Kent Pribbernow
02-01-2005, 03:00 AM
Like the winged messenger Mercury, Fedex has delivered my new Mac Mini faster than you can say JohnJacobJingleheimerschmidt (his name is my name too). For your viewing pleasure, I have provided some lovely pr0n images capturing the blessed moment of unpacking.
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_1.jpg
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http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_2.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_3.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_4.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_5.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_6.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_7.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_8.jpg
First impressions so far..
This thing is freaking small! I mean REALLY small. Just look at the comparison photo (last) of the mini seated next to an external DVD burner, which by the way also has an aluminum enclosure identical to the Mini's. That pretty much tells the story. The Mini is very elegant looking, especially when you hold in your hands for the first time. Note: Anyone who lives in the cold northern regions should allow the Mini to stand at room temp for nearly an hour before plugging it in and power up. My arrived as cold as Jack Frost's...well let's just say it was ice cold. Needless to say like anything metal that's been left in a freezing cold Fedex truck for several days, it suffers from condensation and moisture when exposed to warm air. Since condensation and electricity don't mix well together, I highly recommend you allow the breath your Mini like a freshly opened bottle of wine. Don't come crying to me if you unit shorts out.
How does it perform? I haven't yet run it through the rigors yet, seeing as how it just arrived earlier today, but I will say that what I've experienced so far has truly surprised me. Being what is essentially a stripped down PowerBook, internals wise, I half expected the Mini to perform like a rusty old Ford Pinto (sans exploding gas tank). To my astonishment it flies like eagle in workaday apps. Even with the base installed memory (256MB) everything operates smoothly and without hiccups or hesitation. That is...until you have several apps running at once, in which case paging begins. As many web sites have already astutely recommended, OSX requires at least 512MB of RAM to work efficiently. And RAM being as cheap as it is, I would take that even further to a whole GB. You'll thank yourself later. I plan on upgrading my system right away. That said, the Mini is no slouch. It runs iLife '05 quite well.
While the Mini has been a delight so far, I can't say the same for my experience with the KVM switch I'm using. I am at my wits end with this stupid IOgear switch. For starters, I just found out the hard way that VGA doesn't work well with my 18" LCD. I should have gone with a DVI KVM switch (which are insanely expensive), but hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, my other problem is that the configuration process doesn't work as advertised. I wanted to use my new Apple Keyboard with the Mini instead of my PC keyboard. Apple keyboards lack a Scroll lock key, which is how you toggle switching. According to the manual; in order to invoke Hotkey mode you hold down the Num lock key...pres the (-) key, and then release Num lock again. At this point the cap lock and scroll lock keys should begin blinking to indicate invocation. Wrong! Nothing happens, and I can't find any alternative way of invoking Hotkey mode. So now I'm stuck using a crusty old Dell keyboard while my beloved Apple keyboad lays tucked away in its box. At this point, I am ready to toss the IOGear into the trash. It's so bad that I have now taken to maually plugging/unplugging cables instead. IOGear...you suck!!! :evil:
But enough of my rant. I need to get cracking on this review, which should be ready next week. In the meantime, if anyone here has some questions they would like to ask, I would be more than happy to answer you. Just don't mention my KVM switch or I will beat you over the head with it. :wink:
Cheers.
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_1.jpg
<!>
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_2.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_3.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_4.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_5.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_6.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_7.jpg
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/macmini_8.jpg
First impressions so far..
This thing is freaking small! I mean REALLY small. Just look at the comparison photo (last) of the mini seated next to an external DVD burner, which by the way also has an aluminum enclosure identical to the Mini's. That pretty much tells the story. The Mini is very elegant looking, especially when you hold in your hands for the first time. Note: Anyone who lives in the cold northern regions should allow the Mini to stand at room temp for nearly an hour before plugging it in and power up. My arrived as cold as Jack Frost's...well let's just say it was ice cold. Needless to say like anything metal that's been left in a freezing cold Fedex truck for several days, it suffers from condensation and moisture when exposed to warm air. Since condensation and electricity don't mix well together, I highly recommend you allow the breath your Mini like a freshly opened bottle of wine. Don't come crying to me if you unit shorts out.
How does it perform? I haven't yet run it through the rigors yet, seeing as how it just arrived earlier today, but I will say that what I've experienced so far has truly surprised me. Being what is essentially a stripped down PowerBook, internals wise, I half expected the Mini to perform like a rusty old Ford Pinto (sans exploding gas tank). To my astonishment it flies like eagle in workaday apps. Even with the base installed memory (256MB) everything operates smoothly and without hiccups or hesitation. That is...until you have several apps running at once, in which case paging begins. As many web sites have already astutely recommended, OSX requires at least 512MB of RAM to work efficiently. And RAM being as cheap as it is, I would take that even further to a whole GB. You'll thank yourself later. I plan on upgrading my system right away. That said, the Mini is no slouch. It runs iLife '05 quite well.
While the Mini has been a delight so far, I can't say the same for my experience with the KVM switch I'm using. I am at my wits end with this stupid IOgear switch. For starters, I just found out the hard way that VGA doesn't work well with my 18" LCD. I should have gone with a DVI KVM switch (which are insanely expensive), but hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, my other problem is that the configuration process doesn't work as advertised. I wanted to use my new Apple Keyboard with the Mini instead of my PC keyboard. Apple keyboards lack a Scroll lock key, which is how you toggle switching. According to the manual; in order to invoke Hotkey mode you hold down the Num lock key...pres the (-) key, and then release Num lock again. At this point the cap lock and scroll lock keys should begin blinking to indicate invocation. Wrong! Nothing happens, and I can't find any alternative way of invoking Hotkey mode. So now I'm stuck using a crusty old Dell keyboard while my beloved Apple keyboad lays tucked away in its box. At this point, I am ready to toss the IOGear into the trash. It's so bad that I have now taken to maually plugging/unplugging cables instead. IOGear...you suck!!! :evil:
But enough of my rant. I need to get cracking on this review, which should be ready next week. In the meantime, if anyone here has some questions they would like to ask, I would be more than happy to answer you. Just don't mention my KVM switch or I will beat you over the head with it. :wink:
Cheers.