about a week's worth of acclimation, a few random opinions are below. Keep in mind that my machine is older, so some of the things I mention do not apply to the Intel Minis, for instance. Regardless, I figured i'd throw my 2 sense in for potential switchers looking to buy an older used machine and ease into the mac world at minimal cost.
Rants:
2 USB ports? I know the newer models have 4, but i'm not sure how Apple ever expected people to get away with essentially a single USB port on a computer (the keyboard/mouse take up at least one, if not 2, depending on your keyboard). I'm not sure what i'd do if my monitor didn't have a build in 4-port USB hub.
No audio in? Again, this has been taken care of in the new ones. But I like to do some music recording here and there and this is a problem.
Why is it that the default operation for OSX such that the "Home" and "end" keys on my keyboard are nonfunctional in text fields? I use these keys a LOT when i'm on my PC. Though i'm currently involved in a thread in hopes to rectify that (thanks 'mynameis', for the help so far).
And i've had a few compatibility issues with the machine that i'm still trying to work out. My Belkin router works flawlessly with my PC, yet constantly drops connection when the Mini is in use. Hopefully this will be rectified soon as well. Also, being a guitar player I have a PODxt (digital pre-amp device with a USB interface). OSX recognizes it and views it as functioning propery, but i get no sound whatsoever from the PODxt into my computer (again, working on it).
Generally, most everything I needed to do switching over did 'just work'. My external HD, internet connection/router, iPod, digital camera, ect. It took a good evening of 'setting up'. But was fun, and didn't feel like work.
Raves:
Despite a few small hangups, i'm really liking this little machine. When I was using my PC I felt like I was always walking on eggshells with it. I wouldn't run too many applications at once for fear of it locking up. When I installed new programs, i'd have to shut down everything I was doing, and go to the taskbar and shut down the programs that are always running without me asking them to. With the mac I don't need to worry about that stuff. I just use it, and it works right. I can install a program and not worry about having to go in and configure it so it's not running the taskbar for no reason, trying to override default applications, taking up resources. I can do what I need to do without stopping to wonder if i'm going to **** it off. With some extra RAM (going in soon), this should be even better.
OSX is just plain nicer to work with as well, after you get past the acclimation period, which took a few days. I feel like i'm just scratching the surface of what the OS is capable of. Everyday tasks are just plain easier (switching from applications, moving files around, finding things, ect.). Once you learn how to use the dock, expose, and spotlight efficiently you wonder how you ever did things differently. I love how it has features built into it that required 3rd party software on my PC. The OS will burn data CD's, for instance. It also has built-in file compressing.
iLife is amazing. A computer that comes with software for playing/organizing music, converting audio files, playing/organizing videos, uploading/organizing/editing photos, making slidehows...video editing, DVD making/burning/viewing, webpage making/editing, music and sound recording/mixing??? It's fantastic! On my PC i'd either have to deal with unstable freeware/shareware with annoying registration/"buy now!" popups and constant crashes, or i'd have to pay for 3rd party software to do most of these things. This software bundle is invaluable.
The computer is so small. My Dell, which has similar performance, is roughly *14* times the size of the mini. Granted I have 2 hard drives in it and 2 CD drives. But the mini has a decent amount of space, and for what it does...the thing has a footprint barely larger than a CD on my desk. I don't have a big tower sucking up dust from the floor next to my desk anymore.
All in all, (and I don't want this to be a PC's stink post) i'm definitely impressed. I feel like windows machines can be very capable for many things. But for an everyday home computer, you can't beat a mac. They do everything you'd want to do right out of the box. No worrying about downloading or buying software to perform simple tasks which are the entire reason you own a computer in the first place. It does what I want it to do, and with very little hassle.
Hopefully i'll be able to rectify the few little annoyances i've had with it thus far. Thanks to everyone who's helped out in recent threads so far.
-Nick
I registered here a few months back when I was looking into buying a laptop. I decided on a 15" MBP, but after planning a vacation to the Bahamas with my girlfriend and buying a new car, that got thrown to the side for a while until I have the cash. I decided to get myself cheap mac to hold me off until then. I wound up snagging a G4 mini on ebay 1.42GHz/80GB/512MB/Airport/Bluetooth/Superdrive/ect. With a new apple keyboard and mouse, I got in under $400, which is pretty reasonable, IMO. Even seeing that this is an outdated machine by current standards (it's almost 2 years old). Nice little starter mac, exactly what I was looking for.
