Making the switch!

[Jimi4]

Ok, for my birthday I am getting an HP Laptop, but want to get a Mac Mini next summer with money I get from work. I have a few questions before I buy a Mac... I want to be able to buy the Mac Mini and with my Acer Monitor, Logitech Mouse and Dell Keyboard to be able to just plug them in and then just start using the Mac Mini.

 

1. Will my Logitech mouse, dell keyboard work?

2. Do I need a Apple Cinema Display or can I use my 19inch Widescreen Acer Monitor?

3. How much ram should I have for just web surfing and some video and music? But not all at once.

4. How big of a Hard Drive should I get for storing some Music and Videos? I will probably download most of my music and videos with my HP since it will come standard with a bigger Hard Drive then the Mac Mini.

5. How is the software?

6. How is the 3rd part support?

7. Are there less virus' with the Mac then there are with a PC?

8. Can I transfer files between my laptop and my Mac Mini over my wireless network?

9. Speaking of wireless network, what do I need to connect a Mac Mini to my Linksys 802.11b router? The model is BEFW11S4 for those who know about these types of things.

10. Is Mac OS compatible with a External HD? Say I got small HD like 60Gigs and I used it up... could i get a 100 Gig External and then transfer some of the files over to that and keep them on the external and it wil be compatible?

11. Where should I buy the Mac? The store or online?

12. If online, should I buy it from apple.com or is there a reliable site that has cheaper/good prices but is not used?

 

My final question is are Macs as good as they sell themselves on those Mac Switch commercials. I think those commercials are hilarious, but some how I just cant find Macs to be that much better then PC's if they are better at all!!!

[kernalzero]

1. Are they USB?

2. Does your Acer a 19" LCD with DVI input, otherwise you'll need a VGA adapter...but who doesn't want a cinema display, they kick ass!?

3. you could get by with 512MB of RAM, but personally all my systems have 1GB, personal preference

4. I would go with a 100GB, but you could get by with the 60GB if you plan on serving all your media from your HP

5. OSX is GREAT!!! Adobe is alittle behind with bring everything in Universal binary but other than that, I've virtually gone 100% Mac...still use the windows box for gaming though and some random apps.

6. How is the 3rd part support? can't say personally

7. I think there has been 1 virus on macs in the last decade, i could be wrong though! If Leopard is able to run windows *.exe files natively there could be some issues in the future but that's speculation

8. Never had any trouble at all with this

9. The mini comes with an airport extreme built in for WiFi support, it's 54Mbs (802.11G, i think the linksys you have is 802.11B, alittle slower but not an issue)

10. I haven't had trouble with USB external drives, NTFS drives could have read/write issue, perhaps someone who knows will say here, i'm not positive about that, FAT32 works perfect I know and I've got a 100gb usb drive that's NTFS that I can read from without problems

11. Apple Retail store will be quicker than Apple online but I would go with either of those, plus if you're a student you get a 10% discount at either location

12. http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=21430

 

hope this helps some!

[Jimi4]

1. Are they USB?

2. Does your Acer a 19" LCD with DVI input, otherwise you'll need a VGA adapter...but who doesn't want a cinema display, they kick ass!?

3. you could get by with 512MB of RAM, but personally all my systems have 1GB, personal preference

4. I would go with a 100GB, but you could get by with the 60GB if you plan on serving all your media from your HP

5. OSX is GREAT!!! Adobe is alittle behind with bring everything in Universal binary but other than that, I've virtually gone 100% Mac...still use the windows box for gaming though and some random apps.

6. How is the 3rd part support? can't say personally

7. I think there has been 1 virus on macs in the last decade, i could be wrong though! If Leopard is able to run windows *.exe files natively there could be some issues in the future but that's speculation

8. Never had any trouble at all with this

9. The mini comes with an airport extreme built in for WiFi support, it's 54Mbs (802.11G, i think the linksys you have is 802.11B, alittle slower but not an issue)

10. I haven't had trouble with USB external drives, NTFS drives could have read/write issue, perhaps someone who knows will say here, i'm not positive about that, FAT32 works perfect I know and I've got a 100gb usb drive that's NTFS that I can read from without problems

11. Apple Retail store will be quicker than Apple online but I would go with either of those, plus if you're a student you get a 10% discount at either location

12. http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?showtopic=21430

 

hope this helps some!

 

Thanks alot for all of your help. My mouse and Keyboard are both USB and I am trying to make an ultimate setup and I put 200 dollars into the Acer for my 360, so Im not going to buy a Cinema display the next year, even though they do look very nice. Thanks alot!

