[gorilla]

I've been talking about it for a while, but I'm about to buy myself a mac mini. (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2gb of ram)

A couple of questions for all you mac heads.

Firstly, any point in waiting until after christmas? I don't imagine apple 'do' sales, but I take it they aren't about to release a new version in the next month or two?

Secondly, a google search throws up loads of mac sites. Any really good ones that you guys frequent regularly? Something along the lines of talk3g but mac related!

My set up is going to be, wireless keyboard and mouse, with the mini attached to a 32" LCD via DVI. I'm going to use it to watch movies, itunes, photo management, and general surfing. The only major tasks I envisage at this early stage will be photoshop tasks. I'm guessing the mini is going to pretty good at everything I throw at it. I will want to 'back up' DVDs and convert them to divx or PSP format. I can do that, right?

I was going to wait until February, but I watched a couple of the Apple tutorials over the weekend, and I'm hooked. Some of the things leopard can do is just crazy. And no doubt I'll play with most of them once and never use again! Changing the background in ichat for example :D

Any advice?

[Ben]

Hello, and welcome! ;)

Mid-January is Macworld, with Steve Jobs famous keynote where he usually announces new products. Given that you're buying a Mac mini (as I did when I started out) you're probably not looking to control a nuclear reactor with it so, provided you're happy with the current spec and price, I'd say go for it. There's no guarantee that Apple wont release new products next month, though.

We chat about Macs loads here on Talk3G and I'm sure we'd all love to help you with your questions in this section. However, I can also readily recommend Macrumors.com as the premier source of all things Mac.

I have no idea about converting DVD's to other formats on your Mac. One of the more industrious types on here, or MR, may be able to help you with that. Note that the Apple Wireless Keyboard has no number pad - other than that it's great. I prefer the wired keyboard and mouse, but it's all good.

Hopefully you'll have a ball. It's really easy to get started. If you must tinker with OS X's underpinnings and generally experiment then I'd recommend a blast of this straight away... then you can always pop in the install DVD and reformat ;) I'd advise you not to bother with Antivirus software or anything of the sort, including maintenance scheduling tools etc, but to take care with what you download and install - as I'm sure you already do!

[gorilla]

Cheers Ben, I've been reading up on the expo and there are rumours surrounding the mini, but it looks like it might be ok. It's possible that Apple will replace the apple tv unit and combine it with the mini, or the mini will get a minor update. Macrumours has it down as being mid cycle.
It does everything that I want, so even if it does get replaced I'll still be pleased with my purchase.


Note that the Apple Wireless Keyboard has no number pad - other than that it's great. I prefer the wired keyboard and mouse, but it's all good.
I should have stated that I'll be using my existing ones, a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Wireless-Laser-Desktop-6000/dp/B000JEIDFG). It's supposed to be compatible.

[Ben]

Ok cool. The new aluminium keyboards are, without a shadow of a doubt, the best keyboards I have ever used, just in case you can be tempted! ;) The Mighty Mouse is, well, controversial, but I like it.

I'm getting excited now! Go forth and purchase!

[gorilla]

I've purchased! I've taken the 6 months free credit option so, it'll be a while before it gets here. I wonder how it'll stack up against the might of XP?;)

[solo12002]

" I've taken the 6 months free credit "

What on your pay, how come that reminds me of someone else at Xmas time, what was his name again? started with a S I think! Ant it was not Santa

LOL

[Hands0n]

I'm in a bit of a dash but will get back with some of the software that I use to convert video formats and that kind of stuff. There is tons of stuff on the 'net. If you google for stuff put "Mac" as the first word and you'll mostly find what you're after

[Hands0n]

Right - as a Video geezer you might want to check out Visualhub (http://visualhub.net) which is a fabulous and cheap bit of software, the licence is for upto five Macs.

DVD Ripping is easily done free of charge with Handbrake ( http://handbrake.m0k.org/ )

These two I can recommend highly.

