Well I have used my Mac Mini quite a bit. I still find it more convenient to work in windows. I hate to say it but the OS has not really grown on me that much.
I have not seen were I can really do anything smarter in OS X then windows. The main things I do like about it though is how easy it is to install and un-install applications. I like the mouse but otherwise it is a computer.
I am sure I will be crucified by the Mac zealots but I even find doing podcast on the Windows machine is much easier than the Mac. Simple reason is and it’s a secret that Apple probably does not want getting out, the audio amplifiers inside all Macs are set at a fixed amplification level and you have to drive the heck out of the audio input on most Macs to get the audio levels correct.
Heck the mini does not even have a microphone input and while using the Griffin iMic and trying to record I get annoyed after about 30 seconds due to the audio delay being fed to my headset.
Don’t get me wrong the mini was a lot of bang for the buck but after hearing my friends talk about how amazing the Mac was I am still wondering what they are talking about it’s a computer.
So the question now becomes will I upgrade to Tiger. I suppose if the mini will handle it I will, just because I am a geek. I have finished learning OS X so I might as well. [Yahoo]
Ahh.. see that’s the problem, you think you’ve finished learning OSX, but you have not even broke the surface of what it can do. I agree, a computer is a computer, but the software on a Mac is something very special.
If you read your email and surf the web, write a letter or plan your calendar events, then yes, Windows will get you by with the same amount of effort as OSX. But try out a few a these things first.
Todd, can you run all the programs and utilities you need to from terminal? Did you even learn enough unix to appreciate the power that the terminal can give you? Did you run Apache server on OSX and test settings and try to learn the power of Apache? You can duplicate a dedicated server on any of the major server farms, a great method to learn how to run a dedicated server.
Have you downloaded and used some of the best shareware I have ever seen in my 15 years using a PC? I have never seen the quality shareware on a PC that I have found in the last 2 plus years on OSX. Grab and learn to use some apps like Notebook, VoodooPad and Flysketch, Omni products, Rogue Amoeba software, Launchbar, the list goes on. Just spend some time at Surf-Bits.com and look at the software I’ve reviewed and you’ll see what I mean.
I still have a PC at home for some old software I need for projects I am committed to, or some games I enjoy firing up and playing for 20-30 minutes every few weeks. But otherwise all my website design, web hosting management, graphic design, and of course the blogging is done on OSX, it’s just easier.
Then the question of upgrading your Mini. Think of it like this. You have a desktop PC with 3 GHz P4 of CPU , loaded with ram, hard drive space, the new bus connections, hi-speed graphics cards and sound cards. Then think of a laptop let’s say with a P3 or Celeron half the CPU speed, 1.5 GHz, a slower hard drive, a slower bus, and much slower graphics card and built in Sound card. Think about what runs on them and how it runs, Photoshop, video recording and editing programs, sound recorders and editors, etc.. what a huge drop is capabilities. That is exactly what a mini is compared to a G5 tower, about half of the power and capabilities. Makes sense doesn’t it? Half to half, that simple. The upgrades you would make to your 1.5 Celeron laptop would be the same type of upgrades you want to make to your mini.
Listen, you’ve been working with PC’s for as long or longer then I have, I started before Windows in DOS only environment. It’s hard to change old habits, but if you want to give another OS a chance, then give it a chance and see what it can do, not a week or doing a few podcasts on it, give it time to do what I suggested above. Otherwise when Windows came out I would have never switched from DOS.. every blue screen of death I get reminds me of DOS. :-)