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hey folks. other times i opt for, you may or may not know, the extensive collection of ab workouts along with stretching, toning---you name it, you can probably find it---and ALL free and looking beautiful on a widescreen.i hope if you are reading this, you are inspired in the new year to try something different with your exercise routine -- or to, @ least, begin one. coupled with a wireless keyboard/mouse, this was a true no-brainer purchase in every sense.in closing, for those of you who have both macs and pcs, SURELY you have also realized the added benefit of how quickly macs boot up and allow you to start WORKING. since i already had an urban rebounder trampoline in the bedroom :o) and have enjoyed fun aerobic "bouncing" and working out on it since 2005, the idea came after many months of using the mac mini for pretty much e-mail, web surfing, online banking, and other quick application uses/etc. AND, unlike my pcs, the macs have NEVER crashed.EVER [(cough) can you say vertical integration.]. {i.e., no longer lugging a laptop into the bedroom area for these purposes}.this baby is now used for FREE www.youtu___.com music and exercise video sessions. hope this inspires you in case you had not thought of this before.it has now been nearly two years (02-2007) since this diminutive beauty has been attached to a samsung lcd tv in the bedroom with the included dvi connector. this product has allowed us to take these activities to a totally new level.
there will never again be a need to purchase those workout dvds we tend to use 3-4x [right, folks.]., only for them to become expensive paperweights. i simply go to the website and watch all those wild music videos [e.g., for the last several weeks, i have been playing Beyoncé's "single ladies" vid dozens of times over 'til i nearly pass out from physical exertion.in a good way :o) ]. this mini {from turning it on to clicking on the "mentioned" website above} TAKES ABOUT 22 SECONDS, whereas my pcs {xp/vista} usually do not even allow clicking on an icon to smoothly open an app until almost TWO MINUTES. so, overall, even though i paid a lot more two years ago for this mac mini, it was well worth it and there is no longer an excuse to NOT work out AND stay healthy since it is attached to a BEDROOM tv.take care, everyone, and Here's to Your Health.
And it is whisper quiet. I can't believe how I suffered struggling to use Vista. This machine does everything I need far easier than Vista could ever hope to. I had to bump the RAM to 2GB which is the only thing that stops me from giving it 5 stars. Make the switch to the Mac and OSX and you won't be sorry.
I really don't need to archive every photo and song I have on every drive. It seems to provide an answer to the security issues in Windows. I can hook up a USB drive. I've had nothing but problems trying to make anti-Virus software work without being a major annoyance a lot of the time. I might slowly migrate to the Mac OS, but I hope Windows solves some of the problems and I can use both. I could run Win on the Mac, but that seems idiotic if you keep some Win machines. I might buy Aperture or Elements, but so far the iPhoto is OK as an organizer.I run the new Open Office on Mac.
Overall, the machine works very smoothly. So Mac solves that.The downside is that some of my software won't work. The iTunes is a lot more refined that Windows Media Player, which is overloaded with things. I hope the Mac systems remain isolated from malware and all the rubbish that infects Win, without the overhead of AV and other layers like complex firewalls.
I like the Mac OS. It is fine, though somtimes the keystrokes seem to get lost in endless tiny reformattings of the text. I think for free software, Open Office is great and it goes from Mac to Ubuntu to Win.So yes, Mac is simpler, more refined, and less of a pain. The basic Mini has tiny hard drive and not much memory. The photo program, iPhoto, is OK. Between Vista, Ubuntu and Leopard, I'll take the big cat. Plus the updates get expensive. I may get a 320MB self-powered drive for this machine, a USB pocket drive.I might be able to get by with Ubuntu, but I've noticed a few glitches.
It seems to get the job done, organizing and playing music, creating playlists. It's not enough for serious post processing, the the slideshow is nice, and the Ken Burns effect is useful. It is simple and the package includes a nice music player and the Open Office stuff. I really hope.
Runs great, easy to use, just works. It replaced an old 1.6-GHz P4 machine that has served my wife and kids for at least 4 years. I'm very happy with this little Mac. On the physical design side, I'd prefer to have the DVD slot on one of the adjacent sides to all of the connectors, as opposed to the opposite side, because it's awkward to access the slot where our machine sits. We were all so tired of the various Wintel hassles that this was a long overdue step. However, for the few things that only run on Windoze, this machine runs VMware Fusion well, alongside any number of concurrent OS X apps.Other than the fact that this machine required the most painful memory upgrade I've ever done, I am completely delighted with it. But that's not enough for me to drop the rating to a 4. This is an excellent little computer.
I have two LaCie 500 gig hard drives under my Mini which match it in looks and form factor and I have tons of music as well as lots of movies on them.Maybe Apple didn't intend the Mini to be an under the TV controller, but it works beautifully as one. And if you have your TV hooked up to a good stereo system, mine goes into an old, but still working wonderfully, Yamaha Amp which powers four JBL Studio Monitors, you can listen to your iTunes library on it.
Lots of people think they might be dropping it. I think that would be a big mistake.
Apple has not updated the lowly Mini in quite awhile and if everything I read online is true, it looks like they're never going to. You can even check your e-mail.
They should drop their silly Apple TV instead and keep this baby in their line up, because it's a solid performer.Well, not solid as a desktop computer, I wouldn't say that, but stick it under your TV, then hook it up via the Video out (you'll have to buy an adaptor so you can hook into one of your TV's HDMI ports), and you're good to go, TVwise that is.You don't need a Video player, because you can just used the DVD player on your Mini. You can watch Hulu or Joost on your TV.
Of course, if you have a lot of music, then you'll want an external hard drive. So please Apple keep the Mini in your lineup.Reviewed by Stephanie Sane
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