What I Am Using Right Now

This book is being written on the $599 Mac mini with an extra 256 MB of memory and the AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth wireless cards installed. As I'm using it, this Mac mini costs $773 at Apple's online store.

For a Windows PC, I am using a Dell Precision 470 desktop that cost a lot more than I really want to admit. It processes my words at precisely the same speed as the Mac mini. It is, however, connected to a very nice Dell 19-inch LCD monitor, a Microsoft keyboard, and a Logitech mouse or Kensington Expert Mouse trackball.

All these devices share the same screen, keyboard, and mouse thanks to an IOGEAR four-port switch, described in detail in Chapter 4. With the IOGEAR, I can change from one computer to any of the others with only four keystrokessure beats being surrounded by monitors.

Of course, most people don't need three and sometimes four computers sharing the same keyboard, video, and mouse like I do. The typical Mac mini customer needs only a two-port switch that makes it possible to connect just the Mac mini and a single Windows PC.

That's precisely what I am planning to do at my wife's desk, which is really too small for the Compaq PC and LCD monitor she's already using. Like many people, she'd like to use a Mac for some things, but must use a PC for others. It's sad, but true, that not all Windows software is available for the Mac.

This requirement of many people for Windows-only software also helped clamp a lid on the success of Apple's switcher ad campaign. Lots of people wanted to switch but quickly realized they couldn't. So instead of switchers, these people became "adders"that is, once they found space on their desks for an all-in-one Mac. But now: Mac mini to the rescue.