Al Fasoldt is back from his battle with cancer of the prostate [Great news: Al reports that two tests since the surgery showed no signs of recurring cancer] and takes a look at Apple’s new Mac mini.
“The Mac mini is a full Macintosh G4 computer – sold without a monitor, keyboard or mouse – despite being the size of a stack of three CD boxes. The entire computer is 6.6 inches square and 2 inches high. Everything a normal G4 Macintosh has is in the Mac mini also,” Fasoldt writes for The Syracuse Post-Standard.
“The mini comes with OS X (pronounced ten – it’s a Roman numeral) as its operating system, just as all other Macintosh models do. It’s more advanced than the current version of Windows, and, as OS X users know well, is unaffected by Windows viruses and spyware. So far, it doesn’t even have any viruses or spyware of its own,” Fasoldt writes.
“Apple’s superb iLife suite of photo, audio and video programs comes with the Mac mini. The best software in the suite surely must be iPhoto and iTunes; each of them qualifies as the best example of good program design in its own category. You also get iMovie, which makes video editing painless and fun while keeping it as professional as possible; and iDVD, which works with iMovie to give you a way to make DVDs of your videos without opening a manual or looking in a help menu… You also get GarageBand, an outstanding audio-recording and editing program. If GarageBand were sold on its own by a company other than Apple, it probably would cost $299 – more than half the cost of the entire Mac mini with all the software included,” Fasoldt writes.
Fasoldt writes, “Apple figures most people buying a Mac mini will have a Windows PC around the house and probably won’t want to use the Windows computer after they’ve tried the mini. (I agree.)”
Full article here.