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| Tuesday, January 25, 2005 |
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MIKE WENDLAND: Apple tempts PC users with the Mac mini
January 25, 2005
BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The designers at Apple Computer have come up with another mini that's going to be huge.
If you've never been tempted to switch from the Windows PC platform, the inexpensively priced Mac mini may be hard to resist. It's the gutsiest move yet for Apple, a company that built its reputation on innovation and, up to now, high prices.
Like Apple's iPod mini digital music player, which was my choice for the hottest high-tech gadget of 2004, the Mac mini is sleek, simple to use and distinctive to look at. It's much less prone to viruses and the other hack attacks that harass Windows computers. It comes with easy-to-use software that makes a variety of digital tasks, from editing photos to downloading music, simple and intuitive.
Best of all, it's a great value. Though you'll probably need to buy some extras to get the most out of a mini, the base model sells for $499. Unlike full-sized Macs, which have always sold at a significant premium, that's only about $50 more than a similarly equipped Windows computer.
To be sure, the Mac mini doesn't come with a display, mouse or keyboard (causing some geeks to call the Mac mini a headless computer). But now that most people already own a computer -- and many of us have parts left over from old ones stashed in the basement -- Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs thinks many users don't need to buy those things.
Apple doesn't see the mini as anybody's first computer. It's designed to be a replacement for, or an addition to, the PC you already own -- and a lure to get you to change the way you use and think about personal computing.
There is something different about a Mac. Some say it's a Zen-like quality. Others say it's just friendly. Others use words like elegant and intuitive or charming. Mac fans -- zealots by the millions -- often even give their computers names.
I'm not that rabid, though in full disclosure, I must say I switched from being all-PC to all-Mac two years ago and would never go back.
I've had a mini to try out since Friday, and it's impressed me greatly. This is no weakling computer. It's a full-fledged Macintosh that can do most everything I can on my $2,000 PowerBook, despite its small size. Measuring 6.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep by 2 inches high, the mini weighs just 2.9 pounds.
The $499 model has a 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, a 40 GB hard drive, a slot-loading DVD/CD drive that can also record CDs, and all the standard USB, FireWire, Internet and telephone jacks and ports. There's also a $599 model that has a slightly faster processor (1.42 GHz) and larger hard drive (80GB).
I unpacked the mini, plugged in an old 17-inch flat-screen Dell monitor, attached a keyboard and mouse I had lying around in a junk drawer and, in less than two minutes, was up and running. No configuration, no tweaking. Just one button pushed, and the Mac mini booted up and was good to go.
The mini runs on Apple's rock-solid OS X operating system, the most secure and efficient operating system you can find anywhere for the average personal computer user. There has never been a successful worm or virus attack on OS X.
But it's what comes with the mini that cinches the deal: Apple's upgraded suite of iLife software --the sweetest, most seamless and easy-to-operate bunch of programs you've ever used. There's video editing with the amazingly easy iMovie program. You can play and create and -- if you install the $100 optional SuperDrive -- burn DVDs with iDVD. The iPhoto application organizes and cleans up your digital pictures and works automatically with most cameras.
For music, you get iTunes to manage your music library playlists and an addictively fun Apple program called GarageBand, which lets you actually compose your own music with a huge library of music loops.
On the mini, iLife is the secret weapon, the entryway into that nirvana of the Mac lifestyle.
Then there's Safari, Apple's Web browser. Internet Explorer -- the fading Microsoft product that most PC users still click to surf the Web -- is notoriously insecure and getting long in the tooth. The sprightly Apple browser is not only noticeably faster but much less attractive to hackers.
As good as the mini is, though, few people are going to be satisfied with the $499 basic model. The standard mini ships with just 256 MB of memory. Apple insists that's enough. I think it's inadequate.
Moreover, the mini doesn't come with a word processor. Microsoft Word, the industry standard, has a Mac version that sells for $229. Apple just came out with a new highly graphical word processing application called Pages that offers bare-bones compatibility with Microsoft Word for $79.
So that attractive $499 price can edge upward pretty fast, and the total for a fully equipped Mac mini can quickly approach $1,000 -- especially if you need to buy a monitor ($250 or so at most computer stores for a flat-screen 17-inch model). That's not so mini anymore.
I wouldn't recommend the mini as the principal computer in your house. But for a second or third one, it's perfect.
I warn you, though: If you buy one, you just may become one of those Mac zealots.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 8:00 AM |
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