I started out with the Mac Mini and ended up with a Mac Pro and a Macbook Pro. Its been silly season for me this past 12 months!! :D But I've basically gone through a 100% shift away from Windows XP to the Mac platform and can't say that I'm missing the old stuff at all.

It was a bit of a culture shock at first. The best advice I can offer is to "stop thinking Windows XP" when dealing with OS X. Like the former OS X is a WIMP, but that is as far as the paradigm goes. The differences are subtle but also quite profound. As you gain skill in using the UI doing things just becomes easier and easier. The bundled Apps (iLife08 iirc on the new machines) is excellent. I can also recommend iWork for the Apple "Office" apps. There is limited compatibility with M$ Office. If you need full on compatibility but don't want to spend on M$ software then you should take a very serious look at Neo Office (http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php) which is based on Open Office ( http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/ ) although the latter is not yet fully ported to the Apple Aqua UI, but it will be soon.

There is a whole world to be discovered - its like starting out all over again, but blessed with the knowledge you never had then :)

Good luck and enjoy your new bit of kit. You've a ton of fun coming at you

[gorilla]

" I've taken the 6 months free credit "

What on your pay, how come that reminds me of someone else at Xmas time, what was his name again? started with a S I think! Ant it was not Santa

LOL

Yes on my pay! Scrooge indeed :D

[gorilla]

Thanks HandsOn. I've read up on handbrake and neo office, but had not heard about visual hub. I'm sure these will be very useful.

Cheers

[Ben]

There's some great advice from Hands0n there... some switchers do try and bend OS X to their past Windows habits and usually end up getting incredibly frustrated. You really do have to start again and follow the intuitiveness of the OS.

Oh, I think right click is disabled by default (it was in Tiger anyway), that can be switched on in System Preferences which is where you'll also need to head to configure hot corners and exposé.

[gorilla]

I'm looking to get away from windows, so I'm here to embrace leopard. The only thing I require is the same level of functionality (or greater) to enable me to complete the same tasks as I do now. Most of the programs I use, have a mac equivalent and those that do not, I'm sure there will be (better?) alternatives.

[gorilla]

How do you transfer your itunes library? I've got all my music on one ipod and backed up on an external drive. Can I just copy the itunes database file on my pc and transfer that to the mac, so the mac reads my library? (and copy all my files onto the mac)

I assume that when I plug the ipod into the mac it will not import the music?

I've seen a few guides on the net, but they're quite old and I'm not sure that they will still be valid.

[Hands0n]

How do you transfer your itunes library? I've got all my music on one ipod and backed up on an external drive. Can I just copy the itunes database file on my pc and transfer that to the mac, so the mac reads my library? (and copy all my files onto the mac)


All that you need to know is here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173 You'll find Apple's support pages superb, generally.


I assume that when I plug the ipod into the mac it will not import the music?

I did exactly this when I moved to the Mac Mini from my PC but .... have forgotten exactly what happened :) When you plug the iPod into the Mac it should recognise the "new" iPod and ask if you want to use it with that computer. If you have any bought iTunes music you will have to do some stuff with the iTunes to de-authorise the PC and authorise the Mac Mini on iTunes Store.


I've seen a few guides on the net, but they're quite old and I'm not sure that they will still be valid.

There is a lot of Mac advice out there. These days I generally check the Apple Support (http://www.apple.com/support/) pages first.

Other worthwhile reads are the Mac Format (http://www.macformat.co.uk/)website (and magazine). And Ben has hinted at a few other Mac Forum places to check out.

It won't take you long at all - you'll soon become adept and then a bit more expert at this Apple Mac stuff :D It is all good :cool: which is why it seems to draw so much comment from the detractors, naysayers and doommongerers.

Welcome to the dark side :D

[3g-g]

I did exactly this when I moved to the Mac Mini from my PC but .... have forgotten exactly what happened :) When you plug the iPod into the Mac it should recognise the "new" iPod and ask if you want to use it with that computer. If you have any bought iTunes music you will have to do some stuff with the iTunes to de-authorise the PC and authorise the Mac Mini on iTunes Store.

