new setup for my wife. what'cha think?

[cheapie]

Mac mini (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7011949&type=product&id=1099392727294)

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/2041/779/store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/beautyshot_macmini_050111.jpg

Fuji Plus FP-988D Silver-Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 600:1 Built in Speakers 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824168005)

http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/24-168-005-09.JPG

Kensington PilotBoard Wireless Desktop for Mac (http://www.kensington.com/html/6469.html)

http://www.kensington.com/images/pc/K64382-12347.jpg



i hope she likes it. she's just going to use it mainly for pics and web/email.

[navyones]

Very nice! I feel bad now. I got my wife a used 386. :)

[Jeffbx]

No offense man, but for what you spent you could have gotten a way more powerful machine for less $$ - (assuming you don't care PC vs Mac)

Check out the 8400 here: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/outrageous_desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

$699 for 3GHz, 512MB RAM, 19" LCD

Of course, not tiny & cute like the Mac is, but quite a bit beefier of a machine.

[zero2dash]

Good choice for what she'll use it for. :thumb:

I'm turning into a Mac fan (again) myself. Oh how I wish I had the $$$ for a dual 2.7g G5...*sigh* being broke/having bills = SUCKAGE :hihi:

[kimchicowboy]

how about i give you my 15" for your 19". she doesn't need that much desktop space anyway. heheh

[bachviet]

Nice setup! :thumbup:

[ski]

No offense man, but for what you spent you could have gotten a way more powerful machine for less $$ - (assuming you don't care PC vs Mac)

Check out the 8400 here: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/outrageous_desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

$699 for 3GHz, 512MB RAM, 19" LCD

Of course, not tiny & cute like the Mac is, but quite a bit beefier of a machine.
My guess is that she's not encoding movies or doing anything graphic-intensive, so for word processing and web, this would fit the bill. My only knee-jerk reaction is the high price for something that is a basic machine!

[CynJon]

You got that for your wife?









Good trade!:thumb::heh:

[Merlin]

You got that for your wife?









Good trade!:thumb::heh:
:bow: :lmfao: :lmfao: Post of the Day!

[ShawnLee]

I'm leaning with Jeff on this one. The Mac mini seems nice and all, but I think you could've run a better setup for a comparable price, or a comparable setup for a better price. Of course, it IS a mac and probably the easiest thing to work, so the cost might have well been worth it.

[Thesifer]

I don't know how his wife is .. but Ive dated many o' girls.. that would much rather have a "pretty computer" that costs more.. than a beefy computer that is cheaper :)

[eSDee]

Very nice cheapie you have good taste. That's a great setup and much better than getting that piece of crap Dell ;)

[cheapie]

you guys hit the nail on the head. yeah...i could have a faster computer for less. and i wouldn't have to figure out how to use the mac. BUT...the cool factor is there as well as i wanted something that would prompt the "hey babe....the computer is doing this thing and i think i might have pushed the wrong button and i don't know what to do" call.

[Merlin]

Are the keyboards and mice different for a Mac? Or would any USB model work?

[cheapie]

dunno. i bought a mac specific setup.

[zero2dash]

Are the keyboards and mice different for a Mac? Or would any USB model work?

The Mac mini is geared towards being able to use any usb keyboard and mouse, whether it's Apple or not. Their sales pitch for it (targeted audience) is supposedly people who already own a PC and have the rest of the hardware required (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

Most other Macs AFAIK accept any usb mouse, I don't know about keyboards though. Using my old Intellimouse Optical on the G5 I use at work makes the machine that much more tolerable; I hate that stupid 1 click standard Apple mouse; the "hockey puck" from the G3s was even worse. :stupid:

[cheapie]

yay! the monitor is on the fedex truck for delivery a day earlier. wOOt!!!

[AlpineJay]

Just curious - why a Fuji monitor instead of a Dell one? I tend to prefer Dell made monitors over anything else and was wondering why you chose Fuji.

[bachviet]

Fuji has pretty nice LCD screens on their laptops and they look better than those on Dell. I would prefer Fuji LCDs if they are the same quality as those on its laptops.

[cheapie]

in a word? cheaper

[seqiro]

Working as a PC Tech for a company that buys Dell machines exclusively, I think you made the right decision going with the Mac. ;)

Now I do prefer Mac OS X to Windows, but I run both. High end Dell servers and workstations are nice enough, but their cheap machines are... cheap.

[cheapie]

hmmm....the 4700 deal on the deals page is great. basically, i could return the monitor, which isn't as sharp as i thought it would be, and pay the $50 restocking fee and return the mini mac and buy the 4700 incl a 19" monitor and save about $280. i don't know if it's worth the hassle of learning mac and paying an extra $280 just to have a cool mac. your opinions?

