When people find out I have a Mac desktop, they imagine one of those iMacs that you can get, the screen with the Apple logo on the front that costs over £1000.
Mac Mini’s are always a surprise to people. I can’t believe how many people haven’t heard of them.
When I decided to get a Mac, this was the first thing I looked at because it’s basically the entry level Mac. But that doesn’t mean that it’s rubbish.
I’ve had my Mac Mini for over three years now and it’s still a great computer to work with. With Windows, I found myself getting a virus all too often, or a tool bar added onto my web browser. It would suddenly get slow for no reason and I’d find text links embedded in webpages from some malware that had installed itself on my PC.
So if you’re considering getting a Mac but not wanting to spend £1000 on an iMac, then reach for a Mac Mini. You can get the most basic one for £399, which is the same specs as the one I bought 3 years ago.
A Mac Mini is basically what you see above. It’s the small square device and it comes alone, which is one of the reasons why it’s so cheap.
I was already using my PC with my 32 inch TV, so I used an HDMI cable to connect my new Mac Mini to the TV.
In regards to the keyboard and mouse, I used the same one that I used with my PC at first and connected them via the USB ports in the back of the Mac Mini. Over time, I bought the Mac keyboard and trackpad mouse. This meant I didn’t have to invest in everything straight away.
The memory on my Mac was 4GB. I upgraded it myself, YES MYSELF, by buying 16GB of memory for around £50. It’s dead easy, you just turn the Mac Mini upside down, remove the black panel by twisting it and click them in.
Other things I love about the Mac Mini is the SD card slot, so I can easily put my memory card from my camera into the back to directly upload photos without faffing about cables.
Though I must note that there is no disc drive on this.
Here are the current Mac Mini’s that you can get from Apple and their specs:
I kind of wonder if I had known about Mac Mini’s if I would have gone with that when I first converted. I think if I wasn’t going with a Macbook, and a Pro to boot, I would have. A Mac Mini just wouldn’t work for me because I need my computer to be on the go with me. But this is a great idea for anyone that is unsure if they want to convert and want to essentially try out Mac. Great post 🙂
-Kaitlynn
Macs are awesome! I love the speed of them. Only very expensive Windows machines can compete I find.
Worth mentioning as well that anyone in education can get discount with Apple! http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/campaigns/education_pricing
Michelle -x-