I’m giving serious consideration to buying a Mini Mac. At $500.00 it’s cheap enough to tempt me to try a Mac. But it doesn’t come with a keyboard, mouse or monitor. Nominally, none of this is a problem, I already have more than one of each. My question is how well will OS X work with a pc keyboard and mouse? Are there any issues I need to know about ahead of a purchase?
You will need a USB keyboard and mouse or an adapter for your PS2 devices.
I’ve been looking at the Mac mini myself. Pretty slick, isn’t it.
You can use any USB keyboard and mouse. From the Mac mini’s product page:
If your keyboard and mouse have PS2 connectors (sample image) then you have two options:
- Purchase a new USB keyboard and mouse (not a major expense - say, $30 for the two?)
- Purchase a PS2-to-USB converter (about $10)
A few (hopefully) helpful hints:
[ul]
[li]Mac keyboards use option rather than alt. So where documentation calls for pressing option, press alt.[/li][li]Macs make extensive use of a command key. On Apple keyboards, this key has an Apple symbol and another symbol a bit like the sharp sign. I think Windows uses the Windows symbol on the equivalent key.[/li][li]Macs generally have a single-button mouse. The equivalent of “right-click” is to hold down the ctrl (control) key and click the mouse. So, right-click and control-click are equivalent.[/li][/ul]
I hope you do get one and enjoy it.
Well, it’s behind the power curve a bit. It’s a 32bit G4, 256MB of memory, and a 32MB video-card - pretty underpowered by todays gaming standards, but I’m sure it’s more than adequate for surfing.
Interestingly, while most documentation (and most users) still refer to the option key, they were replaced by alt on Mac keyboards some years ago.
I’ve always been a PC guy, for no other reason than the expense that comes with Macs. However, when I got my new job they set me up with a dual 2 gHz G5 with 23" display. It makes me so sad to go home to my HP notebook, and I long for the day they release a G5 PowerBook. You can be sure I’ll buy one the day it comes out.
I hate to sound like one of those Mac “switch” cliches, but honestly, everything is easier and more intuitive on the Mac. It never crashes, always does what I want it to do, never give me weird errors, and everything is just so much easier and better than the PC equivalent. The only thing I’m having issue with is finding an FTP client thats as good as the PC counterpart, but that’s a small price to pay for such a better computing experience. Take the jump, spend the $500, and you’ll be an Apple guy for life. I promise.
One thing to be aware of, prepare to have your ass whipped by every non-Mac user in the world who feels it is their god-given right, nay, their DUTY! to convince you you’re an idiot for using a Mac.
Seriously. I’ve been using a Mac for years and I learned long ago never to discuss 3 things with people: Politics, religion, and operating systems. All those topics do is spawn arguments where nobody is ever convinced of anything that they didn’t already believe.
You can pick up a wireless mouse and keyboard for about €30, and use any old monitor.
I am SO getting one of these. Not a shadow of a doubt. However I’m going to wait a while until any hardware issues are ironed out. I’m also going to pay for a few extras.
Nitpick here: Apple has added a tiny “alt” above the bigger “option” on the key, but in the Mac universe, that key is still referred to as the Option Key. Mainly to be used for drag & drop within the system (you can hold down Option to make a copy of a file as you drag it to a new location, rather than just moving it… and sometimes vice versa). In fact, until now, I’ve never noticed that little “alt” before. s’weird.
And for what it’s worth, you won’t regret buying that Mac mini. But do yourself a favor, and plug at least 512 MB of RAM in that thing.
Actually, my newer Apple keyboard still has the key labeled “option”, but above it in smaller type is “alt”.
Also, the optical drives in new Macs don’t have an eject button. There is an eject key on Apple keyboards, and your PC keyboard doesn’t have one, you’ll have to get used to ejecting disks from the finder (desktop).
I believe that on my Mac, F12 is the eject key (the farthest F key to the right); I don’t see why this wouldn’t work with a standard keyboard.
On my Mac (with a Mac keyboard), F12 didn’t do anything when I tested it just now, and nor did F15, the furthest right F key. I have a separate eject key on the extreme right (right of all the F keys and the volume controls), above the numpad, which does nothing except ejecting. I presume, though, that one could configure some other key to serve the same purpose, and such configuration might be the default when using a non-Mac keyboard. Just ejecting using Finder is a decidedly suboptimal solution, since that’ll only work when there’s actually a disk in the drive. But so far as I know, you can’t use Finder to open the drive when it’s empty.
And my “option” keys are also dual-labelled. Another point to be aware of is that the “Control” key gets very little use: I’ve only used it in UNIX applications. Most places in Windows where you would use Control, on a Mac you use the Mac key (the one with the apple and the cloverleaf on it).
Well, yeah, but us Mac users do the same to Windows users, too. 
It all evens out, since Linux users are better than either of us. 
As Ex_Chemist said above, the key with the Apple logo and cloverleaf-lookin’ thing is the Command key. The cloverleaf is Apple’s Command icon. Ain’t no Mac key.
I’d like to add a follow on question, if I may:
The default $499 config comes with 256MB RAM. To upgrade to 1GB you have to fork over another $425. According to pricewatch.com, I can get a 1GB PC-2700 DDR DIMM from other places on the web for about as litle as $85. I probably wouldn’t want to get anything that cheap, but the point stands. The question:
Is there any reason I shouldn’t buy the default 256 from apple & upgrade the memory separately?
Doing the upgrade yourself might void the warrenty - read the fine print.
The Control Key on the Mac is equivalent to clicking the right mouse button. So for those who don’t have a two button mouse, there’s where it comes in. If your keyboard has an eject button (usually over the num pad), then the F12 key will do nothing. If you do not have an eject key, then F12 automatically assumes the burden.
On mine (I have an eject key too) you have to hold down F12, not just press it. In a few seconds your disk will eject. Either that or find the tiny eject button inside the slot and push it with a paperclip.
You void your warranty by opening the thing up. But another option may be to bring it in to an apple store or authorized service place (assuming you have one nearby), and ask them to swap out the memory with a chip you bring in. I’m going to wait and see how this pans out before I get one.
But, yeah, Apple tends to ream you on the add-ons.
Add me to the list of people who are definitely getting one. I’m going to wait until they start shipping with 10.4, though. Seems silly to buy a brand new computer and just get another copy of an OS I already have.
[hijack]
C’mon! Be a man. Use the terminal.
Barring that, have you tried Fetch ?
[/hijack]
Getting back to the topic. I’d go out and get a new Mini but I’ve already got two G4s and two G3s at the house.