Apple Mac Mini Core Duo (1.83GHz)

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 16 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 7 stars

  3 days with a mac mini... not bad

  by orange636 on November 8, 2006

  Pros: elegant, pretty quiet, and fast.

  Cons: audio is underserved =(

  Summary: Out of the box and setup quickly. Found my network (although I wasn't sure of "DHCP" what??) and was up and running within minutes. My first Mac. Cool.
  
  I'
  
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  Summary: Out of the box and setup quickly. Found my network (although I wasn't sure of "DHCP" what??) and was up and running within minutes. My first Mac. Cool.
  
  I've used windows for years but the basics with os x, like web browsing, itunes, and photos, are all easy. So first impressions are enjoyable and plus this Core Duo with 1K ram feels fast; faster than my windows machine with a pentium 4 @ 3g and 2K ram.
  
  I guess it's OS X that makes the difference? Whatever, photos and itunes is a lot faster and that's a happy experience.
  
  Day two, well, music is really important to me and I spent the day trying to figure out how to get this mini to sound better. My PC with a soundblaster sound-card was sweet, so I tried the new X-Fi from creative, which just plugs into a USB port and it helped a little. Music quality is still a dissapointment however. I'd give this Mac a "10" if the audio was as good as my PC.
  
  I'm picky though, so this may not apply to the average person who thinks 128 mp3's are OK.
  
  By day three I was able to figure out more complicated stuff regarding OS X like where are my programs (aside from the dock thing)?
  
  And I also ripped a dvd to my ipod. Cool.
  
  Blue screen of death? Well, not really, but it did lock up on me today. I tried waiting, I tried "apple" - "Q" but it wouldn't quit programs, and I guess there is no "control-alt-delete" slam, like with windows, so I powered off and then back on.
  
  I'm up again and no problems. So that's three days with a Mac from a PC user's point of view.

  Updated
  so simple, yet maybe apple should just print this on the box: turn down the system volume to ~25% and use the amp in your speaker system.
  
  my music now sounds as good as it did with my PC using a Soundblaster card.
  
  i also have to say that Tiger can play any video i have: avi video is no problem (i thought i was going to have trouble with my huge collection).
  
  plus there is a lot of cheapie software out there, like handbrake, VLC, and igrabnews, so there simply are no obstacles for switching from a PC to a Mac.
  
  i was nervous about the change from a PC (and still have a lot to learn about OS X) but now that i did it: mucho happy amigo. tag you're it!

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  6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Upgradable indeed

  by DJ Rome on October 28, 2006

  Pros: Small, compact, OS X and XP, WIFI+BT, Sleek

  Cons: DVI out instead of VGA, few ports, no eject button

  Summary: Those of you looking for a small, good computer that does minimal things, look no further. Mac Mini has you covered. For me, I use it for videos, music, surfing, ...

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  Summary: Those of you looking for a small, good computer that does minimal things, look no further. Mac Mini has you covered. For me, I use it for videos, music, surfing, and some light gaming, which makes this perfect for me. Only problem is that I have too many USB peripherals to connect and it makes it tough to get them all in. I had to buy 2 external hubs to keep up. So far, I have connected an external card reader, which I would like to see included, a 750GB external hard driver, an external dvd burner (which I've switched to using Firewire), an external sound card, a keyboard, 2 USB hubs, and several PDA device cradles. That being said, it works perfectly. I put it below my TV, which I'll be upgrading to a 30" LCD TV. Once that happens, I can ditch the smaller LCD monitor and I can watch TV and control my computer on the same monitor. Putting there saves space and I use wireless mouse and will be getting a wireless keyboard soon too. One problem I see is that if you don't get an external sound card, the sound quality is pretty bad. Also, the DVI means that many monitors won't work. I have to get an LCD screen to get it to connect. It won't work with my old tube TV. Also, the USB ports are next to the USB ports and with all of them jammed, it's cumbersome to have to take one out to unscrew the monitor cable off.
  For performance, It's pretty good. I upgraded to a 2.16 GHz Core Duo and have 2GB of RAM. Later I may upgrade to a Core 2 Duo, price-permissble.
  
  Overall, this is a great system. Few complaints and definitely an upgrade from a 1.2 GHz AMD from 5 years ago.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Doesnt get much better for the money.

  by Dean81299 on October 27, 2006

  Pros: Price, Speed of processor, Build Quality,

  Cons: This is as perfect an entry Mac as it gets. Has it all.