If I remember correctly when I plugged my iPod into one of its own kind for the first time it asked me if I wanted to keep the music purchased through iTunes then proceeded to tell me that it was formatted for a PC and would need to reformat for Mac, which meant losing everything else! There's a way round it, but I couldn't be bothered as everything was on an external HDD!

Everything was so much quicker working through the Mac that I wasn't fussed waiting to import everything again, and it also gave me an excuse to have a clean out... that and I wanted to ditch everything that reminded me of my terrible past with Windows! ;)

[gorilla]

All that you need to know is here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173 You'll find Apple's support pages superb, generally.


You're a top man. I had googled it and was directed to an earlier page prior to itunes 7, and then I read somewhere else that itunes 7 only backed up to cd/dvd!

Cheers

[gorilla]

If I remember correctly when I plugged my iPod into one of its own kind for the first time it asked me if I wanted to keep the music purchased through iTunes then proceeded to tell me that it was formatted for a PC and would need to reformat for Mac, which meant losing everything else!

This is what I'm afraid off. I have everything backed up, but I have a few albums and audiobooks purchased from ITMS so I want to make sure they come across.

Cheers

[gorilla]

Well today's the day when my mini is supposed to be dispatched. I have to say that I'm really looking forward to it arriving. I've been reading loads of forums and even bought mac format and I'm excited. There are loads of people using their mini's as a HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) and that's why I'm buying a mini.

[Ben]

How exciting :D I know Apple's can take a little while to reach their recipients, particularly BTO, which was particularly frustrating for me coming from Dell's, but boy are they worth the wait :D

You'll be wanting to use this, now, so you can follow the little powerhouse's progress as it wings its way to Blighty: http://www.apecode.com/appletrack/

[Hands0n]

Woo hoo, gorilla. You'll soon be wearing the same stupid grin as any new Mac user :D It took months to shift mine :eek:

If you've an iPod you can also wile away the hours listening to Mac Format's podcast which is a free subscription. They are always very interesting and provide a nice filler in between editions of the magazine (wifey bought me a 12-month subscription last year for Christmas).

[gorilla]

You'll be wanting to use this, now, so you can follow the little powerhouse's progress as it wings its way to Blighty: http://www.apecode.com/appletrack/

Thanks Ben, unfortunately that site's not working with my order number. I have checked the UPS tracker and it's now in Germany having been dispatched from Prague. Scheduled delivery date of the 9th. I can't wait that long!

[Ben]

Ouch, the 9th and it's already shipping? I bet it comes before. (unless it's waiting for a flight... that's the beauty of apecode!)

[gorilla]

We've departed Tamworth, so might get it on Monday? Hurry up at least give me a weeks play before macworld and the unveiling of the mini killer!

[Hands0n]

I dunno. This geezer's got the patience of a saint :D

Me? I'd have hopped on the ferry over to Bluewater and picked one up myself :)

[gorilla]

Well the long wait is finally over. I came home from work today to find a lovely UPS 'we tried to deliver...' note on the floor.:(:(:(:(

So it's here, but it's not. Worst of all, I have to wait until 5pm tomorrow before I can collect it. They were going to re-deliver it tomorrow, but no one is in!

I'm looking at it like a good pint of guinness...worth the wait.

[gorilla]

And what a delight it is too! I can't believe how small it is (and no solo, that's not what the missus said :p )

A couple of things though, plug and play don't you believe it.

I've a wireless keyboard and mouse, so I borrowed some usb corded versions just to get me up and running, but hey why not just see if the wireless ones work first. They did! Sweet. If only the wi-fi element was as easy. Repeated password trys failed to connect me and I ended up having to...well lets not go there. To cut 30 mins of pain into a happy ending, "it just worked" in the end, unlike this keyboard. Not all the keys do what their supposed to! Might have to upgrade to an apple keyboard soon.

So much to do now...

[Ben]

Big big congratulations! The size of the Mac mini is really enchanting, they're so compact but pack so much power. Having an external power supply the size of Moscow helps, of course!

