Hello,
I wrote a thread a few days about how I was getting a basically free G4 Mac Mini from a co-worker who just got an Intel Mac Mini and did not need his G4 anymore.
Well I got the G4 Mac Mini yesterday and once I got home the first thing I did was take the case off, clean the inside of the Mac Mini out . . . which surprisingly was not much considering I was messing with a 3 year old computer. Also while the computer was open, I took a stick of DDR ram from my G5 and installed it into my Mac Mini. The Mini now had 1GB of ram, not the stock 256mb that the computer came with. I was not even going to try running the computer with it.
After I installed the new ram and got the case back on the Mac Mini, I then connected it up to my setup on my desk which consist of an old Apple Pro Keyboard and Mouse from a G4 I owned, a 20" Dell wide-screen monitor, my G4 Cube USB Speakers, and a Linksys WRT54g with DD-WRT acting as a wireless bridge since the Mac Mini did not come with an Airport card. I then completely wiped the hard drive and started the installation process of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I was surprised at the length of time it took for Leopard to install on the little Mac Mini which was roughly about an hour.
This surprised me, but after thinking about it for a little while I had some hardware factors against me. First I was using an Apple Combo Drive which could only read DVDs "up to" 8x and the hard drive that is in the Mac Mini is a 4200 rpm 40GB drive.
Still this did not bother me too much, an hour to install a modern operating system is still fantastic!!! And unlike *cough* Windows and *cough* Linux, once the installation is finished you do not have to "configure" devices and drivers, just do a System Update in the background and go about your business.
During and after the System Update, I really started using G4 Mac Mini by transferring my music from my G5 onto the Mac Mini, while surfing the web and ripping a few other CDs I bought this weekend all at the same time. I am not one to do things one at a time, and I was worried how the little Mac would hold up to this kind of usage considering the slow hard drive, and the slow FSB at 167Mhz compared to more modern day Macs.
Yet the little Mac Mini just kept on without skipping a beat. Thinking to myself "This is quickly becoming my favorite Mac I have ever owned" I continued to use the Mac Mini for the majority of the night surfing the web, listening to music, checking email, and every now and then using Screen Share to see how my G5 was doing with stuff down stairs.
Suffice to say I love my G4 Mac Mini. I can't wait to get home today to get back onto the computer and do some more surfing. Its made web browsing fun again for me.
I was a G4 Cube owner and still am. I love my G4 Cube buts the glory days have come and passed. I still use it as a back file server for all my none media files, but other than that my G4 Cube is extremely limited it what it can do. I like many people where scared that the new Mac Mini was going to be another G4 Cube when the Mini was introduced! The Mac Mini looked absolutely amazing, just not worth another $1799 price tag like the G4 Cube. And when Steve Jobs said it would only cost $499 I had some serious doubts about the little computer. However reading review after review of how great the little computer I was looking forward to using one.
Well its now three years later, I finally own one and I absolutely love the little Mac. I was saving my money up for a new Mac Pro to get in a about a year or so, but I think I will just save my money and get an Intel Mac Mini instead, I love the size, and yeah it would be nice to have more expansion, but other than hard drive and ram, I really don't see anything else I would really need. I think the Mac Mini is quickly becoming the ultimate Mac for me!
-iGrant
I wrote a thread a few days about how I was getting a basically free G4 Mac Mini from a co-worker who just got an Intel Mac Mini and did not need his G4 anymore.
Well I got the G4 Mac Mini yesterday and once I got home the first thing I did was take the case off, clean the inside of the Mac Mini out . . . which surprisingly was not much considering I was messing with a 3 year old computer. Also while the computer was open, I took a stick of DDR ram from my G5 and installed it into my Mac Mini. The Mini now had 1GB of ram, not the stock 256mb that the computer came with. I was not even going to try running the computer with it.
After I installed the new ram and got the case back on the Mac Mini, I then connected it up to my setup on my desk which consist of an old Apple Pro Keyboard and Mouse from a G4 I owned, a 20" Dell wide-screen monitor, my G4 Cube USB Speakers, and a Linksys WRT54g with DD-WRT acting as a wireless bridge since the Mac Mini did not come with an Airport card. I then completely wiped the hard drive and started the installation process of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. I was surprised at the length of time it took for Leopard to install on the little Mac Mini which was roughly about an hour.
This surprised me, but after thinking about it for a little while I had some hardware factors against me. First I was using an Apple Combo Drive which could only read DVDs "up to" 8x and the hard drive that is in the Mac Mini is a 4200 rpm 40GB drive.
Still this did not bother me too much, an hour to install a modern operating system is still fantastic!!! And unlike *cough* Windows and *cough* Linux, once the installation is finished you do not have to "configure" devices and drivers, just do a System Update in the background and go about your business.
During and after the System Update, I really started using G4 Mac Mini by transferring my music from my G5 onto the Mac Mini, while surfing the web and ripping a few other CDs I bought this weekend all at the same time. I am not one to do things one at a time, and I was worried how the little Mac would hold up to this kind of usage considering the slow hard drive, and the slow FSB at 167Mhz compared to more modern day Macs.
Yet the little Mac Mini just kept on without skipping a beat. Thinking to myself "This is quickly becoming my favorite Mac I have ever owned" I continued to use the Mac Mini for the majority of the night surfing the web, listening to music, checking email, and every now and then using Screen Share to see how my G5 was doing with stuff down stairs.
Suffice to say I love my G4 Mac Mini. I can't wait to get home today to get back onto the computer and do some more surfing. Its made web browsing fun again for me.
I was a G4 Cube owner and still am. I love my G4 Cube buts the glory days have come and passed. I still use it as a back file server for all my none media files, but other than that my G4 Cube is extremely limited it what it can do. I like many people where scared that the new Mac Mini was going to be another G4 Cube when the Mini was introduced! The Mac Mini looked absolutely amazing, just not worth another $1799 price tag like the G4 Cube. And when Steve Jobs said it would only cost $499 I had some serious doubts about the little computer. However reading review after review of how great the little computer I was looking forward to using one.
Well its now three years later, I finally own one and I absolutely love the little Mac. I was saving my money up for a new Mac Pro to get in a about a year or so, but I think I will just save my money and get an Intel Mac Mini instead, I love the size, and yeah it would be nice to have more expansion, but other than hard drive and ram, I really don't see anything else I would really need. I think the Mac Mini is quickly becoming the ultimate Mac for me!
-iGrant