[A Nonny Moose]

1. Will my Logitech mouse, dell keyboard work?

2. Do I need a Apple Cinema Display or can I use my 19inch Widescreen Acer Monitor?

3. How much ram should I have for just web surfing and some video and music? But not all at once.

4. How big of a Hard Drive should I get for storing some Music and Videos? I will probably download most of my music and videos with my HP since it will come standard with a bigger Hard Drive then the Mac Mini.

5. How is the software?

6. How is the 3rd part support?

7. Are there less virus' with the Mac then there are with a PC?

8. Can I transfer files between my laptop and my Mac Mini over my wireless network?

9. Speaking of wireless network, what do I need to connect a Mac Mini to my Linksys 802.11b router? The model is BEFW11S4 for those who know about these types of things.

10. Is Mac OS compatible with a External HD? Say I got small HD like 60Gigs and I used it up... could i get a 100 Gig External and then transfer some of the files over to that and keep them on the external and it wil be compatible?

11. Where should I buy the Mac? The store or online?

12. If online, should I buy it from apple.com or is there a reliable site that has cheaper/good prices but is not used?

 

1. Yes

2. No and Yes

3. Get 1 GB on one stick if possible. If not, 512 is fine.

4. Any size hard drive will do. If you need more space, you can always get a Firewire or USB hard drive (preferably Firewire)

5. Good

6. Fair, but it's super if you include Gutenprint and VueScan.

7. There is one virus for OS X. How many are on Windows now

8. Yes

9. Nothing, Airport should be able to configure itself to work

10. Yes

11 & 12. Most resellers will give you a better deal (free printers and whatnot)

[Jimi4]

1. Yes

2. No and Yes

3. Get 1 GB on one stick if possible. If not, 512 is fine.

4. Any size hard drive will do. If you need more space, you can always get a Firewire or USB hard drive (preferably Firewire)

5. Good

6. Fair, but it's super if you include Gutenprint and VueScan.

7. There is one virus for OS X. How many are on Windows now

8. Yes

9. Nothing, Airport should be able to configure itself to work

10. Yes

11 & 12. Most resellers will give you a better deal (free printers and whatnot)

 

I want to get it from a retailer like Best Buy or something. But I also want to get a upgrade from the CD-RW-DVD to a CD-RW-DVD-RW Super Drive. But I dont want to upgrade everything all at once if you know what I mean? Can i do that at an retailer store?

[sandmanfvrga]

Bestbuy doesn't sell them, at least not the ones I have seen. Go to Apple.com and search for retailers. Here:

 

http://www.apple.com/buy/

[Turbo50t]

I know I'll get flamed for this but I don't care. Why bother buying a Mac of any kind. The hardware is not exceptional as a matter of fact with a little research you can find much better hardware cheaper and put together your own system that will run OS X faster than any Mac hardware. My zd8230us HP Pavillion smokes any of the macbooks currently in production by Apple. Look at this attachment with the XBench results. I know some out there will say XBench has some problems with accurate results, but someone tell me what Bench marking utility to use and I'll post my results. This is a stock Laptop, with a little fine tuning, different Video card, better harddrive etc....my benchmarks would be even higher.

 

Bottom line, don't waste your time on a Mac mini or waste the $ paying for over priced over rated Mac hardware x86 hardware is much faster, reliable, better and cheaper. Why do you think that Apple went to and intel processor??? Speed my friend, Speed and reliability. A tyipical x86 machine will run for years, Macs have a habit of burning up just about the time the warranty runs out. One in our office caught on fire, it was the newest of all of our systems, 4 Macs and 15 x86 systems. We have had problems with everyone of the mac systems only one x86 system failure. Two of the original Macs have been replaced by Intel's.

 

Al__s_Computer.tiff

[sandmanfvrga]

I agree Turbo50t. I was going to post that, but probably get flamed. You can build a tower with a X1600 and get perfect performance and save alot of money. Don't see why I should ever buy a real Mac.

[A Nonny Moose]

buying a real Mac ensures 100% stability in OS X rather than using a Hackintosh (which is inherently unstable because of a [good] kernel patch)

[Turbo50t]

Nonny Moose, you obviously have not tryed this otherwise as myself and mannnnnnnny others who have built very stable and very fast Hackintoshes, you would have found out just how stable these systems are, the people you see on the Hack sites are using incompatable what they have now hardware and a lot of those are working, but those who spend the time like Sandmansvrga and others are getting VERY STABLE and VERY FAST systems at half the cost of the Macs and Everything Works Great. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to put you or any other Mac Owners down, if you feel good about spending more for inferior hardware, that's fine. I just wanted to let Jim4 know that there are alternatives out there that does not require you spend $2000.00 to buy a decent Mac. Mine has been running now without any problems for 5 months and like I said my system is faster than any MacBook out there. I want the best of both worlds, cost effective kickass hardware and a very good (Stable) OS. Apple has the best OS, Intel based boxes have the best hardware. And I really have to say that the Kernel Patches that are now surfacing are very stable.......Thanks JaS, Mayarz, Maxxus.

