Apple Mac Mini Intel Core Solo

I was lucky enough to pick up one of the new Mac Mini Intel Core Solo machines to replace my G4 Mac Mini. It ships with a 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo CPU, 512MB PC2-5300 SODIMMs, Seagate 60GB SATA drive, Combo Drive, Wireless, Bluetooth, Digital Audio and the Integrated Intel Graphics that everyone loves. The About This Mac dialog box displayed a 1.5 GHz Intel Core Duo. After looking into the Apple System Profiler, it does say Intel Core Solo. It comes with almost the same software the previous generation Mac Mini shipped with, but just more up-to-date versions: iLife ’06, Quicken 2006, Office Trial, and a few games. I have it connected to my Samsung DLP TV in my living room.

D-Link DGL-4300

A couple months back I was looking for a good all around network router, preferably with both wired and wireless capabilities. After some research, I came upon the D-Link DGL-4300. It is touted as a “Gaming Router”, which basically means it has QOS (Quality Of Service). For those who don’t know, it is a configuration that gives priority to certain network traffic, but more on that later. Along with some other nice features the wired 4-port gigabit switch made this router stand out from the rest.

Apple iSight

When iChat AV was released with Mac OS X Tiger, I was assumed by the demos of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, but didn’t really see how this would become mainstream. Sure a few of my friends have web cams, but the majority of people in my opinion still use standard instant messaging over video messaging. Recently video messaging has become more popular with supporters such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL instant messenger, Apple, etc. I knew a few people that had Creative and Logitech cameras and a friend of mine purchased an iSight. She really liked it and encouraged me to purchase a camera of my own. I went to the Apple store and noticed it was a tad more expensive than some of the other branded cameras and I had debating using a standard MiniDV camera or purchase the iSight. Since my usual chat client of choice is iChat AV I went ahead and purchased the iSight.

Apple Mac Mini

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.

Netgear WPN824

I was interested in setting up a new wireless network in my home. I run a couple of servers out of my home, which run this site as well as a few others. I have tried products by Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear and for the most part networking products for the home have much improved in ease of use as well as performance. Technology has come a long way and setting up a wireless network in your home has become very reasonably priced. With better security and speed there is almost no reason not to use a wireless network over a wired. This statement can be argued of course and I can see an argument for both sides, but for most people a wireless network is sufficient for ones needs. I’ve been pretty happy with Netgear’s products and I was looking for an Ethernet wireless bridge and a main wireless base station. I use the Netgear WGPS606 for my living room to connect my Mac Mini, cable box, and hopefully a game system in the near future. For my main base station I chose the Netgear WPN824 RangeMax Wireless Router. This router has suited my needs very well.

Viewsonic VA721

I have been using a Viewsonic VA721 monitor with a Power Macintosh G5 tower for light graphic work and web design/programming. On a typical day, I will work on sites built upon the LAMP architecture (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) and use the G5 for development and testing purposes. As far as 17-inch monitors go the Viewsonic VA721 has a typical 1280×1024 resolution and I try to build pages that still fit within 800×600 for those with smaller monitors. I usually have Firefox, Word, iChat, Photoshop, Navicat, Yummy FTP, Apple Server Monitor and the Apache, MySQL and PHP architecture on Mac OS X open at all times and this monitor could use some more real estate.

Logitech LX 501

I was looking for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo for the Mac Mini I have in my living room connected to the Samsung HL-R4667W. I searched the Internet for suggestions from other users and for the most part most companies did not support Bluetooth solutions for Mac OS X. I could have gone with the Logitech Bluetooth DiNovo keyboard or the Microsoft Bluetooth Desktop set, but all the functions of either of those units are not fully supported in Mac OS X. Looking at the Apple solution of their Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I felt that they did not have enough of the features I was looking for. I don’t know why this seemed to bother me because I use the standard Apple Keyboard and Mouse on a Apple Power Macintosh G5 as well as a Powerbook G4. I guess when I buy things it all depends on what I’m feeling at the time of purchase.