Is Apple Mac Mini the best mac for beginners??

Hiya Everybody,

I'm really thinking about getting a Mac and was just wondering should i save extra and get a macbook or just get a Mac mini

Thanks

JakeT

Tags: mac, mini

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Derek on February 18, 2009 at 7:35am: I thought about this question for almost a year. I finally came to a conclusion and ordered a new white Macbook. For less than $200 extra you get a notebook so you can work anywhere and don't need to add your own monitor and accessories. You also get the NVIDIA 9400m chipset. I would definitely (and did) go for the Macbook. I'm comparing it to the higher end Mac Mini btw. With the extra features on the Macbook you can do so much more and you won't be wanting to upgrade a year from now (hopefully).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Antonis on February 18, 2009 at 8:34am: yeah listen up mac mini is a little bit of rubbish its cheap and not so good... if u want to play games i recommend an imac 2.1 (works just fine for me) and 1 OR 2 gigs of ram for beginning... then you can set of from their... cheers; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mad Max on February 18, 2009 at 9:27am: The slowest iMac right now is 2.4, the 2.1's were the last generation. The current models will likely be upgraded soon too as they're almost a year old now.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EdNetman on February 18, 2009 at 8:54am: Well, there are many different schools of thought here. It all comes down to what you want and what you need. Personally, I'm with the guy who mentioned iAtkos. You can buy a better piece of hardware for a cheaper cost and run it as a Hackintosh. For example, buy an MSI Wind from Best Buy for $320 or go for the White one with the 6 cell battery and upgraded HDD for $349. Then purchase a copy of OS X from amazon, eBay, etc. and turn that into a Mac. It runs great and is a nice little 10" netbook. Something that Apple still won't offer.

The other option is to check out a used Mac. There are web pages that specialize in selling used Mac laptops and desktops. They are less expensive so you don't have to put up as much $$ to see if you like the environment. A lot of Mac fans may get mad at me saying this, but not everyone likes the Mac OS. So, find a way to see if it's for you before going in to debt over the newest model.

If you find that OS X is your thing, then you dive in to the latest and greatest model, or even give the guys over at Psystar.com a try. You can get a stellar machine with OS X pre-installed starting at about $550.

Don't waste your time with the current Mac Mini, it's a very old hardware standard and the price has not been lowered to reflect that.

Here is an old post that details the markup and hardware quality of a Mac Mini vs a more up to date PC. I need to update it because my new Worpress theme did funny things to the post. http://blog.edthecomputerwizard.com/?p=24

I hope this helps!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jake Turner on February 18, 2009 at 10:28am: Thanks Everybody
Given me alot to think about
but thats a good thing
:)
JakeT; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt DeFazio on February 18, 2009 at 10:39am: The Mac mini is a great beginner machine...

However, if you feel that you're going to keep that computer for a long time, and you need some more power under the hood, go all out, and get an iMac.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jouwels on February 18, 2009 at 11:47am: you should also go to an apple store, they've got great costumer service and they'll gladly show you around, and answer any question you've got n_n plus you get a chance to try a mac right there on the store n_n; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jorge Vega on February 18, 2009 at 12:12pm: I would consider a macbook. You won't regret it. Plus you will have the ability to open up your laptop anywhere you go and perform any task you desire. I was a bit intimidatted when I got my fist mbp 2 years ago, but now I am confident using it. You will get the hang of it quickly plus you can view tutorial on youtube or even apple.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jorge Vega on February 18, 2009 at 12:20pm: In addition, you could use your student discount and get a price break on a purchase 0f a Mac product.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Zalman Gagerman on February 18, 2009 at 1:06pm: depends. what is your purpose? If it's just word processing, etc., mac mini. If it's andything more than that, go the MacBook; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ivudiduf on February 18, 2009 at 1:38pm: the white macbook is the perfect start. it is a little bit more expensive but is laptop. and u still can use your old pc; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TechDaddyK on February 18, 2009 at 3:42pm: You'll be happier with the MacBook. But if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, the Mini is a great way to get started. You can then use the Mini as a server of sorts when you finally get the MacBook.

I have both, and I did something similar to that. The Mini was my gateway drug into OS X. =); ▶ Reply to This