 

Oh ya the key word there was "Decent" system, the Mini Mac is a joke, No keyboard, no monitor. no mouse and this is the biggy, no performance for Over $600.00 when you pay tax and shipping.

[kernalzero]

Turbo...will your hackintosh run 10.5? Because the mac's available will with 100% assurance. Just by downloading/installing the update (and paying) right after it's available from apple. No waiting for JaS, Myzar or maxxuss. Read through the forum and you'll find people who take so much time getting one release to their liking and running everything they want that they don't look forward to new releases. Problems like my audio out worked with 10.4.5 but doesn't work with 10.4.7...help me?!?

 

I do agree that if you're thinking about getting a mac mini, just build a system for that price or atleast wait until 10.5 comes out hopefully after the WWDC the second week of august. The mini is nice and small but it doesn't exactly pack much of a punch. The graphics are GMA950 sharing the system DDR2 and you've gotta spend extra $$ to get a core duo upgrade from the core solo...(anyone know if the core 2 duo conroes fit the same slot as the core duos on the minis? could be a nice mod but pricey)

 

If you want to be assured that your system will work perfectly buy the mac...hold off until the core 2 duo macbook pros come out but go with the mac. If you enjoy the fun of tweaking an os to fit your hardware and patiently working on any bugs that may arise, build your own system...worst case is you end up falling back on linux or windows as your primary OS on that box. Just be sure to check the wiki for compatibility!

[Turbo50t]

kernalzero:

 

That is a question that will be answered when 10.5 comes out and I will be sure to let you know. I am confident that it will, but if not I know that it will run on the desktop that I am building.

 

If it won't run on my laptop, I am satisfied that 10.4.7 runs great on it and I am satisfied with the OS. I think that OS X, any version, rules over any OS out there that is why, even though there are some that say it is still illegal to run OS X on any platform other than a Mac, that I have a (Paid for) OS X DVD. Apple can kiss my butt, I will never buy their $ware. Just like I won't buy M$ OSes.

 

I bought it for two reasons, 1. I wanted Xcode 2.2 without having to download it and 2. When I finish my Desktop I am going to install OS X right off the purchased DVD.

 

Cheers

[A Nonny Moose]

Nonny Moose, you obviously have not tryed this otherwise as myself and mannnnnnnny others who have built very stable and very fast Hackintoshes, you would have found out just how stable these systems are, the people you see on the Hack sites are using incompatable what they have now hardware and a lot of those are working, but those who spend the time like Sandmansvrga and others are getting VERY STABLE and VERY FAST systems at half the cost of the Macs and Everything Works Great. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to put you or any other Mac Owners down, if you feel good about spending more for inferior hardware, that's fine. I just wanted to let Jim4 know that there are alternatives out there that does not require you spend $2000.00 to buy a decent Mac. Mine has been running now without any problems for 5 months and like I said my system is faster than any MacBook out there. I want the best of both worlds, cost effective kickass hardware and a very good (Stable) OS. Apple has the best OS, Intel based boxes have the best hardware. And I really have to say that the Kernel Patches that are now surfacing are very stable.......Thanks JaS, Mayarz, Maxxus.

 

Oh ya the key word there was "Decent" system, the Mini Mac is a joke, No keyboard, no monitor. no mouse and this is the biggy, no performance for Over $600.00 when you pay tax and shipping.

 

Yeah, I take absolutely no offense at all to your obviously biased statements. Let's take a look at what the true cost is of a Hackintosh:

 

There are lots of complaints about how certain programs just...won't...work. There is a huge time investment just to apply a security update (or any OS update, for that matter). Because you've patched the kernel (and it is a good patch), you have just created an inherently unstable system (the same can be said for PPC Macs using XPostFacto) that is more prone to kernel panics (not saying there is a good chance it won't happen, but there is a better chance that it will, because ANYTIME you work within the bowels of an OS, you make it more prone to hiccups).

 

The Mac mini is a bargain for those that need a Mac and already have the peripherals. That was the point of the Mac mini--go to the Mac and use everything you already got. Certainly not a joke from that angle, but in your blind rage against Apple, you obviously didn't see that, so let's just move along.

 

As for your "Intel has the best hardware" joke, there are several posters in this forum alone who will tell you that AMD slaughters Intel. Guess it's just a matter of them being blinded by rage or something (irony).

 

Bottom line is--Take off your blinders.