  Summary: Its amazing to me, how Apple has perfected itself in the last 2 years. Starting with the inntroduction of the iPod 5 years ago this month, Apple and their desktop ...

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  Summary: Its amazing to me, how Apple has perfected itself in the last 2 years. Starting with the inntroduction of the iPod 5 years ago this month, Apple and their desktop line of Macs start with this machine. And it delivers it all, and at a cheap and fair price.
  
  Looking for an introduction to the wonderful world that is Mac OS X? This does it cheaply, and with everything youll need to get started.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Purchased for living room web browser, may get another.

  by waduncan on May 2, 2007

  Pros: Quiet...almost too quiet, its eerie. Fast. Comes with quite a few full version software (not 15-30 day free trials or limited feature versions). Small.

  Cons: Safari browser does not always render websites correctly (that is a gripe about Safari not the Mini). A tad expensive once you add the 1gig of ram. No DVI cable knowledge by Apple folks/me.

  Summary: Purchased this computer for my brother after his laptop finally bit the dust. He really only uses his computer to yahoo chat, limewire music, youtubes, eBay, and myspace. He was ...

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  Summary: Purchased this computer for my brother after his laptop finally bit the dust. He really only uses his computer to yahoo chat, limewire music, youtubes, eBay, and myspace. He was going to get another laptop from Dell due to their very attractive priced $549 Inspiron 1501. The only reason he wanted a laptop was due to him not having room to place a desktop PC in his living space.
  
  So he called me and asked me to look into it for him. I reviewed the Dell but was a little disappointed with the power for the price (mind you for what he uses his PC for it would actually have worked for him). I finally stumbled across this Mac Mini by accident. I am a diehard IBM-clone, Intel, Windows-based, whatever you want to call them user/supporter. For myself I would never had considered a Mac, however considering my brothers lite usage of the PC I figured a Mac would do him right. Also he has a gift for finding and downloading EVERY virus on the planet. So once again I figured that Mac would be better due to their lack of viruses.
  
  Ok so we go purchase this machine. He has an LCD TV (non-HD...this becomes important later) and has enough room on his entertainment center to place the Mac Mini. While at the Apple Store it becomes apparent to me that he will have to run the USB keyboard / mouse cable (that I was going to provide him) from his entertainment center to his chair....yeah that is not going to work. Ok so I purchase the wireless keyboard and mouse for him as a early Christmas gift. Being a power junkie myself, I force him into the 1.83 (from the 1.66) and I force him to get the 1 gig of ram, as opposed to the 512 meg. I realize that this is going to put him way over the $549 he wanted to pay for the Dell so when we go to ring the whole thing up I pay the difference (which comes out to $400 including the mouse and keyboard). I do this for two reasons, 1) I have always been interested in the "dark side" (mac) of the computer world, and 2) I want his net money spent to be the same so that he does not regret the purchase. In addition I paid the extra amount because I have been looking for a living room PC for myself and if this pans out for him I would purchase one for myself (was worth the $400 to me...if you can believe that).
  
  Ok we get the Mac Mini home and quickly realize that it does not have a connector to the TV/Monitor. So I tell my brother to finish hooking it up and I head back to the Apple Store (30 minutes away). I get there and they don’t have the cable. The Mac Mini has a DVI output and my brothers non-HD LCD TV has a DVI input, however the Apple Store did not carry a DVI to DVI cable. They had EVERYTHING else, DVI to HDMI, DVI to S-Video, DVI to VGA, DVI to RCA, DVI to AGP (or whatever the old apple display was), but no DVI to DVI. The Apple guy tells me to go to Radio Shack to pick one up. The Radio Shack is in the Mall a couple of stores down so I don’t mind the advise, though I am a little put off by it. I get the Radio Shack and lord they don’t have it either, they can order me one but they need to know which type, DVI-A, DVI-I, or DVI-D. Beats me? So I head back to the Apple Store and ask which kind of output this is...the guys answer "DVI". Yeah I get that part, its the -A -D -I piece I need. He had no clue, but to his credit he spent 30 minutes with me trying to figure it out. Finally, after a wikipedia search, he determines that I need a DVI-D. He then looks online and finds that Best Buy has them in store (as opposed to Radio Shack having to order one). So I get to Best Buy roughly 20 minutes later and they toss me a new curve ball. Do I need Single Link or Dual Link? Once again I don’t know. If I would have had the Mac Mini in my possession at that time I would have taken it back to the Apple Store right then, gotten a refund and went to the Dell display in the Mall. However I remained cool and purchased the Single Link cable hoping this is what we needed. Finally 2+ hours after I left my brothers house I return with the “magic cable”, or so I hoped. We plug it in and ….. no video. My brother is all upset by this and even starts to mumble something about the Dell laptop. I am trying at this point to remain hopeful but am getting upset myself (actually already was but am trying to hide it). So I remembered that the Apple Store had a DVI to S-Video adapter. I check his non-HD LCD TV to ensure it has a S-Video connector and I rush off again to get the adapter. Roughly 75 minutes later I return with the adaptor and an s-video cable. Bingo the Mac has video. This totally changes the mood in the room and we both are like “we need a beer”.
  
