# My NEW MAC!!



## hardheadjarhead (Jul 15, 2005)

Sick of spyware, adware, trojan horses and viruses, I bought a Mac Mini.

I think I'm in love.

I was a Mac man, years ago.  My wife hated them and forced me to leave for the Dark Side (she was my "Eve," but tempted me away from the Apple), and we bought PC's.

The tragic story played out...with the fall from Grace I contracted various ills.  I turned to Spybot and Adaware, to no avail.  ZoneAlarm could not save me.  Symantec abandoned me.

Then, in a moment of perfection, I wandered down to The Mac Experience and talked shop with the Priest...er, tech...down there.  Absolution and forgiveness were there for my taking.  I need but accept the Apple Icon as my own and the demons would no longer plague me.

Okay...now for a review.

The Mac Mini is about the size of five stacked CD cases.  It would fit into my wife's purse.  Peripheral hook ups are done by Firewire/USB, so everything fits into a nice tight package.

I had mine upgraded from the start with Superdrive, a DVD burner/reader/CD burner/reader, and a gig of RAM.  I got a cheap keyboard and mouse, and I'll probably want a better keyboard later, but this will do for the moment.  I didn't need a screen.  The Mac Mini comes with an adapter so that it fits to my old PC screen.  It may well work for my older Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 1010e...if so, I'll hook it up to that, as its a better screen.

Hooking up to the net was dirt simple.  I didn't have to install my SBC DSL disk or even remember my password information for my server.  I went to the Ethernet settings, clicked a button and it was done automatically.

I'd forgotten what it was like...USER FRIENDLY.  True, the OS is new and far different than the old 7.5 Mac I used years ago, but I'll learn.

As for my PC at work, I'll probably eventually dump it.  I may use it to learn how to do Linux.  Once I've gotten the cash, though, I'm getting a Mac Mini for there.

I'm never going back, Bill Gates.  NEVER!  DO YOU HEAR???  

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHAAAA!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.


Regards,


Steve


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## MisterMike (Jul 15, 2005)

That sounds sweet. I was just looking at the Mac OS X version at www.apple.com the other day. They do have a knack for UI design. The widgets looked like they were being placed on water and the dialogs flipped over so you could edit the settings. Pretty slick. Plus it's UNIX based which makes it a helluva lot more secure then Windoze.

I have been having good luck under Win XP SP2 so far, but it's only a matter of time before something creeps up - like IE7...hah.

I run Fedora on occasion when I feel like locking things down.

Sounds like your happy with it - that's what matters most.

 :supcool:


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## Matt (Jul 15, 2005)

hardheadjarhead said:
			
		

> Sick of spyware, adware, trojan horses and viruses, I bought a Mac Mini.
> 
> I'd forgotten what it was like...USER FRIENDLY.  True, the OS is new and far different than the old 7.5 Mac I used years ago, but I'll learn.




You seemed like a smart guy. We knew you'd be back.

Enjoy. 

Matt


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## arnisador (Jul 15, 2005)

We'll get you in the end. Resistance is futile!


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## TigerWoman (Jul 15, 2005)

So you have left the dark side...  Never have had spyware, or viruses. We have had macs for years.  They are great.  I have a little iBook G4, outdated already, alas! But I have widgets!  I am wireless too.  Will have to check out those minis but this is small enough for keyboarding.  TW


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## Cryozombie (Jul 16, 2005)

Macs are awesome.  

 That is If you dont want any new hardware, or software.


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## Don Roley (Jul 16, 2005)

I dispise being without all the great programs you can get for windows. But for someone like me who does not want to worry about spyware, the virus threat and just wants to get on and off the internet in one peice, Macs are great. Considering just how paranoid I am, the lack of games is a rather small price to pay.

Of course, I also have a Playstation 2 if I ever get the urge to play great games. So far, only Igo.


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## hardheadjarhead (Jul 16, 2005)

Technopunk said:
			
		

> That is If you dont want any new hardware, or software.




Well, for gaming...they suck.  But I don't play as many computer games anymore as once I did.  I need a good writing program.  I need a mail program.

As far as hardware...whadday need that you can't get for a PC?  External hardrive?  Printer?  Zip drive?  Thumb drive?  They all work with Macs.

Tigerwoman's comment says it all.  My brother has done nothing but Macs for ten years.  He, like she, isn't really even familiar with spyware and viruses.  

One think I really like is iTunes, a free subscription service to online radio stations.  There are about a hundred...maybe more.  Hard rock, classic, country, news, overseas stations, blues, "Americana," comedy...all sort of stuff.  I can sit here and listen to the radio while I'm working.


Regards,


Steve


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## Cryozombie (Jul 17, 2005)

hardheadjarhead said:
			
		

> As far as hardware...whadday need that you can't get for a PC? External hardrive? Printer? Zip drive? Thumb drive? They all work with Macs.


 What I dislike is the fact that with as often as I fill drives, I cant run out to best buy/compusa buy a new Internal drive, open the mac up and throw a new one in.  Cant go out (at least with the Imac at work) and buy a 21 inch monitor for it... since the PC and monitor are the same unit... cant go buy a super high end THX certified soundcard and slap it in instead of the little 2 or 4  channel that come standard...

 Im a hardware geek... every PC in my house and my Upright Arcade machine were all built by me... Id miss that personalization with a MAC, to the point that I can handle the occasional reformat and reinstall.

 Spyware and Viruses arent a big concern of mine, but only because I am just big enough of a geek to know how to run stuff like "Hijack This" when they get in and get annoying.


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## Matt (Jul 17, 2005)

Technopunk said:
			
		

> What I dislike is the fact that with as often as I fill drives, I cant run out to best buy/compusa buy a new Internal drive, open the mac up and throw a new one in.  Cant go out (at least with the Imac at work) and buy a 21 inch monitor for it... since the PC and monitor are the same unit... cant go buy a super high end THX certified soundcard and slap it in instead of the little 2 or 4  channel that come standard...



Unless you buy a modular mac in a tower case. I fill drives regularly, so I just use a 4-bay firewire tower, with little pull out bays, and go to best buy, and buy an internal drive and pop it in the external tower, and use it with my iMac. I'm not sure why you would get an all-in-one computer if you expect to replace the monitor. Although you can mirror the display on an external (21 inch) monitor if your imac is like mine using the monitor port on the back. Your issue seems kind of like being mad at your volkswagon bug because it's not a pickup truck. 



> Im a hardware geek... every PC in my house and my Upright Arcade machine were all built by me... Id miss that personalization with a MAC, to the point that I can handle the occasional reformat and reinstall.
> 
> Spyware and Viruses arent a big concern of mine, but only because I am just big enough of a geek to know how to run stuff like "Hijack This" when they get in and get annoying.



You can crack the case and play with the guts of a mac. Most people who get one just don't seem to, from what I believe are two reasons:

They don't want to, as they just want a computer that works. 

And

They don't have to, as their computer does what it is supposed to. 

Matt


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