[kernalzero]

Turbo, I would like a nice personalized PM when you get 10.5 on there since you offered so nicely. No one's twisting your arm to buy anything here from apple or M$ so relax... Everyone is trying to give objective advice to Jimi4 to answer his question. Hell I'm typing this response on box that I built for less than a mini and it's faster and VERY STABLE. It's been running none stop now for 35 days without restarting. My windows box would have frozen two weeks ago. if you want 100% compatibility buying the real thing is the way to go if you don't want to tweak with it. Jimi4 might not mind dealing with kext files and all the other {censored} you do to get a stable working version, he could be an apple genius. He could be 45 years old and not know know what a kext file is let alone what it does...

 

As for intel hardware being the best...gimme a break but that is an entire argument on it's own. The real issue interms of Apple and OSx to watch out for is that since AMD now owns ATI, will intel force Apple to switch to Nvidia? and is that considered an anti-competitive legal practice?

 

Jimi4 - Personally, I find the commercials inaccurate. The one with the japanese chick playing the part of a peripheral (camera i think)...please there are more peripherals that work right out of the box than there are for Macs right now. The one about 'being fun' where the windows guy talks about pie charts and {censored}, Mac's aren't gaming systems, windows systems are the primary gaming systems. The one about 'reading the manual' about the windows guy, please no one buys a windows PC that's under the age of 50 and needs to read the manual. If you switch from windows to apple without looking into it, you'd need to read a few things. Those commercials should just try to sell the product not try to sell something that it's not. even turbo agreed osx is better even if he won't pay for it. show the OS and what it can do, not compare it to windows

 

longest rant....ever!

[Turbo50t]

I just want to make a formal apology to kernalzero, who after have gone back and reading all my posts, I feel like I have personally attacted in this forum. That is not what these forums are about.

 

Jimi4, he is absolutely right, if you want to make sure you stuff will all work out of the box, the best thing to do is buy a Mac. If you have a the time and care to be a little adventurous, than try to build you own system. Like I said mine runs great, but I like doing that kind of stuff, computers are my hobby.

 

I just forget that everyone is not like me. Sorry if I offended anyone....I really did not want to do that.

 

Turbo50t

[Turbo50t]

A Nonny Moose

 

Nothing in the statement I made was biased one way or the other and I certainly have no blind rage against Apple, no more than I do against Microsoft, sorry if it came accross that way. I love the OS X operating system, as far as I am concered in my 30 years of working with Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac's, XWindows and many others, I personally feel this is the best of them all.

 

The other thing that I guess I mis lead you into thinking was that INTEL products are better, that was just a term for the Biege box, they have come to be tagged as intel boxes (PC), let's face it, they have the market share of processors for Now. I agree with you that AMD has a very good line of processors, and coming to more and more beige boxes everyday.

 

All I was trying to say was that with the propriatary hardware that Apple pushes, you are stuck with a very limited pool to pick from, where-as the PC based hardware is open and therefore you can find better, faster (AMD), and cheaper priced hardware, because of compatition. There is no compatition with Apple Hardware, not yet. I think maybe there will be, but we will have to wait and see.

 

Again, not trying to be one-sided or hostile, I just want the best of both worlds. Do you blame me for that?

[sandmanfvrga]

Moose is like that, ignore him. My hackintosh works perfectly. So what I have to wait for a security patch? Who hell cares? I don't. Now I am going to get me a mini simply because the price, but my system RIGHT NOW is perfect. I can do anything I can do on a mini, well the mini will have more ram and dual core but still it is awesome what my hackintosh does. I have ZERO lock ups and I run universal stuff at blazing speed. I am getting a mini because to upgrade the Alienware I got, I would have to go new mobo, new cpu, new ram, new video card, etc. I can take the X1600 and put it in my high end pc gaming box, put the mini on top of it, then switch when I need to game. BUT whether you want to admit it Moose, the GOOD hackintoshes are just as good as a Mac. Period. Take your blinders off pal.

[aberracus]

my hacked Mac Alternative asi i call it, is awesome and NEVER hangs, everything works perfectly, so really theres no real reason if you are geek enough

[sandmanfvrga]

The only problem with my machine is the rambus and that is the only ram slots I got. I got the machine given to me (had a Nvidia 5600 in it) for helping my friend move since he has a newer XPS. If I could upgrade the thing cheaply, then I would but getting my ram to 1 gig or more would cost over $200. Then I would like to get a newer processor with SSE3. So I am looking at a few hundred that way or even more with all the other stuff and blowing money on computers isn't in my budget right now.

 

Rambling aside, correctly built Hackintoshes are fine. People like Moose just like to run their mouth.