First, a little background: I normally use Windows PCs at work and at home, with a smattering of UNIX/Linux machines in both spots as well (I won’t mention my Amiga: currently squirrelled away in a closet). At work, there is a smattering of Mac users and machines around: I tend to use a G4 for testing Web sites and the like, but the last time I regularly used a Mac was in the early/mid-90s: I think it was a Power Mac 7000 series. I used it for Web development, mostly, usng BBEdit (which still exists, yay!). It was a capable machine, but when a Windows PC became available, I jumped on that.

So, now, 7-8 years later, I’m back to using a Mac: I ordered the Mac Mini for the same reason many others did: the price point was within the sweet spot, the form factor was sexy, and all my Mac loving hippie friends told me that Mac OS X was all that and a candy bar. So here we are.

When the Mini came, the first thing I noticed is just how compact it is: Apple’s really done a great job of putting a lot into a very small package: my desk is generally a mess and I’ve already got a couple of PCs on it, so having something that’s easily movable and innocuous is a plus. Sound is also a factor: one of my PCs makes enough noise for me: combine that with my wife’s desktops and the Linux box (stories for another day) and the noise level can get annoying quickly. The Mac Mini is very very quiet. If there wasn’t an indication that the thing was on, you probably wouldn’t know it.

Setting up was easy: I ended up buying the wireless keyboard, but I initially used my existing mouse and keyboard and switched once I set up Bluetooth. The keyboard is nice: compact, a little heavier than I thought it would be, but with nice travel and key action. The Mini is hooked into the same LCD monitor my PC is hooked up to: the monitor has both DVI and RGB inputs, making it easy to switch between them.

So, got everything hooked up and turned it on. About 5 minutes later, I was digging through the preferences to set things up a little more to my liking (and the get the Terminal program onto my dock ASAP!) and was working away. First task: getting the Mini onto the network. To do so, I needed to discover the MAC address of the wireless card and add it to the router. Took me a search or two to find where to get that info and another 5 minutes or so to set up the WEP security. During that time, the mouse I was using was being very sluggish, despite setting the preferences to fastest speed. Off to download new drivers. Another few minutes and the mouse was much more responsive.

For the next couple of hours, I fiddled with things, just learning my way around the OS. Setting up samba was painless, and copying my MP3s over from a USB drive was easy. All in all, it took me a lot less time to set up everything that I thought it would (still have more to go, though).

I’m very impressed at how Apple’s kept the more UNIX-y stuff away for casual users: there was only one time that I felt the need to pop open a shell (making some symbolic links: I’m sure there’s a way to do it in the GUI, but, sometimes, the GUI just slows you down). I’m also digging the software installations methods: very few monolithic .exe files that scatter the program files to the four winds. Installing the SlimServer, for example, took about 5 minutes and I didn’t need to fiddle with much.

On the bad side, though, I’ve experienced some odd hangs, like when first using fast user switching. And Apple, like Microsoft, would do well to actually organize their programs a little more logically (like, why do I have a Utilities directory, but the iLife programs are just sitting out?). My mouse seems a little sluggish, still, as well, so that’s something I want to adjust a little more (if possible). But these are more annoyances , really.

Well, I am looking forward to playing with it some more. I still need to delve into some of the iLife programs and see what I can break. But, so far, I’m pretty impressed. So, Joe and Ken, you can say “We told you so.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 24th, 2005 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Computers, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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