My Mac Mini
I purchased my first Mac computer - a Mac Mini - in September 2005 as something of a birthday present to myself. It's a standard issue G4, 1.42 Ghz, 512 Mb RAM, 80 GB HDD machine with a Superdrive. Running Mac OS X Tiger, natch.
I have a fairly decent collection of music - 820 albums, 438 artists and over 12400 songs, at last count - and I was looking for a solution that would save me shelf space, allow me access to my entire collection, and... well, you know, so on.
[iTunes or Windows Media Player? Watch this blog: I've got some things I'd like iTunes to borrow from WMP. Yup.]
Why did I choose the Mac Mini - three primary reasons:
form factor - the Windows PC in my bedroom is a bloody ugly tower that I try to hide under the desk. My desk is usually cluttered with junk. I don't have much else shelf space to spare. A 6" X 6" X 4" brick seemed just right.
price - in India, about the price of an assembled PC, albeit BYODKM as Apple so charmingly terms it: Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse. Ok, I can do that.
BYODKM - actually, this is a stroke of marketing genius, IMHO. It deserves a para to itself.
My thought process when confronted with BYODKM went something like this. I've got a decent Samsung LCD 15" display, a pretty sexy Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. With a KVM (that's Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch that will only set me back a few hundred rupees I could share these between the two computers. That means I don't have to completely forsake my hard-earned Windows skills and learn a whole new way of doing things. I don't have to junk the MS Office that I occasionally need to use on my home PC. My printer setup stays the same. My DSL internet connection stays on my Windows PC so I don't need to hassle with the ignorance of the ISP in setting up my DSL modem for the Mac. The keyboard layout will remain the familar Windows one, and though that might cause me a few hiccups, it'll still be easier than figuring out what the hell a "Command" key is. I get the best of both worlds. And it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. And I can plug the Mac Mini into my home network and my amplifier and download music from iTunes (like I need more than 820 albums) and blast it at will. And I get to play with this Mac OS X animal and see what the fuss is all about. And I can always retreat to the shelter of Windows if it gets too stuffy.
And it's my birthday.
No brainer.
(BTW, why is it BYODKM but KVM? Why not KDM or BYOKVM? Mysteries of the Universe.)
I have a fairly decent collection of music - 820 albums, 438 artists and over 12400 songs, at last count - and I was looking for a solution that would save me shelf space, allow me access to my entire collection, and... well, you know, so on.
[iTunes or Windows Media Player? Watch this blog: I've got some things I'd like iTunes to borrow from WMP. Yup.]
Why did I choose the Mac Mini - three primary reasons:
form factor - the Windows PC in my bedroom is a bloody ugly tower that I try to hide under the desk. My desk is usually cluttered with junk. I don't have much else shelf space to spare. A 6" X 6" X 4" brick seemed just right.
price - in India, about the price of an assembled PC, albeit BYODKM as Apple so charmingly terms it: Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse. Ok, I can do that.
BYODKM - actually, this is a stroke of marketing genius, IMHO. It deserves a para to itself.
My thought process when confronted with BYODKM went something like this. I've got a decent Samsung LCD 15" display, a pretty sexy Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. With a KVM (that's Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch that will only set me back a few hundred rupees I could share these between the two computers. That means I don't have to completely forsake my hard-earned Windows skills and learn a whole new way of doing things. I don't have to junk the MS Office that I occasionally need to use on my home PC. My printer setup stays the same. My DSL internet connection stays on my Windows PC so I don't need to hassle with the ignorance of the ISP in setting up my DSL modem for the Mac. The keyboard layout will remain the familar Windows one, and though that might cause me a few hiccups, it'll still be easier than figuring out what the hell a "Command" key is. I get the best of both worlds. And it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. And I can plug the Mac Mini into my home network and my amplifier and download music from iTunes (like I need more than 820 albums) and blast it at will. And I get to play with this Mac OS X animal and see what the fuss is all about. And I can always retreat to the shelter of Windows if it gets too stuffy.
And it's my birthday.
No brainer.
(BTW, why is it BYODKM but KVM? Why not KDM or BYOKVM? Mysteries of the Universe.)
posted by Warble at 10:34 AM
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