I Don’t Want a Mac Mini
Apple’s latest computer, the Mac Mini is pretty impressive. Aimed at the first time Mac acolyte, it actually has a decent price ($500), claims to be compatible with your monitor and your (USB) keyboard and mouse, and advertises that “It Just Works.”
It’s also pretty slick; as befits the name, it’s tiny–just 6×6x2, about the size of a car stereo. Check this out:
It’s a very nice computer. The specs are OK, for such a small device: 1.25 GHz, 40 gig hard drive, 256 MB ram (upgradeable to 1gig).
BUT: Here’s where the Mac and I part ways:
Enchanting Enhancements
Mac mini offers plenty of juice to power your digital life, but you can kick it into overdrive with extras. Add the SuperDrive option to burn DVDs of your home movies or to make a backup of the music or audiobooks you buy at the iTunes Music Store. You can minimize the desktop clutter of cables with wireless connections. Surf wirelessly with an AirPort Extreme Card installed in your Mac mini. Or configure your Mac mini with internal Bluetooth to use wireless keyboards and mice. You can also choose up to 1GB RAM and increase the 40GB hard drive to 80GB. Some of these options must be installed by Apple at the factory; the rest can be added in-store at an Apple Store or an Apple authorized reseller.
I’m sorry? I can’t upgrade my own computer? I can’t even slap in my own RAM? No, no, and no.
I can put up with not upgrading my laptop much, but even that lets me slap another stick of RAM in. That, and it’s portable. The tradeoff between a desktop and a laptop is less power and customizability for portability. The Mac Mini has the worst of both worlds: It’s virtually un-upgradable, it’s less capable than other desktops because of its small form factor, and it’s tied to the desk, unlike other small computers.
I mean, it has its niche, but I don’t want one. Especially when you consider that I hate using Macs.
Why, why, why do I have to mess with that weird little clover-leaf key instead of using my trusty old keyboard shortcuts? I hit Alt-F4 cloverleaf-F4 to close my program and…nothing happens. So I click the red button on title bar of my program’s open window. The window closes but… the program stays open. I have to go to the menu bar, which is strangely detached from individual windows, click File then Exit Program, and it finally goes away. ARGH!
I like my Windows OS. I’m used to it. I can (usually) make it cooperate with me. The buttons do what I expect. Microsoft Word doesn’t make noises at me. The Mac OS is pretty, but it’s darn near unusable.
Whoops. I didn’t mean to get into all of that. Now I’m going to get some Macolytes in here. I’ll quit kicking the anthill now.
This does make a nice entry-level Mac. But you can’t just go grab a new and improved video card off the shelf and install it. You have to take the unit to the Temple of Apple where the highest members of the Order work their magic to make your games (all 5 games that work with the Mac) run faster.
Now, I’ve never built my own PC. (I want to sometime, but I can’t justify it to myself at this time.) I rarely do my own upgrades, and it’s usually a pain in the rear end when I do. But I can. I have the freedom to easily modify my own device. I can’t on a Mac.
But if you really, really want to switch to Mac, you can try it (kind of) cheaply now. But, why not get a Dell Dimension 3000 and get a monitor, twice the RAM, and twice the processing power, for the same price as the Mac Mini?