I may be getting a Mac...

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Look, Ubuntu Heron has everything you guys are talking about. You should upgrade because of the same reason you should upgrade from IE to FF.

Maybe it does everything MAC OS X or Windows does, but there's no incentive for me to upgrade. Not to mention compatibility issues.

If Linux works for you at home, great, I just see no advantage in it for me or average Joe user at home. If you think you know better than I, I guess you do then.

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac....

This same thing happens in lots of different communities. There are a small amount of people who have to be different than everyone else just so they can show how cool they are and how much smarter they are than the average person.

Yup. I was like that when I first got out of school. Now I am burnt out on technology. Simple as that.

[Herbsinator]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

As someone who uses Linux on a daily basis, I wouldn't call it an "upgrade" from OS X.

LOL, I don't even know. I just figured with the way Giggas was talking it up...there had to be some sort of upgrade.

[pfunk880]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Sorry to move this further off topic, but here's my two cents:

I run Linux on one of my machines (a media center in my living room) because I need reliability and that's one of Linux's main perks. I almost never reboot that system, and it runs 24/7. However, for my regular day-to-day use, I am still using Windows.

That being said, the majority of computer users would probably be fine with a more user-friendly Linux distribution like Ubuntu. These systems are becoming more available off the shelf, and most people who only surf the web, check email, and do occassional word proccessing would be fine with a system like this. They'd be saving money and only getting what they need (it's such a joke that most companies are pushing Vista or overpriced Macs on these types of people when it's totally unnecessary).

Linux has it's place. Unfortunately, I think it'll have a hard time breaking the historical stigma attached to it to become a viable alternative on the desktop.

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

LOL, I don't even know. I just figured with the way Giggas was talking it up...there had to be some sort of upgrade.

Linux does do some cool stuff, and it is open source, which if you think about it, is pretty cool that there is all this stuff available out there.

I just don't see any reason for average Joe to deal with it. From compatability, lack of popular software titles and issues getting support, I would think it would be a lot of hassle and frustration for little or no gain.

I also don't get why people say's it's so cool because it's free. Most people buy their PC's pre-assembled or pre-configured and the cost of the OS is built in to the price of the machine.

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Sorry to move this further off topic, but here's my two cents:

I run Linux on one of my machines (a media center in my living room) because I need reliability and that's one of Linux's main perks. I almost never reboot that system, and it runs 24/7. However, for my regular day-to-day use, I am still using Windows.

That being said, the majority of computer users would probably be fine with a more user-friendly Linux distribution like Ubuntu. These systems are becoming more available off the shelf, and most people who only surf the web, check email, and do occassional word proccessing would be fine with a system like this. They'd be saving money and only getting what they need (it's such a joke that most companies are pushing Vista or overpriced Macs on these types of people when it's totally unnecessary).

Linux has it's place. Unfortunately, I think it'll have a hard time breaking the historical stigma attached to it to become a viable alternative on the desktop.

Still not seeing the big price savings. And have you seen the price of MAC recently? They're certainly competative from a price perspective.

I just don't see any advantage from a home users point of view to go to LINUX. But to each their own I guess.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Still not seeing the big price savings. And have you seen the price of MAC recently? They're certainly competative from a price perspective.

I just don't see any advantage from a home users point of view to go to LINUX. But to each their own I guess.

You can buy preloaded Ubuntu computers from Dell, and they are cheaper than the ones with XP.

Here are links:

XP on left, Ubuntu on right:

http://www.dell.com/content/products...b_1420_anav1~~ vs http://www.dell.com/content/products...n~29~linux_2~~

http://www.dell.com/content/products...b_1525_anav2~~ vs http://www.dell.com/content/products...n~29~linux_3~~

[pfunk880]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Still not seeing the big price savings. And have you seen the price of MAC recently? They're certainly competative from a price perspective.

I just don't see any advantage from a home users point of view to go to LINUX. But to each their own I guess.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8304655

Again, I'm talking about the vast majority of home users, the ones that will only be performing basic day-to-day tasks. This is fine for them. Video editing, gaming, etc. is another story, but not that many people are performing these tasks. It's amazing how many people buy more computing power than they will never come close to needing (well actually, they'll need it, but only for fun and useless visual frills).

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

You can buy preloaded Ubuntu computers from Dell, and they are cheaper than the ones with XP.

Here are links:

XP on left, Ubuntu on right:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspnnb_1420?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~i nspnnb_1420_anav1~~ vs http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspnnb_1420?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~l inux_2~~

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspnnb_1525?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~i nspnnb_1525_anav2~~ vs http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspnnb_1525?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~l inux_3~~

Didn't see Dell was selling them with Linux. That's pretty cool. For me, still not worth saving 50 bucks.

Like I said, if it works for you, great, but I see no advantage and some disadvantages for average Joe User.

[bkrich83]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8304655

Again, I'm talking about the vast majority of home users, the ones that will only be performing basic day-to-day tasks. This is fine for them. Video editing, gaming, etc. is another story, but not that many people are performing these tasks. It's amazing how many people buy more computing power than they will never come close to needing (well actually, they'll need it, but only for fun and useless visual frills).

Come on now. $199 machine. I think you will be getting what you pay for. I think more people than you think are now performing more advanced tasks on their PC's. Although I am not one of them. LOL. As I said, I basically use ITunes, Office, and surf the web.

[fishepa]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

Come on now. $199 machine. I think you will be getting what you pay for. I think more people than you think are now performing more advanced tasks on their PC's. Although I am not one of them. LOL. As I said, I basically use ITunes, Office, and surf the web.

That's pretty much what I'm going to do with the Mac, and also manage/edit all of our photos.

[Heelfan71]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

You think I'm acting smug? Mac people aren't smug?

yes, the original poster asked for impressions of the mac mini and you jack the thread with your Linux crap.

[mjb2124]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

One other thing I've seen - which is odd and completely out of the norm.

The company I work for is about 70% Linux, 30% Windows. We're running either Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 or CentOS 3 as our Linux distributions. The Linux servers seem to go down more frequently and have caused more headaches than the Windows servers (AD, Exchange, IIS, Anti-Virus is about all we run on Windows). I never thought I'd say that before as in past jobs it's been the Windows servers causing more problems and the Linux servers "just run".

I have never used the Linux distributions that Giggas has mentioned so I can't speak for their ease of use. I do know that every variant I've used, I've had to write/edit scripts and use the command line to achieve what I've needed. Like BK and Herb, I just use my home machines to read email, surf the web, pay bills, track/update/change my investments through MS Money and use MS Office. I want it to run and not have to deal with any more headaches when I get home. Windows has afforded me that. With that said, I know Giggas is younger and I loved to mess with things at that age as well (I used to write scripts and very small programs to get around evaluation software expiration dates - cracks as some might know it). I just don't have the time, energy or passion to do it anymore. I guess the World of IT has finally done me in!

[The GIGGAS]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

yes, the original poster asked for impressions of the mac mini and you jack the thread with your Linux crap.

I gave a suggestion. He wanted suggestions.

[Pared]

Re: I may be getting a Mac...

lol @ Giggas being brain-washed at college. Linux is the 00b3r k3w1. I deal with it enough at work; no need to have to worry about compiling a piece of freeware just to do basic functions already built into OSX.

Great buy, fish. You'll love your mini. Great system and with 2GB's of RAM you'll be set.