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Future new user of mac...questions

welders4mac

welders4mac

macrumors member
Original poster
Please excuse any faux pas' I might make as I am a total Newbie to the realm of Apple products.

I like so many, refuse to upgrade to vista. (hardware and all).
I have been running linux for the past two years and have had my eye on the mac product line for quite some time.

anyhow to get to the questions I have:

(i) What would be the major difference in buying a imac vs mac mini, other that supplying your own keyboard,monitor,mouse. I think the most cpu intensive thing we may do is taking footage we have on mini-dvd and turning into a decent presentation. ie: re-authoring...Im not looking to have shrek hand my Child her birthday cake or anything ;o)

(ii) Wireless Mighty Mouse: How often does one need to replace the batteries.
I know Ill get the respose "depends on how much you use it" but Im looking for an average. ie: 1 day if you use it extensively or 1 week if you don't touch it at all.

thank you so much for any guidance you can give.
I really hope apple gains a lot from microsloths garbage!
 
(i) The major difference would be the graphics card. However, it shouldn't matter with the uses you described above. Assuming that all you'll use is iLife, internet, office apps and such, you'll be fine with the mini (most things are fine except for games, and GPU intensive apps like Motion or Aperture). The CPU speed of the high end mini is the same as the baselind iMac. However, the iMac does have a faster hd and ram, and is using SR. There would be more expandability on the iMac (hd, ram).

(ii) I don't own a mighty mouse, so no idea about that 😛. I've heard that its battery life is quite decent though.
 
As question one was already answered i'll take a stab at question two.

I use my mouse everyday for probably about 3 hours and i always leave it on. I use mine with only one battery and seem to get about a month out of it and when i was using it with two batteries it was obviously about 2 months. I find the battery life amazing.

RealDawgTrill said:
How take a song from mp3 direct cut & send 2 my phone as a bluetooth
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You'll probably want to start your own thread in the relevant forum.
 
xUKHCx said:
As question one was already answered i'll take a stab at question two.

I use my mouse everyday for probably about 3 hours and i always leave it on. I use mine with only one battery and seem to get about a month out of it and when i was using it with two batteries it was obviously about 2 months. I find the battery life amazing.




You'll probably want to start your own thread in the relevant forum.
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you can choose to use 1 or 2 batteries? 😕
 
pengu said:
you can choose to use 1 or 2 batteries? 😕
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CalBoy said:
Yes. It's meant to allow you to choose the weight of your Mighty Mouse. Some people find the double battery setup to be too heavy for rapid mouse movements.
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Exactly, i find the mouse so much more comfortable with only one battery. Makes it much lighter and if the difference is changing my battery once a month rather than once every two i'm fine with that. There is also an advantage if you use rechargeable batteries like I do means you only have to find one fully charged battery rather than two.
 
CalBoy said:
Yes. It's meant to allow you to choose the weight of your Mighty Mouse. Some people find the double battery setup to be too heavy for rapid mouse movements.
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Are all Apple wireless mice like this, or was this new with the WMM? I never heard of this feature! Interesting!

I have the previous (one button) wireless mouse, but for what it's worth, it's never worse than the sort of 2-3 month range (on two batteries (!) ). 🙂
 
mkrishnan said:
Are all Apple wireless mice like this, or was this new with the WMM? I never heard of this feature! Interesting!
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I think it's been there since the first wireless Mighty Mouse was introduced. I don't think it was there before that.
 
I bought my wireless Mighty Mouse in November and was using it with two batteries about 4 hours per day about 4 to 5 days a week, and it lasted about six months. I'm not sure if that is comparatively quite a lot, but I was surprised how long the batteries lasted.
 
mkrishnan said:
Are all Apple wireless mice like this, or was this new with the WMM? I never heard of this feature! Interesting!

I have the previous (one button) wireless mouse, but for what it's worth, it's never worse than the sort of 2-3 month range (on two batteries (!) ). 🙂
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Its only with the Wireless Mighty Mouse.
 
I think I need a new mouse...
 

