bl(ip)og

Someone needs to beat this guy with a FireWire cable. Repeatedly. With concentration to the head area…

http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/MacMini2.html

Back in the lab, we were able to borrow a USB keyboard and mouse from a Tangerine iMac collecting dust in the closet and get the darn Mini booted up at last. This is where the first noticeable problem with Apple design arises. While there is a Mac-style “donnnnggggg” when the Mini is first turned on, during normal operation the unit makes no sound whatsoever. This could make it very difficult for a novice user to know whether or not the computer is on. In fact, it took our techs about fifteen minutes before we realized the unit itself was operating normally and it was the monitor that was not plugged in properly. It turns out the Mini uses a weird kind of display connector on the back that requires a special adapter if you want to plug it into a PC monitor.

It’s called DVI-D, chief. Apparently you’ve never used a high-end monitor. Might want to consider mentioning that Apple includes the special adapater required to use a SVGA monitor.

The OS X comes with some system maintenance utilities, but essentials such as a defragmenter or a registry cleaner are notably absent. I would expect a Mini to get really slow and unstable within a couple months if you can’t perform any routine maintenance tasks on it.

Idiot. The Unix filesystem that it uses doesn’t require defragmenting like a FAT32 or NTFS filesystem does. Registry cleaner? Only Windows OS uses a registry, and no Windows system I’ve ever purchased came with a registry cleaner.

My Office 2003 CD would not install, despite claims I had heard from Mac fanboys that OS X is compatible with Office.

OMGF! Ever considering using the MAC version of Office 2003?

$499 sounds like a decent price at first, but consumers need to be aware that once they add on the basics like a keyboard, monitor and mouse, plus shell out for some antivirus software, the Mac mini price is scraping the ceiling of $1600, hardly a “computer for the rest of us.”

$1101 for a keyboard, mouse and a monitor eh? Where the hell do you shop at, Sparky?

Jorge Lopez is a DeVry graduate with an MCSE certification and is currently the Chief Software Reviewer at Divisiontwo.com’s Technology Insider.

Nuf said.