It’s been a year since I purchased my Mac Mini. It was announced at the 2005 Macworld Expo and it was the first Mac targeted at entry-level consumers. At the time I was using a Powerbook G4 and I was looking for a machine to use as a desktop computer. The specs of the Mac Mini are pretty similar to those of my Powerbook so for the kind of work I do I figured this would be adequate. I used it as a desktop machine then it was transitioned to a web server, which hosts this site as well as a couple others and then was transitioned into my living room as a media PC. Overall after using the machine for a year I am very happy with it and it does a decent job on most of my tasks.

I use a G5 at work and it is much faster in most of my work. I am a web developer and I use a lot of Unix scripting as well as the LAMP architecture. I do a little graphical work so I use Photoshop every once in a while. For the most part I can do my job pretty efficient on all the Macs that I use and the Mac Mini is no different. I upgraded to Mac OS X Tiger and popped in 1GB of RAM. I sent an email to Dan Frakes of Macworld for suggestions of installing RAM on my own. The first 1GB DDR that I purchased did not work with the machine and he has said sometimes it is just trial and error and the Macs are pretty particular about which RAM goes in the machine. I went to the local Circuit City and then over to Best Buy and bought another stick and this worked in the machine. I had worked IT for a number of years but I was still nervous about popping the machine open with a putty knife and it was hard to keep a steady hand. All the employees told me don’t install the RAM yourself you will void your warranty. I figured for the price I would pay for Apple installed RAM it was worth the risk.

The other day I received a phone call from Apple asking if I wanted to purchase Apple Care for the machine and it would run me $150. I decided the machine was working great and passed on the Apple Care. I figured the machine only cost me $500 anyway if it did happen to break I would just take my chances. In any case when this machine transitions to an Intel model I will probably pick one of those up.

Overall the machine has worked well for me. I am able to do all my everyday tasks and I always find more and more uses for the machine. Maybe one day this machine will find its way into my car but as of right now it’s doing a great job of hosting this site as well as being a media PC. I managed to install Front Row on it and I won’t say how I got it but it works well even on a G4 processor. I am looking forward to the Intel Mac Mini will write a review on that one when I get it. Feel free to leave any comments or experiences you have had with your Mini.