Quoting Tom Burke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > So, has anyone got one yet? If so, what's the verdict? >
I ordered mine on the day it was launched, and received it at the start of February. First of all, it's amazingly small. I'd seen the magazine pictures and reviews, but until you see one for real, you can't quite put together how small it is compared to a normal computer. Then, when you pick it up, it's suprisingly heavy for something so small. The power brick is about twice the size of the ones that accompany a Powerbook or iBook, but that can be easily hidden away. I plugged in my USB mouse, and switched on my Apple Bluetooth keyboard and booted. It recognised the keyboard right away, took me through the normal steps, and then within a few minutes I was at the desktop. The Mini I ordered was the 1.42Ghz, 80G hard drive, with the Bluetooth and Airport Extreme kit fitted, and the stock 256M of RAM. Compared to my 800Mhz G3 iBook it's incredibly snappy - applications launch with a single bounce, and even with a couple of applications open at a time, e.g. Mail, Safari, iCal, it all runs really quickly, with no signs of any significant swapping to disk. I've fired up Xcode and looked at a couple of projects on it, and again it's not shown any signs of struggling. I'm sure with 512M or more of memory it would fly, but its real role is to be a media server, so I'm not upgrading mine. It's very very quiet in use, with just the faint whir of the hard drive. It's now set up with one of the nice looking Lacie external drive attached, and a little USB2 hub. It looks beautiful and compact, and I can see it moving underneath the TV very soon. If I didn't have a Tivo, it would be there already. So, my verdict - the Mini is a great little machine for day to day working, or as a very small and compact server. Even with the standard 256M it runs just fine, but extra RAM wouldn't hurt. And aesthetically it wins hands down over any thing else out there. Marcus -- Mac UK is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 123Inkjets.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/123inkjets.html> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac UK list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-uk.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-uk%40mail.maclaunch.com/> iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
