mac mini? R they good?

[savanahrose]

😀 I have yet to buy my mac. I am hoping to get it before the end of the year. I have just started buying magazines to read up on the macs and the mac world. I did not know how people felt about them until i REALLY started to look. I have a couple of questions. Are the mac minis good? I just need a little something better than my old raunchy gateway. I really don't do much on my pc except playing games online and talking to my brother and cousins. Is the mac mini good enough for that? I would like to learn and do more than what I currently do with my gateway. I am really tired of Windows and the dang viruses.

Another question. I know that people put windows on their macs because of the programs for windows (previously used software), but why when you bought a mac to get away from the viruses? If you put windows on a mac wouldn't you get the same viruses?

Can someone please help me out of my confusion?

Thanks

 

[mmmcheese]

I don't know, but the letters A and E are excellent.

 

[Sesshi]

😀 I have yet to buy my mac. I am hoping to get it before the end of the year. I have just started buying magazines to read up on the macs and the mac world. I did not know how people felt about them until i REALLY started to look. I have a couple of questions. Are the mac minis good?

ya.

I just need a little something better than my old raunchy gateway.

Definitions of 'raunchy'
a. Obscene, lewd, or vulgar
b. Sexually explicit.
c. Exhibiting lust.

Ooooh. Pics of gateway?

I really don't do much on my pc except playing games online and talking to my brother and cousins. Is the mac mini good enough for that?

Not that much for games (depends on 3D complexity of games. the Mini graphics chip is rather weak). Great for everything else.

I would like to learn and do more than what I currently do with my gateway.

Yup. A Mac would certainly allow you to do that safely and easily.

I am really tired of Windows and the dang viruses.

Never had problems myself. It's called maintenance. Macs just have different kinds of maintenance you have to do to keep things ticking along.

Another question. I know that people put windows on their macs because of the programs for windows (previously used software), but why when you bought a mac to get away from the viruses?

Cuz they're not thinking. That or it's a novelty to show people you can run Windows on a Mac. Or they really need to play those games.

If you put windows on a mac wouldn't you get the same viruses?

Uh-huh.

 

[steamboat26]

Minis are awesome and plenty fast (for me at least), but if you are planning on playing some intense FPS or anything like that you will be dissappointed. If you plan to play games, you would be better off with an imac or macbook pro or mac pro (when it is released)
Just my 2 cents...

 

[emptyCup]

The mini is a fine machine for the basic stuff most people do. You can do a lot with the software that comes with it. It is not great for advanced gaming, so you should mention which games you play.

People put Windows on their Macs to play games or to use specific software which are only available for Windows (or the geek reason: because they can).

I hope this helps.

 

[Makosuke]

I don't know, but the letters A and E are excellent.

Ka-ching!

But anyway, a couple of sort-of answers:

1) Yes, the minis are actually awesome computers. As to whether they'll do what you want, I'm not 100% sure; you said "games online." If that means something like Puzzle Pirates or online poker or that sort of thing, then yes, a Mini will almost certainly be at least as good as your old Gateway, and should cover everything. If you mean beefy, 3D FPS online gaming kind of gaming or fancy 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft kind of gaming, then the integrated graphics in it are gioong to be pretty anemic. If you're not playing the fanciest new games and aren't picky about framerates or having the quality settings turned up, it may get the job done, but don't expect anything at all impressive.

2) The Mini's weak points are *relative* lack of expandability, relatively slow/small internal storage (since it uses a 2.5" laptop-style hard drive), and the integrated graphics chip. If none of those things are likely do heavily affect you, then when you want to "Do more" in the future, you'll probably have no problem at all with the Mini (though you would probably want the dual core model just for the extra grunt). It'll handle iMovie or Garage Band quite capablly, and is enough for basic photo editing or that sort of thing. You might need to supplement the internal drive with an external FireWire one if you're working with video, but that's not a major expense and you'd probably need to do it eventually, regardless of what computer you bought.

Pretty much anything but 3D gaming, heavy-duty video editing (Final Cut, etc), heavy photo editing (pro-level Photoshop type stuff), or 3D animation, and it should be fine.

3) People who run Windows on a Mac do so because there's something they need. And it's worth noting that, assuming most of your day-to-day tasks are done on the MacOS (particularly email and web browsing), your chances of getting a virus in Windows are DRASTICALLY decreased. That is, I (for example) only run the LabVIEW programming environment in my Windows virtual machine; since I'm basically not doing anything with the network (and in fact have external connection attempts locked down through a hardware router), there aren't really any ways for my Windows install to get infected with anything--it's essentailly isolated.

 

[savanahrose]

Thank you all for your input. As for the gaming, i was just talking games on yahoo, cards puzzles etc. Nothing heavy duty. I would like to attach a satellite tv cable to it if i could to tape old movies onto dvd. I had planned on getting an external drive for that though. Though i could just as easily get a dvd recorder. I was just trying to get away from the big tower, but I went into Circuit City and was told that the towers are getting smaller. I have had the same system for 6 years!
As for the maintenance I do the maintenance on my computer. But I recently had a trojan that was write protected!! Can you believe that one? It would not delete from the hard drive. I had to wipe it clean in order to get rid of it.

But thank you again for the info.

 

[Miguel0019]

😀 I have yet to buy my mac. I am hoping to get it before the end of the year. I have just started buying magazines to read up on the macs and the mac world. I did not know how people felt about them until i REALLY started to look. I have a couple of questions. Are the mac minis good? I just need a little something better than my old raunchy gateway. I really don't do much on my pc except playing games online and talking to my brother and cousins. Is the mac mini good enough for that? I would like to learn and do more than what I currently do with my gateway. I am really tired of Windows and the dang viruses.

Another question. I know that people put windows on their macs because of the programs for windows (previously used software), but why when you bought a mac to get away from the viruses? If you put windows on a mac wouldn't you get the same viruses?

Can someone please help me out of my confusion?

Thanks

It is mac just get it.😉

 

[savanahrose]

yeah ok. I am undecided about a mini or a macbookpro now. Oh well I have a few months to decide. Thanks again.