“Windows users beset by computer viruses and spyware are hungry for alternatives. And, with impeccable timing, Apple Computer has released its first truly affordable Macintosh machine in a major bid to woo the PC-using masses. The Mac mini, like other Apple products such as its iPod music players, is a design triumph. A full-featured Mac that is only about the size of a cigar box, it is a compelling competitor to hulking entry-level Windows machines… the Mac mini is a convincing shot across Bill Gates’ bow,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata writes for The St. Paul Pioneer Press.
“And what really counts resides on the Mac mini’s hard drive. This includes the elegant, stable and secure Mac OS X operating system, along with the just-upgraded iLife ’05. That suite is made up of the iTunes music-jukebox program along with GarageBand for making your own music, iPhoto for organizing and fine-tuning digital pictures, iMovie for editing digital-camcorder footage and iDVD for burning the home-movie masterpieces onto blank DVDs,” Ojeda-Zapata writes. “Too bad Apple didn’t throw in its new iWork ’05 suite. It includes an upgraded version of its Keynote presentation program, along with the all-new Pages word processor. The new Pages isn’t as feature-rich as Microsoft Word but makes up for it with snappy performance, typographical elegance and powerful page-design controls (with gobs of templates.)”
Ojeda-Zapata writes, “Even so, Apple’s top-flight software makes the Mac mini enticing even to those who have no intention of ditching their Windows machines (at least for now). I know of several people who are mulling whether to move multimedia tasks to minis and iLife while keeping their PCs for more mundane e-mail, Web surfing, word processing and the like.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Weird. The first thing we’d do, if we were afflicted with a Windows box, would be to take it offline to avoid the rampant Windows adware, spyware, viruses, and worms. We’d use the Mac mini to surf the Web and do email. We have no idea what we’d need to keep the Windows PC around for besides laughs, except that one good use would be to use it run a Windows-only application like, for a random example, AutoCAD, via Microsoft’s free Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac. This would allow us to connect from our Mac to the Windows box and work with programs and files on the Windows computer without leaving the Mac; no KVM switch needed. Think of Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac + your PC and connected to your Mac as a Virtual PC that’s actually usable; also better known as an “Actual PC.” You can even hide the physical Windows box somewhere out of sight, so its physical ugliness and fan noise won’t ruin your workspace’s Feng Shui. That way your sensibilities are only assaulted with the Windows UI and only when you’re forced to use it. So, if you’re stuck with a Windows-only application, consider the set up we’ve described above, it may serve your needs very well – and don’t forget to email those Windows-only developers and ask them when the Mac OS X version of their application will be released.
Oh, and Ben, if you are reading this, be forewarned regarding the above situation about crabs and rabies.
Whoops! A girl does get around, you know. I liken myself as human malware.
I use RDC on my Mac at work because we have several Windows only programs we use. It works great, probably the best Microsoft program I’ve ever used (in other words, I have yet to crash it and I’ve been using it for 4 months! That might be a record). In my business (electrical wholesale supply) we use several custom made apps that are developed by our suppliers, and are Windows only. We also use an ancient DOS program that we use for inventory/billing and for viewing older documents from when we used Quattro Pro. It works a lot better than Virtual PC. VPC does not work for everything, in spite of what you might have been told.
It just goes to show how bad of an experience I have using a Windows and how positive an experience with Macs that I would go so far as to buy my own Mac for work, and remoting a Windows XP box, just so that I can keep the time spent using Windows XP to the absolute minimum.
By the way, that’s the registered trademark symbol, not the copyright symbol. Duh.
I was referring to your post at 02:37, where you made reference to “Dark Lord Gates©”. THAT’s a copyright symbol. Duh.
So, do you have a contact at the PTO, who allows you to register trademarks as you burp them up? The registered trademark symbol sure is getting passed around a lot around here…
Kinda like lisa!
It’s amazing the level of conversation the participation of Nomacforyou and ben generate. This is almost up to the elementary school level.
Interesting take MDN, has anyone here actually tried the M$ remote desktop client? How is it for speed?
lisa popped my virtual cherry.
I can still remember that sweet day…on AOL IM…the things we said, the things we did.
Shivers are going up my spine as we type now.
lisa, if you are on im now, please msg me!!!1
A rose for you
@–,–‘–,—-
My favorite color is blue.
rogozhin: Don’t you mean as I burp® them up?
