Does anyone have a mac mini?

First of all it wont cost you 250+ to get it. Pretty much every store around here only sells the OEM version at ~99 euro's. Some wont sell it to you as officially it has to be part of a system but they will if you buy the cheapest piece of hardware you can get with it (like a fan or something).

MS won't really care about the average user upgrading. Those people will upgrade the ''natural'' way when they buy a new OEM pc after a couple of years.

Also, all the new osx releases arnt they more like upgrades anyway? (just asking, dont really now). The little i've seen of it, its not like the MS new OS like 2000 -> XP -> Vista/7.

 

If you are already using Windows XP, you should be able to buy Windows 7 upgrade version, which is about the same price as OEM version. Of course, the ultimate version is expensive, but I think most people'd be fine with home premium (also ~ US$120) or professional (~US$200).

As for MacOS X, sometimes it's not a very big upgrade but sometimes it's big. But since Apple updates its OS much more frequently than Microsoft did (at least recently), each version looks like a service pack although if you see the accumulated results it's still quite a lot. Since Apple sells MacOS X cheaper (~US$30) that means you need to upgrade three times to match Windows' OEM price, so cost-wise they are probably quite similar.

 

Uhhh but can you fit all of that crap in a case the size of the mini? Apples vs Oranges...

BTW the only Windows machines that fit into that tiny space are slow ATOM based crap...not even mini-ITX PCs are that small.

 

No true. In japan they got ''laptops'' the size of DS XL with proper intel cpu's in them. Made a picture of them, but can't find it atm.

Anyway that mac mini has intel hardware right? So there is no reason why you couldnt make windows box that size providing somebody builds a mainboard and casing in that form factor.

 

If you want a mediaplayer there are better options at 1/3 the price.

 

Been having a mini sitting unobtrusively somewhere in the corner of my desk since 2004. Have been using them for development/desktops/small servers/media boxes, but always in a 24/7 mode, i.e. once on they'd never go down. Never had a mini die on me, even the oldest G4 one is still functional, though I managed to kill its cdrw drive by physically kicking in (accidentally). The only times I've ever heard a mini's fan were when the room temp was mid 30C's or above. I've brought a mini with me in a backpack, plastic bag or in the trunk of the car to more than a few occasions, and as long as there's been a monitor/tv, mouse and a kbd at the destination, the mini's been good. Never felt the need to buy/build a 'proper PC' since 2004. That said, old minis were a bitch to upgrade - done a few mem upgrades myself.

The only thing that ever could replace my minis as an everyday desktop/workstation was the current generation of ARM-based nettops. But that's a subject for another thread.

 

I agree, the Mac mini hardware is pretty awesome. I just find OS X abrasive. If I could only ssh -X into the Mac and pull those Xcode windows over onto a sane desktop environment, I might still own one.