  The very first thing we saw when we finally go the Mac running was a grey screen telling us to either plug in a mouse or turn on our wireless one. We turned on the Mighty Mouse (I expected this mouse to come with a cape, but sadly it did not) and turned on the keyboard. After spending a few minutes typing in information (like address, name, user id, etc…) we were up and running. What amazed me was that it did not need to know anything about the internet. We just plugged the ethernet cable in and it configured it automatically for us. It proceeded to check if it had patches and then proceeded to download and install them for us. After everything was finished (not including the cable problem) we had only spent maybe 30 minutes tops.
  
  There was no annoying pop up (purchase me) software installed. There were no annoying limited function or limited use software installed (that we have found yet). Everything on the Mac was fully functional and worked great. The system is very easy to navigate, even for a old Dos/Windows person like myself. We installed Yahoo Chat and it worked like a champ for the Mac. The only problem we ran into while using it is that Safari does not render ebaums world correctly. When you use the search feature it will chop off about ½ of the results and place them into the bottom bar on the website, which makes that ½ useless…which also limits the use on the website as the Next/Previous links are in that mess somewhere. I do not know if Opera or FireFox would work with Mac, I have no looked into it yet.
  
  As for other things related to the actual Mac Mini itself (hardware). The machine is eerily quite. I had to keep looking over to see if the blue light was on to know that was running. You can not hear this Mac from more than two feet away. The machine itself does get a little warm but nothing that I would worry about (from a “can I sit it on my nice finished wood surface” perspective). It boots up VERY fast and shuts down even faster. If you leave the Mac in sleep mode (which by the way Apple recommends unless you are going to be away from it for 3+ days) you can awaken it with either a click of the mouse, touch of a key on the keyboard, or from the little remote control they give you. In S-Video mode the picture looks alright, but it is a little fuzzy. I suspect that with the correct DVI cable (or running it in VGA mode) you would get a crystal clear picture.
  
  ***WARNING*** - The DVI dilemma. Ok if you are not a DVI guru (like I was not) you may not know the difference between Single Link, Dual Link, DVI-A, DVI-D, DVI-I, and all of the other mess DVI gives us (no wonder HDMI is the new standard). You do not need a Dual Link cable for the Mac unless you want to run two monitors. So you can save yourself some $$ and purchase a Single Link cable. If your LCD TV is HD, then you will want the DVI-D. If your LCD TV is non-HD, then you will want the DVI-I. You do not want the DVI-A.
  
  Ok to sum up:
  HD LCD TV – Single Link DVI-D
  Non-HD LCD TV – Single Link DVI-I
  
  That little jewel of information there can save you hours and tons of money on gas

  Updated
  We got the DVI-I cable from Radio Shack yesterday (after I had them order me one). It installed with no problems and after a quick reboot we were back in business. The display is about 2x as crisp and clear compared to the S-Video option. Also the DVI-I cable allowed us to go up to a 1280x1024 resolution, instead of the 1024x768 that the S-Video capped us at. I would imagine with a better LCD TV you could get alot higher.
  
  My brother is much happier with the Mac Mini now that the DVI cable is installed. For one he can hit the "PC" button on his remote and it changes over to his PC (instead of AUX1 for S-Video). He also likes the much more clear and crisp picture quality, which allows him to sit back further and still be able to read the screen.
  
  Tonight I am going to hook up his Mac Mini to his surround sound system instead of using the internal speaker. I will update this review once we have played with that for a day or two.

