Hi all,
CompUSA has a 1.83GHz Core Duo Mac Mini with the SuperDrive, an 80GB HD, and 512MB of RAM selling right now for $549. Originally $799. Is this a good buy, really? I remember MacBooks and such having heat issues with the CD, but I never heard much about the Mini. Given that the Mini update is basically the same everything with just a C2D, I'm sorely tempted to get this so cheap.
Right now, my only computer is a 600MHz G3 iBook running Tiger (quite well, too). I was waiting to see the new iMacs, but I have to say after playing around with one, I was really impressed with the speed, but I can't stand the keyboard and the glossy screen is too reflective given that the only place I have to put it in my tiny apartment has a window right behind me.
If I got the Mini, I'd absolutely have to either get a new internal HD or try to find a good external for all my music and such. I put a 120GB Seagate in the iBook, and it's nearly half full already. How easy is this to do? How about maxing the RAM? Can someone here who owns an Mini tell me how well you like it? My monitor will likely be the 30" LCD TV that came with my apartment...can the Mini drive that? Money is tight, so if I buy this and it ends up being crap, it's going to be that much longer until I can get something else. Still, it's such a good price...
Plus, I've been waiting for Leopard, and I keep hoping that Apple will release a scaled-down Mac Pro for those rare few who don't need Xeons but could use more than a 2-core mobile chip. (I'm tired of waiting in queue for 2 hours to get a 4-core node on the university cluster, you know?)
Any advice and such would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
*Edit: I should mention that I will need to run VMWare or Parallels for Windows XP for software I have to use for work. Being able to run a Linux of some sort would be nice, too.*
CompUSA has a 1.83GHz Core Duo Mac Mini with the SuperDrive, an 80GB HD, and 512MB of RAM selling right now for $549. Originally $799. Is this a good buy, really? I remember MacBooks and such having heat issues with the CD, but I never heard much about the Mini. Given that the Mini update is basically the same everything with just a C2D, I'm sorely tempted to get this so cheap.
Right now, my only computer is a 600MHz G3 iBook running Tiger (quite well, too). I was waiting to see the new iMacs, but I have to say after playing around with one, I was really impressed with the speed, but I can't stand the keyboard and the glossy screen is too reflective given that the only place I have to put it in my tiny apartment has a window right behind me.
If I got the Mini, I'd absolutely have to either get a new internal HD or try to find a good external for all my music and such. I put a 120GB Seagate in the iBook, and it's nearly half full already. How easy is this to do? How about maxing the RAM? Can someone here who owns an Mini tell me how well you like it? My monitor will likely be the 30" LCD TV that came with my apartment...can the Mini drive that? Money is tight, so if I buy this and it ends up being crap, it's going to be that much longer until I can get something else. Still, it's such a good price...
Plus, I've been waiting for Leopard, and I keep hoping that Apple will release a scaled-down Mac Pro for those rare few who don't need Xeons but could use more than a 2-core mobile chip. (I'm tired of waiting in queue for 2 hours to get a 4-core node on the university cluster, you know?)
Any advice and such would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
*Edit: I should mention that I will need to run VMWare or Parallels for Windows XP for software I have to use for work. Being able to run a Linux of some sort would be nice, too.*