I was very surprised when I set mine up with the Apple wireless mouse and keyboard - nice to have it 'just work'. The whole set up experience is just so much better than when one gets a new PC.

Sucks about your wireless woes. WiFi doesn't appear to be one of Apple's strongest points. I'm sure miffed can tell you all about it! ;) ;)

Grats again!

[Hands0n]

WiFi doesn't appear to be one of Apple's strongest points. I'm sure miffed can tell you all about it! ;) ;)

I'm going to sound like one of those awful fanbois that write in other forums. But the Mac Mini was my first and I chose to hook it up to my WLAN which at that time was running on a Linksys WRTG54. The Mac Mini did all that Gorilla's did in terms of setting up. I opted for the Apple wireless keyboard and Mighty Mouse which made live easier as the keytops are correctly engraved. The wireless was an instant hit - the Mini found a WLAN in existence, told me that it was WPA/PSK encrypted and asked me for the passphrase. As soon as I supplied that the Mac Mini attached itself to the WLAN and that was that. Job done!

Big congrats to Gorilla on his new acquisition. It will be interesting reading your observations as you come to terms with OS X. Remember, think differently, don't think Windows. Its less painful that way :D

[Ben]

Oh yes, that's the most important thing to remember - don't try and make OS X work just like windows. Try to stop alt-tabbing, too, if you can, and embrace exposé's 'show all windows'. My configuration, on my Mighty Mouse, is Exposé - All Windows on the sides of the mouse, Dashboard on the middle button (ball), and then right and left click where you'd expect them. I think that's a pretty standard Mac user setup. You'll be flying through 10 applications where before you'd have just flicked between a couple - it's a major injection to productivity.

Spotlight is great for launching applications. If it's not in your dock then don't bother with Finder, just go straight to Spotlight and start typing the name, then click the application to launch it once it appears. Note that a new Mac will hammer the CPU for a little while as it needs to index the HDD.

There's tonnes (more than you might think) of Mac software out there, a lot of it freeware. Try and avoid the temptation to install everything under the sun. That said, I've never, ever installed anything on any Mac that I haven't been able to completely remove with relative ease. Oh, the joys of not having a registry. Drag to trash and empty, baby, yeah :D

[Hands0n]

"Uninstall" ???? What he says goes, drag the application and drop it into the Trash and thats it. Job done. Not many Mac apps have to be Uninstalled in the sense that you do with Windows (see, stop thinking Windows, it'll only hurt your head) :D

[gorilla]

Re: WLAN, I may of course repeatedly missed typed the password!

I've not had much of a play yet, been bringing over itunes library, photos etc. and installing some essential apps e.g. vlc player. With all the boring stuff done now, I can go home tonight and marvel at its beauty.

I can honestly say, I've never seen such a power supply before. It's literally have the size of the mini (I know that's not a good comparison) but it's much bigger than my laptop's power supply.

The change from XP wont be so hard for me, as I toyed with Ubuntu for a while (and that was a shock!). It'll take a while to get used to e.g. I spent ages looking for the menus on itunes and firefox. Now don't laugh, I wasn't to know they weren't anchored to the current running application, and instead where placed on the menubar (is that what its called, the bar with the apple icon?). Boy did I feel like a numpty! That all stemmed from not being able to make an application run full screen. Yes, lots to learn :D

[gorilla]

forgot to add, is firewire better than USB 2.0? (I will google, but I'm looking for your experiences of ipod and mac!) I only ask as I have both cables for syncing the ipod and I used firewire last night, but didn't notice any difference.

Oh and that reminds me. Why is itunes different in OS X than XP e.g. In OS X it displays 'artist' as opposed to 'album artist'? And another thing, the ipod formatted to mac frees up more space!

[Ben]

AFAIK USB2 and Firewire 400 are largely the same... but Firewire wins out. Firewire 800 is just better.

Lol @ the differences in Apple's own software. I guess it's just more evidence that their Windows attempts really are an afterthought... I used to hate Apple software on the PC (thought iTunes did win me over eventually) - but on the Mac even QuickTime is a dream.