Introducing the Mac mini

Since 1998, all consumer Macintosh computers have had one thing in common: They were all-in-one designs with built-in screens. The first Macintosh, introduced in 1984, was also an all-in-one box (Figure 1.1). Later Macs separated the system unit and screen. They were reunited with the unveiling of the original iMac, a machine that created quite a sensation and remains, after updates, in the Apple product line today (Figures 1.2 and 1.3).

Figure 1.1. This is the original Macintosh that started it all back in 1984. (Courtesy Apple Computer)

Figure 1.2. The original iMac, a design that came in a variety of colors. (Courtesy Apple Computer)

Figure 1.3. This is the current iMac, now called eMac, featuring a large flat-panel LCD screen and a much sleeker design made possible by the thin display. (Courtesy Apple Computer)

Putting the screen and the guts of the computer into the same box allowed Apple to create some revolutionary designs. For people who wanted a Mac as their primary computer, the all-in-one design was great.

But this design also made Macintosh computers expensive. In the PC world, you can buy a low-cost computer and use the monitor, keyboard, and mouse you already own. This makes upgrading a PC relatively inexpensive, as PC hardware evolves much more rapidly than monitor technology.

Windows users have found it hard to justify purchasing a Mac at the prices the all-in-ones fetch, especially when they have a perfectly good monitor already sitting on their desks (and no room to add an all-in-one Mac anyway).

Enter the Mac mini, the first Macintosh specifically designed to attract Microsoft Windows users (Figure 1.4). Not having a built-in screen allows the Mac mini to find a home in places all-in-one Macs only dreamed of goingsuch as on the desktops of die-hard Windows users, who can keep their current display, keyboard, and mouse and share them with the Mac mini. A simple switch allows users to go back and forth between the two machines, with no restarts required.

Figure 1.4. Apple's Mac mini, the most exciting new computer of the twenty-first century. (Courtesy Apple Computer)

In retrospect, the Mac mini design is so obvious that you wonder why no one at Apple thought of it sooner. In 2002, before iPod hysteria swept the nation, Apple ran a series of advertisements featuring people who left the Windows world for a Mac, thus finding happiness (and a place in television commercials). With 20/20 hindsight, the money spent on those "switcher" ads almost seems wasted. And it may have been, for while the ads were widely admired, Macintosh sales remained about the same as before.

Of course, back in 2002 all Apple had to offer Windows users were machines that included a big display, such as the iMac or the PC-sized Power Mac (Figure 1.5). These tried, essentially, to push the Windows PC right off the customer's desktop. This was not a battle Apple could win.

Figure 1.5. A Mac that looks like a PC. This is a Power Mac G5, a favorite of the graphic arts, publishing, and film/video production industries. (Courtesy Apple Computer)

Because the Mac mini is so tinymeasuring 6.5 x 6.5 x 2 inches and weighing less that three poundsit can find a place on even the most crowded desk. It's pretty easy to hide if you don't want people at the office to know you've brought a Mac mini to work. But at home, who'd want to hide such a great-looking piece of anodized aluminum and white polycarbonate plastic?

While the Mac mini is most assuredly the low end of the Mac product line, it's no slouch. For the types of things most people do every day, it has plenty of power. To get the most out of a Mac mini, however, additional memory is required, but we'll get to that in a bit.

What's the big deal?

So how do you explain the number of peopleincluding Windows-using professional cynics like myselfwho fell in love with the Mac mini at first sight? Why do so many people smile when they see one? And why has it sparked so many people's imaginations?

To understand this, let me offer some "givens" about the state of the Windows world that should be factored into the Mac mini equation:

• Most people buy more computer horsepower than they need. They end up paying more for a home or small-business computer than they have to. People can pay less and still end up with a computer that does what they want.

• For several years, there hasn't been much reason for people to upgrade their Windows PC to a newer model, even though they might be willing to spend money given a good enough reason.

• Many people, while not disliking Microsoft, consider Windows to be a "necessary evil" and would use something "better" if it were available to them.

• All computers are too difficult to use. But Mac OS X is less clumsy than other operating systems.

• It's no fun to replace somethingsuch as a recently upgraded LCD monitorthat still works just fine. Computers and monitors can be replaced separately, and probably should be.

• Home entertainment and creativity applications are important to consumers. Some people have put off buying a computer, digital camera, video camera, or similar product because they believe these products are too difficult to use.

• Being able to share a broadband connection among several computers in a home or small office is often enough reason to have the connection installed. Not having all the computers networked is a waste of money and a source of family friction.

• Many people are afraid of viruses and hackers and feel unable to adequately protect themselves.

• The sturdy Linux operating system remains in the news, generating a halo effect that touches all things based on the Unix operating system, including Mac OS X. Indeed, Mac OS X owes its inherent security and stability to its Unix roots.

• All most people do with their computers is browse the Internet, use e-mail, trade instant messages or chat with friends online, use a word processor and spreadsheet, and keep an address book and maybe a calendar. These tasks do not test even entry-level computers.

• People would like to have more fun with their computers.

Meeting the needs of Windows users

When taken as a wholehardware, operating system, included softwarethe Mac mini does a very good job of addressing the issues important to Windows users. It is a Mac designed with the needs of Windows users firmly in mind:

• The Mac mini is a good match of price and value. It is fast enough to do what people most want to do with a computer.

• Mac OS X is both easier to use and more secure than Microsoft Windows.

• The Mac mini is an excellent upgrade that allows people with a PC that still works well enough to use the display, keyboard, and mouse they already own.

• Macintosh networking, using Apple's industry-standard AirPort Extreme technology, is easy to set up and use. It works as well with Windows machines as with Macs.

• The Mac mini is the natural add-on for someone who already owns an iPod and would like a computer for storing and sharing music.

• Apple provides the iLife suite of creativity applications with the Mac mini. This software, bundled for free with the Mac mini, would be worth several hundred dollars in the Windows world.

• If all a person wants to do with a Mac is edit home movies or digital still photographs, the Mac mini will do the job quite nicely.

• Besides creativity software, Apple provides other applications, including browser, calendar, address book, e-mail, instant messaging, conferencing, and even word processing and spreadsheet applications, with every Mac mini sold. All this free software means that customers may never need to buy anything more.

• Because Mac OS X is built atop a version of the Unix operating system, the Mac mini offers many of the same benefits as Linux, but with a better user interface and a much larger library of applications to choose from.

• The Mac mini is easy to set up, easy to work with alongside a Windows computer, and fun to use.

• The Mac mini offers possibilities for special uses, for instance, as a server and even within automobiles, that make sense for a small, inexpensive, and "headless" (that is no screen, keyboard, or mouse) Macintosh.

And if you run Microsoft Office, you'll find the switch to the Mac mini nearly seamless. I'll touch on application compatibility later in this book, but upfront let me tell you that Microsoft Office for Mac is both very nice and completely file compatible with the version of Office you are running on your Windows machine.

Almost 100 percent of people who spend each day working in Microsoft Office on a Windows machine could do their work on a Mac.

The only difference they'd notice is that the Mac Office interface is more elegant and less cluttered than the Windows version.

note

A friend who read a draft copy of this book asked if the statement about "completely file compatible" is 100 percent correct. Well, I have never had a reader tell me it isn't, and I have asked both Apple and Microsoft and received repeated assurances, but I am also open to the possibility that some macros, particularly Excel macros, may not work on the Mac. Most people, however, don't use macros and will never face this potential issue.

Thus, the Mac mini stacks up very nicely against the state of the computing world today. And with pricing starting at $499, what's not to like?