Review: Apple Mini

So while I the blog is supposed to be about motorcycles, I got nothing going on at the moment. With prepping and packing and just living life, the bike has been place on the backburner once again.

Now I work in technology for a living and that means I sometimes get goodies to play with for work. Since my current job consists of testing software I get a few really nice computers to keep here in the office. And just recently our company has moved into the realm of Mac. So this means I get to have a shiny from Cupertino.

I didn't need anything monstrous like a Mac Pro or a laptop, so we went with a base model Mac Mini. And for the last two weeks I had gotten to fiddle and play with it.

So let's start from the beginning, shall we?

First off it shows up in a box that would hold a VHS box set. Small and compact, maybe 5 lbs at it best.




Look at it. Just a bit larger than my coffee mug.



Now I have to say that Mac makes some nifty hardware. But for 600 bucks, I have to say I expect more. While maybe I couldn't get a true Duo-core for this price tag, I could easily pick up a cheapo laptop for it.

And I have had a few moments where the Apple decides to instead of going to sleep, it takes a total shit and I have to kill and reboot it. Again not exactly something that makes me feel like I got myself something of great quality, instead it is just another box.

The USB's are on the back and they have nothing on the front. Shit at least one USB on the front panel would be nice for a thumb drive. This is one of those things where aesthetics should take a back seat to usability.

And don't get into that myth where Macs do not need to be rebooted. Once every couple of days I get another stupid update notice and in order to install that update, it wants me to reboot the system. Fucker.

And then I had some issues getting the proper system name on my network. Why the hell should I be editing plists and config files? Umm this is not a freebie *nix system. This is the best OS in the whole wide world. OR at least that is what the fan-boys and Cupertino want me to believe.

All inall, if you really don't need much or expect a whole lot, a mini isn't a real bad thing. But for me, it could never replace what I keep here around the house.