[eSDee]

The e193FP is an analog monitor which equals the suckage. If you don't like your Fuji looks, wait until the 1905FP and use that with the Mini. You won't be disappointed.

[cheapie]

The e193FP is an analog monitor which equals the suckage. If you don't like your Fuji looks, wait until the 1905FP and use that with the Mini. You won't be disappointed.


is it teh suckage because it doesn't have a dvi input or is there more to it?

[eSDee]

Pretty much that. You have DVI on your Mac so with a DVI monitor it will look beautiful. Convert back to analog? That's for Quakers.

[cheapie]

oh....i didn't know that the output on my mac was dvi. it came w/an adapter and i used that. so would dvi look considerably better?

[eSDee]

Definitely! And your Fuji has DVI input, so you should go straight into it that way. That's probably the reason why the Fuji didn't look as sharp as you thought it would.

[cheapie]

another dumb question. the dvi input on the monitor is female right?

[eSDee]

Should be.

[bbrian]

hmm.. not sure I completely agree that the problem is no DVI support. I think its the cheap LCD panel. I've got the 2001FP and I can switch between DVI and analog and at 1600x1200 I don't notice any significant difference. I agree with waiting for the 1905FP.

[cheapie]

waiting for the newer dell FP wouldn't help my situation since i'm guessing it wouldn't be free and would migitate the price difference.

ordered a dvi-d cable last night from monoprice, which btw is the best cable source in the world for cheap cables.

it shipped a couple hours after i ordered and if i'm lucky, i'll have it tomorrow and will see if the dvi makes a difference.

[eSDee]

Any luck cheapie?

[cheapie]

unfortunately, i needed a male-male cord so i had to order another one. should have it tomorrow.

[cheapie]

crap. so i go to bb and pick up a usb wireless device. will it work on a mac? yup.

of course...nope. suckage. returned the thing and am just using cat-6 right now.

so, what do i need. whatever it is, i'll bet it's freakin' expensive.

[kimchicowboy]

bluetooth mouse/keyboard setup. that'll make your wife uber-cool with mac users. :)

[cheapie]

a few questions.

what is the best browser for mac? and how do i maximize the window all the way. and how do i make the taskbar at the bottom w/all the program shortcuts be behind whatever program i'm using?

[cheapie]

also, how do i get safari to keep the font size settings? i change the size and when i start it back up, they're tiny again.

[eSDee]

a few questions.

what is the best browser for mac? and how do i maximize the window all the way. and how do i make the taskbar at the bottom w/all the program shortcuts be behind whatever program i'm using?

Safari is the fastest but Firefox is good too. To maximize drag the corner of the window at the bottom. The "dock" can be moved by going to the blue apple->dock->position on bottom. You can mess with magnification there too (very cool).


also, how do i get safari to keep the font size settings? i change the size and when i start it back up, they're tiny again.

Go to Safari->Preferences->Appearance.

[cheapie]

it's extremely clear. the dvi-d cable helped a ton. my wife is exceedingly happy with it = me happy. ;)

[eSDee]

Awesome man. Post pics.

[cheapie]

we are so pissed with iphoto that we want to throw the thing away!!!! other than being slow, confusing, grabbing pics automatically w/o asking, and basically sucking ass, it's great.

[seqiro]

Sounds like something is wrong with your iPhoto. Since upgrading to iPhoto 5, it's been plenty fast on my 1.33 GHz G4 with 3057 pictures in it, many of them 6GB RAW files. Also, I've never had it automatically import photos, you should have to press the "Import" button. Although I use a flash reader, I don't hook my camera up directly so that could be a difference.

[cheapie]

don't know what version i have. i'll check when i get home.

[kimchicowboy]

i HATE iPhoto. thinks it can do whatever it wants with my photos. HELL NO. i'll store them the way i want.

i don't like safari. i stick with firefox. :)

[seqiro]

Well honestly the only reason you would USE iPhoto is to ALLOW it to do whatever the hell it wants as far as storage. I know that I myself am AWFUL at organizing my files and it's really nice to have iPhoto (or Picasa on a PC) take care of that for me.

If you didn't want that, then iPhoto would be pretty useless.

I use Firefox for sites that just don't work with Safari (like my bank) but I find the UI ugly. Camino is a much nicer Mozilla-based browser, in my opinion.

[cheapie]

i HATE iPhoto. thinks it can do whatever it wants with my photos. HELL NO. i'll store them the way i want.

i don't like safari. i stick with firefox. :)



since you don't like iPhoto, what do you use?

[eSDee]

I like iPhoto a lot, but I know it can be a pain in the butt. Check your iPhoto version cheapie and let us know what it is.