  Updated
  We hooked up the audio to his sound system this weekend. The sound quality is about what you would expect from a computer with integrated sound...meaning it is good enough for youtubes and things like that. We did not try a DVD movie, but I would suspect that we would not get surround sound out of the Mac as delivered. We did have a pretty good amount of noise when we first hooked it up. If we moved the volume level of the Mac too high we got noise and if we moved the volume of the sound system too high we got noise. It took us a while to find a volume area on both systems to avoid this. I had attempted the 25% volume level for the Mac that others have reported, however for us that left the sound system way too high and we got noise as a result. We eneded up right at 50% on the Mac and it was good enough.
  
  Unless we do something major with the Mac during the next couple of months I will probably not update this again for a while. I will come back for sure around the 2-3 month mark to let you know how he likes it at that point (and to let you know if he managed to get a virus on it yet).

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Neat machine for low profile machine

  by BigGuns149 on August 22, 2007

  Pros: Incredibly small profile, decent performance

  Cons: limited upgrade options, so-so graphics, small hard drive, no FW800

  Summary: I start by saying that CNET's review wasn't very good. Their screed about 90 days phone support for example is deceptive in that most manufactors HP included include ...

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  Summary: I start by saying that CNET's review wasn't very good. Their screed about 90 days phone support for example is deceptive in that most manufactors HP included include only 90 days of software support on the vast majority of their machines! Apple's support historically has been far better than most of their competitors, which is hardly suprising since most of the software is made by Apple. Except for a trial of MS Office almost everything is made by Apple. Most Windows machines are a mish mash of software manufactors and the manufactor of the computer made next to none of it! Apple is also one of the only companies that has largely retained their tech support within the US. Therefore, you don't talk to some foreigner with a strange accent that you don't understand. CNET even ran a story about Apple closing their experimental center in India, but apparently the writer of the review doesn't bother reading CNET. Sad...
  
  The biggest criticisms that I have is that graphics card is pretty weak. While I can get smooth 1080p playback of movie trailers the Intel integrated graphics is not suitable for a lot of high end gaming or high end video/photo editing. With a 500GB external drive this is a good basic machine for playing back video on your TV. I only find it unfortunate that the machine doesn't offer a Blu-ray option yet. If they had a Blu-ray option and they could keep the price below a $1000 I think this would be real good HTPC, but alas it would plays standard DVDs.
  
  It is unfortunate that there isn't a means of upgrading the graphics either through a low profile PCIe card or a MXM card either, so you are pretty much stuck with the graphics. The HP slimlines offer a PCIe low profile slot, but unless you are going to throw down at least $200 you couldn't get much better graphics on the HP either. If the most demanding use of 3d graphics is going to be some 1080p video playback the graphics card will cut it, but if you are editing video or playing any hard core games I would go for another machine preferably a larger form factor with a dedicated graphics card (Geforce 7900 or better)and either a higher end Core 2 or maybe even a Quad.
  
  The Hard Drive is a bit small albeit for the vast majority of users the size isn't a big deal as much as the speed of the HDD. A lot of people would fill a 160GB HDD. They really should put 7200rpm drives in the mini to improve the performance. This isn't a laptop so battery life isn't a big deal. Even beefing it up to a 7200rpm wouldn't increase the wattage so much as to require a noisier fan. If you are really into large amounts of storage for video you should just buy an external Hard Drive. It is unfortunate that the mini has neither FW800 or eSATA because both are much faster. Since the Mac Pro and the iMacs all have FW800 I would have figured Apple would have added it by now. eSATA may have been asking much because eSATA drives haven't been on the market as long, but not getting FW800 is a real bummer. The HP they compared it to has neither as well so I don't really find the HP larger price tag that appealing.
  
  Upgrading the memory is more difficult than it ought to be(get a putty knife and google Mac Mini memory upgrade), but you can get 2GB of DDR2-667 for about $100 at any decent local computer store. If you do that than you can sell the 2 512mb modules, whereas buying 2GB through Apple you let Apple keep the memory. I rather think that they ought to include the extra gig of RAM on this model since it would only add about $40-$50 to the cost(average joes can buy it for that price so Apple shouldn't have any problem buying it for that price). It would also make the performance running Vista on theis machine better as well. A lot of people buy a Mini as a way to get their feet wet in the Mac world without spending fortune.
  
  The lack of a card reader is much ado about nothing. Internal card readers add clutter to the case and wouldn't support any new future card formats. Won't it look stupid to have a card reader 2 years from now for cards that nobody uses anymore meanwhile having no slot for new proposed standards? How much longer will you need a slot for XD or MS? Heck who needs Smart Media anymore? Furthermore, replacing an external card reader is far easier if a pin gets bent on the CF slot or somthing.
  
