Mac Mini
Live the digital life in stylish simplicity. Just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches tall, Mac mini provides what you need to have more fun with your music, photos and movies — right out of the box. And it boasts a miniscule price to match: Mac mini starts at $499.
Does this thing really work easily and well? Read this interesting review from MyWay News. I’d like to get a computer for each of the kids. Would this be a good choice? We currently have the standard two year old Dell computer. It’s working OK, is indeed a virus and spyware magnet (as any parent of teenagers can attest), but we need a second computer badly! My husband and I have been thinking laptops, but they are SO expensive. I think we could find a way to handle 500 to 600 each for three new computers. Any advice out there?
Teresa,
Eschewing any zealotry (and “Mac vs. PC” can raise hackles like most no other — it’s sort of like Luther vs. Calvin…
), my personal opinion is that the Mac Mini is well worth the $$$, and would be a worthwhile investment.
IMO, Mac OS X is the best operating system out there. I find the Mac GUI (graphical user interface) to be more coherent that Windows or the Linux (Gnome or KDE) options. Not necessarily “better” or more powerful, but rather more internally consistent. Apple’s been able to keep the lid on deviations from their GUI design guidelines, whereas the others haven’t been that fortunate. If you’re comfortable in Windows, then you’ll have no problem at all getting used to the Mac OS.
Security wise, you’ll be better off. As you noted, Windows is a magnet for virii, spyware, malware, etc. And because of the way in which Windows has been built, there really doesn’t seem to be much hope of things getting better any time soon. Mac OS X is based on a UNIX variant (FreeBSD) that is quite similar to Linux. It is rock-solid in terms of stability, security, and performance. You won’t be disappointed.
And for the $$$, you’ll be getting more than adequate performance. It’s not top of the line “power”, but then neither are the $500 boxes from Dell. Neither are they near the bottom of the performance curve.
Plus, they’ll look real cool, and work real well with the iPods that will be sure to follow…
-ghp
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Sorry about leaving that out before, Theresa!
-ghp