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New Mac In Town
With some funny sounds coming from my nearly five year old iBook hard drive, and it's 15 Gig full all the time, it was time to buy a new home Mac. So here I am with a brand new Mac Mini 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo with 1GB of RAM, a new Samsung SyncMaster 931b monitor and a MacAlly iKeySlim mouse and keyboard combo. Yep, it started right up and just worked.
Things I like from the get-go:
The new Mac's setup utility copied over my old applications and setting from the iBook as part of it's start-up process, via firewire cable - and I was in business.
The remote control, that handles iTunes playback, along with photos, videos and DVDs, makes the monitor into one big iPod screen. And it scrolls fast!
GarageBand--I've got to hook up my electronic piano!
The speed. Well, of course. It's competing against a 600 MHZ G3 with a half-gig of RAM.
But there have been some issues:
I 'authorized' the Mac for my iTunes account, and I can play all my purchased music without a problem from iTunes itself, but for some reason playing purchased songs via the remote still throws up a "you're not authorized" error.
Even with just the stock OS, I've got a lot of programs that need to be updated via Software Update... that takes awhile.
It's hard to get to one of the four USB ports on the Mini - they're all on the back. I use flash drives and I'm used to plugging them in and out quite a bit with the laptop. I've got to remember I have one free on the back of the keyboard!
The keyboard is soft for typing, but not too bad. I like the mouse, but it's motion is a little rough. Perhaps I need to find a better surface/mousemat for it. Nowadays, there are inexpensive wired mice and keyboards, and expensive wireless ones, with no high-end wired systems in between.
Some of my old software just won't work: Word and Excel 2001, and Graphing Calculator, so far. Of course, I still have the laptop!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
7:03 PM
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