[seqiro]

My biggest problem with iPhoto is how it handles RAW files. Normally when I work with my photos, I can just choose "Edit in external editor" to open the file in Photoshop. This does not work with a RAW file, however, because it turns it into a JPG before it exports! The only way to get it to work correctly is to drag the image to the Photoshop icon in the dock. And even then, that only works if you didn't otherwise touch the file or mistaken try to edit it. If you do that, then you have to revert to original first.

Big pain.

The only other problem I have is minor. I keep my photos sorted by film roll, newest on top. For some reason every time I import photos, it automatically scrolls me down to the bottom when it completes. That's just dumb. :)

Still, I find the management very useful. And ordering prints or books directly from the application is nice as well. But I would never use it for editing.

[cheapie]

please take this POS away. i do not like it one bit. i will take a loss just to get to an OS that i'm familiar with!!!

i'm so sick of my wife calling me and asking me how to do stuff like get the mouse working, move pics, get the effing browser to keep the same settings, move between windows, etc. ****!!!!

[ArkiStan]

Looks like this romantic fairytale has taken a tragic turn for the worse! :) haha

[bachviet]

Trade it back in for a Dell and your wife will be happy again. :P

[eSDee]

I'll take it off your hands Cheapie. I'll give you a hundred bucks for it ;)

[kimchicowboy]

if you odn't like it that much, i'll trade you my athlon 850 Mhz for it. :)

[Jeffbx]

Where are those 'switch' ad people? I bet one of them could help you out...

[cheapie]

Trade it back in for a Dell and your wife will be happy again. :P


that's exactly what i was thinking. i paid $500 for it. a couple for the monitor. and 65 for the wireless keyboard and mouse. i'd like to trade the mac and keyboard and mouse set for a dell. even be willing to lose a little money on it.

[cheapie]

i hate how you bring pics over and it puts them in multiple places. when you double-click on a file it tries to import it and etc etc.

no! just open the ****ing file and let me look at it!!!!


this thing is for sale. it's bad for my marriage.

http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?p=922967#post922967

[Markel]

So, cheapie, whatcha getting your wife as a replacement?

[cheapie]

prolly a dell.

[dougadam]

Look’s gift for your wife.

[cheapie]

what?

[cheapie]

****ing piece of **** program. i'm trying to back up all the pics. who the hell knows where they are. somewhere in the ****ing POS that is iPhoto.

[zero2dash]

****ing piece of **** program. i'm trying to back up all the pics. who the hell knows where they are. somewhere in the ****ing POS that is iPhoto.

I'll check at work tomorrow but I'm pretty sure OSX usually backs up app files (iTunes and Mail ones at least) under home -> Libraries -> (app name)

Check there...:thumb:

[seqiro]

iPhoto a POS? Er... ok.

At any rate, it's pretty easy to find pictures, since it stores them all in one place for each user in ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library.

But the other thing to do would be just launch iPhoto, press Command-A to select all, and go to (depending on your version) Share -> Export. Then you can export the whole library to wherever you want.

[cheapie]

finally! a mac user i agree with!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6553260189868317794

[eSDee]

That's hilarious cheapie :hihi: I'm going to forward it to some friends of mine that I know will get a kick out of it.

[PoorAvatar]

LOL, a must send to my macfriends. I don't know why but when they say they're Mac users, there is this unspoken superiority.

[cheapie]

sweet! i just spent a day working out how to sync my outlook with google calendar so my wife won't have to keep calling/emailing to find out what i'm doing on X day. she can just check the google calendar and actually even add stuff to it if she wants.

i finally finish figuring out how to get it all to do work on my side and then go down to check the calendar on her mac and show her how it works.

wrong. the version of safari is old and doesn't work with google calendar. so i google the problem and low and behold a new version of safari works with it fine.

ok. let's just go to the autoupdate and get newest version of safari. oops, it only updates crap i don't want like garageband, iphoto, isuck, etc.

so i go out and dl the newest version of safari and attempt to install it.

wrong again. it can't be upgraded with the current version of mac OS X. fine. i'll upgrade the OS. hahaha...i can of course do so for a lot of $$$$ :throw:

what a POS! you can't upgrade the browser w/o getting a NEW EFFING OS??? sweet. never again.

[Airencracken]

what a POS! you can't upgrade the browser w/o getting a NEW EFFING OS??? sweet. never again.

Try a different browser? Like Firefox or Camino?

[InfiniteNothing]

I use both iPhoto and Picassa. They work pretty well together for my purposes. Every now and then I use irfanview or ps. I've always wanted to try Aperture.

[cheapie]

FF fixed the problem. thanks!

[Prngr44]

...and they say once you go Mac you never go back.

;)

[Markel]

...and they say once you go Mac you never go back.

;)
Sounds true in this case...I don't think cheapie will ever go back to a Mac. :heh:

[cheapie]

:heh: exactly!