  All said I think that the Mac Mini 1.83Ghz model is a nice machine albeit I think that it definately isn't for everyone. It makes a fine basic home theather PC or basic home user. Anyone looking for a high end HTPC should just build it themselves. Anyone who edits video or does hard core gaming should be looking at a standard tower instead of low profile machines. Despite some flaws(no FW800, no eSATA, no Blu-ray, no dedicated graphics) I can see quite a few people who be bothered by my criticisms and will find this unit appealing.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  No good as a media center

  by lukimiguel on January 11, 2007

  Pros: Great look, quiet, easy setup

  Cons: looks good in the living room, but not there as a media center computer

  Summary: I bought this after reading lots of web postings about how great it is as a media center computer. I quickly discovered its limitations. The resolution on a 40" flat ...

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  Summary: I bought this after reading lots of web postings about how great it is as a media center computer. I quickly discovered its limitations. The resolution on a 40" flat panel is fine as a dvd player, but lousy for pc functions. The bluetooth is constantly losing reception with the mouse and keypad - maybe the distance in my livingroom. The lack of a TV tuner forced me to buy an 'el gato' solution. I went through 2 different products and returned both - the picture was terrible. There is also no way to change channels via the computer, like the ir repeater that comes with Media Center PC's. I really wish this was better than it is. I'm keeping it as a computer, but I'm back on the market for a computer for the livingroom. MAC isn't there with media center yet - I hate to say it, but MS is far ahead of Apple in that department. I'm thinking of the new Sony Viao with the built-in cable card reader and hdmi hookups. I'll probaly need to wait for the price to come down though ($3k)

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  3 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  This is perfect if you are a mac person.

  by ams914 on September 29, 2006

  Pros: Great for music, movies, pictures, garageband, and web.

  Cons: no dvd burner included. NOT for gamers. no good microsoft-like programs included.

  Summary: OK. Macs are great. they are much better than windows, with a simple user-interface, no viruses, great high quality display, (better than windows), and excellent performance.
  
  i don't know
  
  ...

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  Summary: OK. Macs are great. they are much better than windows, with a simple user-interface, no viruses, great high quality display, (better than windows), and excellent performance.
  
  i don't know about you but i was a little iffy on the only 1.8 ghz mac, but the fact is that the only reason why people have such powerful processors in the first place is if they are in to gaming. people don't need that much power out of their proccessor if they arent playing games. trust me i have one and i can use any program on there with no problem what-so-ever, and i can run many programs at the same time. my mac has never crashed. and what also makes the mac so great is that everything seems to be so easy and well thought out, making it an ideal computer to own.
  
  Furthermore the programs like iphoto imovie etc. all work like itunes so they are easy to use. macs are excellent, and theres no reason why you shouldnt have one if your into everything else but gaming.
  
  The cons of macs are that it doesnt come with any good writing programs and what not, however for 150 dollars you can buy microsoft word, excel, powerpoint, msn messanger, and entourage, which is well worth it. it also doesnt come with a dvd-burner but the more expensive one does. despite this, macs give you the ability to run windows and mac os at the same time. but it realyl isn't necessary if you buy that 150 dollar program. overall this would get a 10/10 if it had microsoft-like programs included, but despite this it is a fantastic machine which leaves windows behind in performance and ease-of-use. 9/10. get it.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Very Happy

  by perry6465 on August 4, 2008

  Pros: Size, Looks, Mac Quality, Software Bundle, DVI Out

  Cons: Support no help on setup issue, Sound card could be better

  Summary: I just bought this yesterday so I may have to update this opinion after more use, but overall I am very happy with this purchase. I have connected my mini ...

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  Summary: I just bought this yesterday so I may have to update this opinion after more use, but overall I am very happy with this purchase. I have connected my mini to my LCD television, and the results are great. The mini comes with a DVI to VGA adapter for hookup to any computer monitor or for use with a television with a VGA connection. My television has one but I chose to use a DVI to HDMI cable which I think probably is giving me a sharper picture vs what it would have been with VGA. Picture is very sharp. Apple browser Safari has a very convenient toolbar icon for increasing or decreasing the size of the text which is great for my use as I am viewing on a 40" t.v. about 8 feet away with a wireless keyboard and mouse.
  
  The sound is not quite what I would like but definitely acceptable and you can hook up to an amplifier/receiver for better sound.
  