Anyways. After about a week's worth of acclimation, a few random opinions are below. Keep in mind that my machine is older, so some of the things I mention do not apply to the Intel Minis, for instance. Regardless, I figured i'd throw my 2 sense in for potential switchers looking to buy an older used machine and ease into the mac world at minimal cost.
Rants:
2 USB ports? I know the newer models have 4, but i'm not sure how Apple ever expected people to get away with essentially a single USB port on a computer (the keyboard/mouse take up at least one, if not 2, depending on your keyboard). I'm not sure what i'd do if my monitor didn't have a build in 4-port USB hub.
No audio in? Again, this has been taken care of in the new ones. But I like to do some music recording here and there and this is a problem.
Why is it that the default operation for OSX such that the "Home" and "end" keys on my keyboard are nonfunctional in text fields? I use these keys a LOT when i'm on my PC. Though i'm currently involved in a thread in hopes to rectify that (thanks 'mynameis', for the help so far).
And i've had a few compatibility issues with the machine that i'm still trying to work out. My Belkin router works flawlessly with my PC, yet constantly drops connection when the Mini is in use. Hopefully this will be rectified soon as well. Also, being a guitar player I have a PODxt (digital pre-amp device with a USB interface). OSX recognizes it and views it as functioning propery, but i get no sound whatsoever from the PODxt into my computer (again, working on it).
Generally, most everything I needed to do switching over did 'just work'. My external HD, internet connection/router, iPod, digital camera, ect. It took a good evening of 'setting up'. But was fun, and didn't feel like work.
Raves:
Despite a few small hangups, i'm really liking this little machine. When I was using my PC I felt like I was always walking on eggshells with it. I wouldn't run too many applications at once for fear of it locking up. When I installed new programs, i'd have to shut down everything I was doing, and go to the taskbar and shut down the programs that are always running without me asking them to. With the mac I don't need to worry about that stuff. I just use it, and it works right. I can install a program and not worry about having to go in and configure it so it's not running the taskbar for no reason, trying to override default applications, taking up resources. I can do what I need to do without stopping to wonder if i'm going to **** it off. With some extra RAM (going in soon), this should be even better.
OSX is just plain nicer to work with as well, after you get past the acclimation period, which took a few days. I feel like i'm just scratching the surface of what the OS is capable of. Everyday tasks are just plain easier (switching from applications, moving files around, finding things, ect.). Once you learn how to use the dock, expose, and spotlight efficiently you wonder how you ever did things differently. I love how it has features built into it that required 3rd party software on my PC. The OS will burn data CD's, for instance. It also has built-in file compressing.
iLife is amazing. A computer that comes with software for playing/organizing music, converting audio files, playing/organizing videos, uploading/organizing/editing photos, making slidehows...video editing, DVD making/burning/viewing, webpage making/editing, music and sound recording/mixing??? It's fantastic! On my PC i'd either have to deal with unstable freeware/shareware with annoying registration/"buy now!" popups and constant crashes, or i'd have to pay for 3rd party software to do most of these things. This software bundle is invaluable.
The computer is so small. My Dell, which has similar performance, is roughly *14* times the size of the mini. Granted I have 2 hard drives in it and 2 CD drives. But the mini has a decent amount of space, and for what it does...the thing has a footprint barely larger than a CD on my desk. I don't have a big tower sucking up dust from the floor next to my desk anymore.
All in all, (and I don't want this to be a PC's stink post) i'm definitely impressed. I feel like windows machines can be very capable for many things. But for an everyday home computer, you can't beat a mac. They do everything you'd want to do right out of the box. No worrying about downloading or buying software to perform simple tasks which are the entire reason you own a computer in the first place. It does what I want it to do, and with very little hassle.
Hopefully i'll be able to rectify the few little annoyances i've had with it thus far. Thanks to everyone who's helped out in recent threads so far.
-Nick
