Looking at buying my first ever Mac

tonyzero

tonyzero

tonyzero

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Joined
29 Oct 2003
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Perivale, London
Hi,

i have been a windows user ever since i can remember but since i have had the iphone i have been thinking about what a mac is like to use.

now the first think i can see different with macs is the price :eek: but i understand that macs are not just your run of the mill pc so i can get around that.

now looking at the different types of Macs you can get i thought about giving a Mac Mini a go now i know some of you will say go for a mac book but i never get on with laptops as it always means at some time or another you have to get up and plug something in when you want it and although its nice to sit in another room and use a laptop i have always found it best sitting at a desktop.

another reason for looking at the Mini is that i am already running a dual display setup with vista so i could switch back to a single screen and use the other for the Mini and as i am a noob to Macs i just want something to get use to before i look at something like an imac and the mini although not that cheap is better than spending £930 on a 13" macbook when i can use a 20" desktop screen with the mini.

now if some of you can answer some questions for me please.

1, as well as using a 20" display i was also thinking to trying the Mini on my 37" 1080P TV so would the mini be OK for this ?


2, vista has a minimum amount of ram that people usually recommend which if i am correct is 2GB so what is the minimum for a Mac ?


3, if i was to buy the £499 Mini can i upgrade the ram to say 4GB i think i read somewhere that 4GB does not work to well in a mini true or false ?


4, if i do upgrade the ram after i got it would apple know, thinking about guarantee ?


5, how loud does the mini get and does the fans still run when put into sleep mode ?


5, if for some reason you need to reinstall the OS do you also have to reinstall all apps like you do in vista ?


6, i am using a 500GB WD my book if i used this on time machine to backup and i lost the hard drive on the mini will this restore it back to how it was before with all apps as well or just my files ?


7, vista does software updates every now and then do Macs do this as well and i also see that a new OS is due from apple so will this be an upgrade you have to pay for or will this be free if i was to but a mini within say the next week or two ?

8, Whats the sound like on a mini when put through some speakers, itunes user :D

now as i am a noob to macs any other advice would be grateful.

Tony
 
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it seem that some of you have been getting your macs with a HE discount when your not in collage so i take it its easy to get the discount by telling a few fibs :D so can someone please tell me what a Mini would cost with the discount.

Thanks
 
Thanks Feek, i read some of your posts when you was running OSX on a windows PC
£50 is better in my pocket than in apples, i know someone that is in collage so can he give me some info that i can use to help get a discount or is it just easier to get it myself.

if i am correct i think you got a mac in the end so how are you like it now ?
 
ok so i ordered a mac mini with a DVI adapter and aperture 2 for £517 told me i need to send in a copy of the lecturer ID which i don't have so i hope they won't chase me on that :D

tried to sell me apple care and once i said put on aperture 2 as well he said i needed more ram but as i am looking at getting some and doing it myself i said no which i think he thought was strange :D

going to get 4gb ram now for £56
 
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The OP being me did go and play on a few macs today and i liked what i see which i why i went for the mac mini as i already had the display so didn't see the point in a laptop, even if i find that i don't like it as much as vista i am sure i will still have a use for it.

do any of you think apple will chase me about the lecturer ID that i said i could give in order to get the discount as i don't really know anyone :eek:

Tony
 
OK i have some new ram on the way (4GB Crucial) and i also have a WD black Scorpio to put in as well but i have never installed the operating system on a mac before so is it just like installing vista ?

when i change the drive and ram do i need to hold any buttons when i power back on as i am sure i see that somewhere YouTube but i can't find it now.

would i be OK to do both upgrades at the same time or should i do ram first power up shut down and then do the HD ?
 
Feek said:
Installing OS X is easy. Replace the drive and memory at the same time, have the DVD in the drive when you power on. You shouldn't need to hold any keys down but on the odd chance that it doesn't boot, power off and power back on again holding down the option (alt) key. You'll get the option as to which device to boot from and just choose the DVD.
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as i understand it i should be getting ilife 09 with my mini so will that come with it own disk or is it on the OSX disk, just want to make sure that i don't replace a drive only to then find out that some software is pre installed on the disk i have just changed
 
Feek said:

You will get iLife09 with it, I'm not sure how it works now though.

With my Mac Pro, I had the option while installing OS X to include the iLife applications and it prompted me for the second DVD during installation but with the Macbook the iLife installation isn't integrated and I had to put the second DVD in after the operation system was fully installed.

The version of OS X shipping with hardware is the current one, ie 10.5.6 but be sure to run a Software Update... from the Apple menu once installed as there will be a few small additional patches.
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thanks, i was just reading on the forum about anti virus i take it its not needed on a mac so that saves some money :D
 
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