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garethh said:
I bought my wireless Mighty Mouse in November and was using it with two batteries about 4 hours per day about 4 to 5 days a week, and it lasted about six months. I'm not sure if that is comparatively quite a lot, but I was surprised how long the batteries lasted.
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Think my rechargeables might need changing, they are about 3 years old now. Will probably get new ones when they drop down to a weeks worth of battery.
 
jczubach said:
I think I need a new mouse...
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I think you forgot to feed it😛

xUKHCx said:
Think my rechargeable might need changing, they are about 3 years old now. Will probably get new ones when they drop down to a weeks worth of battery.
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Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to go to a warehouse store and just buy a whole box of 40 Duracells (Energizer is good too)? I think it'll save you time and money over the long run.
 
CalBoy said:
Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to go to a warehouse store and just buy a whole box of 40 Duracells (Energizer is good too)? I think it'll save you time and money over the long run.
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I think recharging is better for the environment.
 
In the original post you mention Mini-DVDs. You should know that you CAN NOT put these discs in the iMac's or the Mini's slot-loading type drive. They only take full-size discs.
 
CalBoy said:
I think you forgot to feed it😛



Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to go to a warehouse store and just buy a whole box of 40 Duracells (Energizer is good too)? I think it'll save you time and money over the long run.
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£10 for 4 batteries is a lot cheaper even when you factor in the cost of charging them, not to mention the cost to the environment as someone has pointed out. It'll probably be another year before these need replacing.
 
WRT the wireless Mighty Mouse:

I'd advise buying wired unless you specifically need wireless. With the Mighty Mouse I have found the wired version to be much more responsive. Perhaps a lot of people wouldn't notice/wouldn't be bothered, but for all 'desktop' computer deployments I've gone back to wired mice.

Wireless is great for use with a laptop, or a machine that's across the room. Otherwise, it's overrated.

Enjoy your new Mac!
 
garethh said:
I think recharging is better for the environment.
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Aren't there places that recylce batteries? I know my dad saves up a pile of depleted batteries, and then takes them to work where they have a battery recyclinig program in place.


xUKHCx said:
£10 for 4 batteries is a lot cheaper even when you factor in the cost of charging them, not to mention the cost to the environment as someone has pointed out. It'll probably be another year before these need replacing.
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😱 10 pounds! Wow. That just sounds so expensive to me. I can go to Costco and pick up 40 batteries for about $15. I remember we used to use rechargable batteries, and then we figured it was easier to just keep a supply of the disposable ones around the house. Considering that we use them in flashlights, alarm clocks, and a host of other small appliances, it was just easier to have the Costco box of batteries than to keep a whole armada of rechargable batteries.
 
CalBoy said:
Aren't there places that recylce batteries? I know my dad saves up a pile of depleted batteries, and then takes them to work where they have a battery recyclinig program in place.
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If you think of the carbon footprint of creating, packaging, transporting and recycling lots of batteries compared to the creation, packaging, transportation, charging and recycling of two batteries, the rechargeable ones are probably better. Of course, I'm not a natural scientist so I am only assuming that. I suppose it would depend on how much energy is used in recharging and how it was produced.
 
garethh said:
If you think of the carbon footprint of creating, packaging, transporting and recycling lots of batteries compared to the creation, packaging, transportation, charging and recycling of two batteries, the rechargeable ones are probably better. Of course, I'm not a natural scientist so I am only assuming that. I suppose it would depend on how much energy is used in recharging and how it was produced.
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Yeah, I guess that's true. However, I already do a decent amount to help the environment, and the convenience of the disposable batteries is hard to give up. Like I said, we used to use rechargable batteries (still have the charger too), and we found that with all the things that needed AA batteries, it wasn't practical to use them. Either way, we've gone way off topic.

To the OP, I think that your decision should be based on your current setup and other computers. If you have a slightly older computer in the house that is going to be on its way out soon, buy the iMac so you have a computer that will serve you for a lot longer than the Mini. If you only have one computer, then I suggest the iMac, as it will be better all around for any task you or your children will want to do with it. Sure the Mini is perfectly capable, but in the long run, the iMac will be a much better computer.
 
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