  Upon initial hookup I could not see the menu bar at the top of the screen and Apple support could not help me. They said I should check the television settings. Turns out it was a setting in the mini's system preferences (unchecked overscan in display options). I think maybe you would leave this checked if you hooked up via VGA. Between this and my experience at the Apple store I get the feeling that not a lot of people are hooking this up to televisions. That is too bad because it is perfect for the application.
  
  CNET chose the HP unit over this one but that was based on an older model mini with only 512k memory. Mine has 1 GB. Also, if considering for a home entertainment system computer I can't believe they wouldn't put more emphasis on the MAJOR size and aesthetic advantages of the mini. They seemed to give the HP the edge based on features like the t.v. tuner but then said they don't love PC t.v. viewing? Seems like a contradiction. I think there might be a little PC bias involved, although they make a point about Apple's short phone support. That being said, you could make the argument that you probably won't need it with a Mac.
  
  By the way, my first computer was a Mac but I have been using PC's for 15 years since so I am not one of those Mac fanatics, although I may become one!

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• 9 stars

  Vista pushed me to a Mac

  by jrasero on March 11, 2008

  Pros: Compact, sleek, $ saving, decently fast, reliable, front row, slot loading

  Cons: slow HD, Max 2 gig ram, low processors, little upgrading

  Summary: I have owned both Mac's and PC's, but for the most part I have used PC's more. I find PC's to be faster and more of ...

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  Summary: I have owned both Mac's and PC's, but for the most part I have used PC's more. I find PC's to be faster and more of a value, but with the release of Vista, I have been totally disgusted with PC's. Additionally I am sick of viruses and crappy software provided by Microsoft. My last PC was an IBM T43 and from that statement alone you can probably tell I am not a gamer, but more of a no non sense computer user. The Mac Mini is great because it is priced so attractively. Yet again you don't get as much as say Dell or HP for your money, but you pay for style and reliability. I dislike the fact that you have to pay for a keyboard and mouse, because Mac's K+M are awesome. Another gripe is that the computer can only be upgraded to 2 gigs of ram (A must upgrade) and 3 gigs total. Also the HD only goes up to 160 and runs at a low speed. It's essential to get the biggest HD available since Leopard takes so much space. I believe Mac shouldn't even sell the 80 gig HD since its too small. I love ilife and front row is by far the most useful media player (Plus you got to love the remote). I love how Mac makes their own software and it's so easy to use. Now the mini isn't for everyone since it has an integrated video card, doesn't have high end ports, and is very limited in upgrading, but if your looking for a decently fast and reliable computer for everyday use, look no further. If you need more of a computer I would recommend the imac. By far the mac mini and imac are Apples best values.

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• 9 stars

  Redefines the phrase "user-friendly"...

  by Manofyo on January 27, 2008

  Pros: Set up was a no-brainer, Intuitive OS, HD video and sound out of the box

  Cons: 11 years of Windows has me overlooking some blindingly easy steps

  Summary: I have had this computer for two days and I am all ready regretting the years I spent mired in the Microsoft universe. I took this thing out of the ...

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  Summary: I have had this computer for two days and I am all ready regretting the years I spent mired in the Microsoft universe. I took this thing out of the box, plugged it in and "bam!" I was up and running. The intro program asked me 4 or 5 simple questions and up came the most beautiful desktop I had ever seen. I thought I would have to find adapters and wrangle with Mac's version of the control panel to make my sytem produce HD...wrong! I have a Westinghouse HDTV which has no DVI port so I was bracing myself for a fight. And as for the sound I just plugged a composite cable into the earphone jack on the Mini and I was up. My stereo has a digital coaxial input to match the Mini's output so I will buy a cable and then I'll have digital 5 point surround sound.
  As for the OS, I have found Leopard to be intuitive, fast, and stupefyingly easy. In fact, my years with a PC have caused me to overthink several snags I've encountered. The free seminar my Apple store offers this saturday should prove illuminating.
  And I can't say enough about iTunes. The interface is SO cool...flipping through the album covers...and unlike Musicmatch, Media Player, Creative Media Organizer, and every other PC based jukebox I've encountered, iTunes makes sense. The songs play in the order they appear on the album, the info I download in many cases includes lyrics...in a word...wow.
  And finally a note about DVD's. The included DVD player is truly awesome. it even allows me to stretch older DVD's that are presented in NTSC (standard aspect ratio) to HD dimensions without making everyone look fat and with negligible loss of resolution.
  I am looking forward to discavering all this thing can do for me. Updates as they warrant.

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