© 2005, NoMacForYou, All Rights Reserved
Auto CAD!! What are you nuts? Chuck Auto CAD along with that dumb Windows box and get the much better, easier, super capable and totally Macintosh Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt. Auto-CAD… gag!
funny, why did I get a pop up ad for Hydroderm when first viewing this story today. Safari pop up blocker is on. Are you guys now taking ad dollars to create these pops ups?
Jack A,
I live in MN and connect to a computer in Oregon using the RDC. The initial startup/login lags, but the rest of the functions are very quick. I had previously been using PCAnywhere but found that this solution is more than adequate. In fact, except for a few functions, I prefer RDC to PCAnywhere.
I like to spend time with small children. Do you know any single ones?
Ben Dover
“We have no idea what we’d need to keep the Windows PC around for besides laughs”
“Maybe to play World of Warcraft. Won’t run on a Mac Mini: Not enough video RAM.”
Not true. I run World of Warcraft just fine on a G4 Cube and an older PowerBook, both with a slower processor and the same amout of vRAM as the mini.
WoW: WoW runs just fine on a mini. Not fast, but not terrible.
AutoCAD: Unfortunately, a lot of architects and interior/exterior designers can’t do without AutoCAD. It’s pretty much an industry standard in a lot of places.
RDC: RDC is a great solution… that’s what I do with my Windows box. I’ve read reports, though, that the Windows RDC client running in VirtualPC is faster than the Mac client. Haven’t tested that yet myself.
Too bad what would really make me hungry is spending thousands to replace all my software.
I also am a big fan or RDC and have used it daily for the last year or so. My very old PC is sitting in the closet and shows up as a window on my second monitor when ever I need it. You need to be running XP, NT2000 or one of the Windows servers on the PC in order to use it.
It is great running windows at full speed without having to use your Mac’s system resources. I can cut and paste between platforms and even see my Mac’s hard drives and CDs from my PC. (I am using a thin client that doesn’t have a CD drive) The only thing is that it does not display millions of colors.
I created a video tutorial for setting it up. It is a 27 MB file and is currently at: http://www.mvldesign.com/rdc.html
Hey you landlubbers….
Main Entry: bow
Pronunciation: ‘bau
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English bowe, bowgh, probably from Middle Dutch boech bow, shoulder; akin to Old English bOg bough
1 : the forward part of a ship
Just a point.
¿Does anyone realize that the Mini comes with a combo drive, not a SuperDrive?
“Long Life to the Mac”
Jack A…”t’s amazing the level of conversation the participation of Nomacforyou and ben generate. This is almost up to the elementary school level.
Interesting take MDN, has anyone here actually tried the M$ remote desktop client? How is it for speed?”
Yes Jack it is amazing the useless posts that BSOD regergitates as myself (NoMacForYou)
And yes, RDC works well as long as you are on a decent connection…I use it daily..I just removed my PC flatscreen so I can just use my single 30 Apple Display.
The only use for the orphaned PC is to play the games that aren’t out on the Mac yet.
I hate Wintel Fuckheads !
Urk, that popup surprised me too, Deja vu blue. I was so happy that i could visit macdailynews, but popups are against my principles.
Magic word Days as in “it has been days since i’ve seen a popup”
The pop up has to go MDN. Get rid of it or put up a reasonable explanation for it’s existence. I have absolutely no problem with ads on your page but the pop ups are just annoying. It pops up almost automatically with my RSS feed. So I will have to take you off my RSS feed if it stays too much longer.
Why are there all these Pee Cee assholes hanging out in a Mac only site? Could they be closet switchers? And why would anyone want to keep a Pee Cee around for email and surfing when the idea is to ditch the box full of virus’s, worms, adware, trojans, spyware, etc? When will the ignorant masses ever learn, or do they really like monitoring that crap 24/7? I have never had one virus, worm, adware, spyware, or trojan in 13 years of being on a Mac. Can the Pee Cee crowd say the same? I think not! Go Apple!
“WoW runs just fine on a mini”
Good to hear. I see the sys reqs have gone down in the final version. The beta FAQ still claimed 64MB VRAM.
BTW the Mac Mini specs exactly match the sys reqs for the upcoming The Sims 2, as if it was designed for it.