New Apple eye candy

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
Anyone see the new Apple stuff from the Macworld Expo? :eek:

Way cool new iPod, starting at $99, looks like Flash, probably. Way cool.

The Mac Mini -way, way cool! :eek:

Wishing had more money to spend on more Mac stuff!
 
The flash-based iPods are neat, but I don't like the lack of a screen. I know they're making a trade-off to hit the lower price point, but still...

Meanwhile, the Mac Mini is so frickin' cool I can't even describe it. I'm going to have to visit the local Apple Store to check it out in person. :cool:
 
So what makes the mini mac any better than any of the multitude of micro pc's that have been available for years?

To me it looks like a shuttle pc but all mac'd up...

N2
 
Neko2 said:
So what makes the mini mac any better than any of the multitude of micro pc's that have been available for years?

To me it looks like a shuttle pc but all mac'd up...

N2
Click to expand...
It being a Mac. :D

Seriously though, if you haven't used a Mac lately, now's a great time. The OS is stable, user-friendly and gorgeous. The advantage of a company that makes both the hardware and the OS is huge.

Plus the Mac Mini is 6.5"x6.5"x2", which is quite a bit smaller than Shuttle's newest model, the XPC, which measures 7.4"x8"x11.9".
 
BuckyKatt, you beat me to it! Here's an illustration of the differences between Macs and PC's, from my point of view. I say use whatever fits your needs better. But, I wanted to set up a wireless network at home, and at my office. I needed to add a wireless card (Airport Extreme) to my iBook laptop, add a base station (I think PC folks call that a wireless router?) at home that I hooked my stereo up to and can stream audio wirelessly from laptops at home anywhere in the house, and a base station at my office to allow us to share a printer and Internet access. Everything was Mac-based except the PC I use at work. So:

1) Making laptop wireless compatible- bought Airport Extreme card. Took 30 seconds to open computer, install card and close. Started computer up, and without having to do a thing I was able to jump right onto my choice of three wireless networks in the surrounding area. No drivers to install, nothing to set up.

2) Home network- opened box for Airport Express Base Station. Plugged stereo "AUX/VID" cable into it, plugged it into the wall. Opened computer, it walked me through setting up a network. Now I have an ultra-secure WEP network in my house that took all of 3 minutes to set up and it works flawlessly.

3) Office network- plugged printer into Airport Base Station, both Macs recognize immediately and can print to it, and can get on Internet flawlessly. Had to install wireless card in PC. Crashed the first time, hung up the second time, took the card the 3rd time, restarted, card was lost. Had to uninstall and reinstall. Spent 1 hour setting up the card, finally it worked, but the PC isn't able to recognize the printer on the network. So, plugged printer into the PC, which works, then spent 20 seconds on each Mac to get it to recognize the PC printer and now works flawlessly. So, total setup time for the Macs was a few minutes, but we spent almost 3 hours setting the PC up. Just my 2 cents!
 
Chiro75 said:
3) Office network- plugged printer into Airport Base Station, both Macs recognize immediately and can print to it, and can get on Internet flawlessly. Had to install wireless card in PC. Crashed the first time, hung up the second time, took the card the 3rd time, restarted, card was lost. Had to uninstall and reinstall. Spent 1 hour setting up the card, finally it worked, but the PC isn't able to recognize the printer on the network. So, plugged printer into the PC, which works, then spent 20 seconds on each Mac to get it to recognize the PC printer and now works flawlessly. So, total setup time for the Macs was a few minutes, but we spent almost 3 hours setting the PC up. Just my 2 cents!
Click to expand...

Ahh, but that is the beauty of the PC, no seriously it is. At least for me as I will be graduating in May with a degree in computer science, and all of those problems should help get me some work. :D :p

As for the new Apple toys, well I just don't know about the flash based iPod. I have a 20Gb iPod, and only bought that because of the HD size and ability to do other things. I have even read that it is possible to install Windows on there! Anyway there is already a fair amount of competition in the flash MP3 market. Just about everbody makes one or more flash based MP3 players. What will make the Apple one any better, other than just being made by Apple? :confused:
 
Great to know there are fellow Mac users here!

Chiro75, I agree with you on the flash iPod. I mean, the HD based models are sweet, don't get me wrong, but I'm kind of underwhelmed by the new models. What makes an iPod great is the ease of use, and I'm sure that the new models will work just as seamlessly, but no screen? Come on! I want to be able to see what I'm doing!

.... Which is why I'm saving for an iPod mini. :D
 
Chiro75 said:
Now I have an ultra-secure WEP network
Click to expand...

Theres an oxymoron if i ever saw one! No i'm mostly just kidding, wep has been broken but just about everything has, and it's enough of a pain that most people will just move on. especially if you have it restricted by mac address, that is a hassle to get around as well.

Pete

edit: yeah, the mac mini looks sweet enough for me to consider switching. or more likely using both mac and pc. but i like the fact that it runs on unix.
 
We have the network set up at home, at least (little different @ work since PC's and Macs are being used together) so that if you were scanning for networks from the street, let's say, it doesn't even show up. The only people who even know the network is there are people who have access granted through the network administration utility. Seems pretty secure to me, but then again everything is hackable, I'm sure. I log off the network as much as possible because my laptop has a good amount of patient info on it, so I have to worry about privacy a lot.
 
disabling ssid broadcasting does a very good deal for security. it can still be detected by a program for linux called kismet. it listens for your packets being sent to the router and then it extracts the network name from it. sounds like you've certainly got it under control. then again, like you said, everything can be hacked. they say the only computer that is secure is one that is unplugged. other people have said that even that computer isn't secure, because you could talk someone into plugging it in and turning it on. speaking of talking people into stuff there is a really interesting book by the infamous hacker kevin mitnick called the art of deception. it's all about social engineering.

Pete

edit: sorry for taking this thread off topic again. apple :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top