I recommend Panic’s Transmit for your Mac’s FTP client. They’re set to release the next major version very soon.
I’m glad that my choice of terms was comical to some of you! I really didn’t know what to call my “type” of PC to say it wasn’t a mac. It took me a while to settle with IBM compatible, I hadn’t heard it for a while but didn’t know of another more accurate term.
So what exactly do we call our computers? Is IBM compatible still the most accurate term, even though it is outdated?
MC
Typically, this nice, straightforward technical computer question has wandered over into the realm of comparing the sizes of joysticks (figuratively), so I think it will find a better home in IMHO.
[ /Moderator Mode ]
I don’t know about most accurate, but even Apple uses the term “PC” for windows/IBM/whatever boxes. For example, the iPod ad says it works with “Mac or PC”.
Just want to second the recommendation for Transmit. I bought it; I love it.
The “old” Apple was notorious for releasing less-than-ideal products and then revamping them, but they’re a lot better in this regard today. Oftentimes you will hear about 1.0 products suffering some particular quirk — with the Cube it was cracks in the casing, with the first G4s it was power buttons that broke off, and so on — but you’re talking more about manufacturing snafus than about major engineering defects or shortcomings. Apple has also been pretty good about rectifying these situations: when the last batch of G4 towers were reported to run very loud, Apple sent new power supplies for users to swap in, for free.
As for getting new Macs cheap, it basically can’t be done. Just try to buy from a reseller that offers a free RAM upgrade or other goodies (MacWarehouse usually does) to help take the sting away.
But still – I don’t understand why they’re SO $$$$?
Part of it is because Apple, until the Mac mini, didn’t really offer a “stripped down” computer. Those $499 Dells you see often don’t include networking cards or committed video memory or anything beyond a plain old CD-ROM drive. Remember, every single Mac includes an ethernet port, FireWire , at least a combo optical drive (burns CDs, plays CDs and DVDs) and a video card that doesn’t share its memory with the main CPU (though I do agree that the Mac mini’s video card is too underpowered for serious gaming).
I’ve seen many cases where someone went to Dell’s site and souped up one of their computers to where it was comparable to a given Mac, and the price difference wasn’t that much.
Also, Apple knows that its customers will pay more for elegant design.
Regarding “PC Compatable,” etc., one term I sometimes hear is “Wintel.” (Windows/Intel) While outdated (we’ve got AMD processors now, and Linux), it makes a certain amount of sense. While most people assume that “PC” means Intel/AMD computers, the fact that Macs have “PC” in the computer’s name (PowerPC) makes “PC” not . . . quite . . . right to describe these Windows/Linux/AMD/Intel/Whatever computers. At least not to some people.
And as far as Apple buying software and then making it Mac-only, I just can’t muster up a whole lot of sympathy about that. Plenty of companies decide to not carry a Mac version for their software, for financial reasons, for apathy reasons, or whatever. Not that there isn’t plenty of stuff available for Macs (including Mac-only stuff), but now and then, Mac users find that they can’t run some software that they’d like to run. So why should Windows users assume that they will always have it better? That there should always be a Windows version available? There is no moral obligation to make a Mac or Windows version of any given piece of software. It’s up to the manufacturer. (Of course, those of us using the platform that is left out reserve the right to bitch. Naturally! ;))
I generally call them ____ boxes - but even that gets confused if I boot a Windows box with a Knoppix CD, turning it into a Linux box.
“Wintel” and “Lintel” are also popular ways to describe Windows and Linux running on Intel (eg: Pentium) hardware, but I’ve not seen a corresponding “WAMD” and “LAMD” for the AMD procs.
Back to Mac Mini - mark my words - this will be the one to buy when your mom wants a computer. I know it’ll be what I recommend for my mother - she’s a touch technophobic and the vagaries of her current 5-year-old Pentium II laptop with Win98 bring her to the edge of panic attacks.
As long as everyone’s being weird about what to call non-Macs, I’ll just point out that IBM never made “IBM compatibles”.
IBM made IBMs. Everyone else made “IBM compatibles”
x86 doesn’t even work anymore if Itaniums are involved.
I’d say we call them “Bob”, but Microsoft probably still owns the trademark.
You will NOT void your warrantee by opening the Mini, if it’s not damaged. As said before, you’ll be left with an unised 256 Mb memory stick if you upgrade yourself though.
I’ve got a 1Ghz G4 iBook with 512 mb of RAM. If you’re not doing pure Video work, 512 is a good amount for OS X…and it’s a much more reasonable upgrade from apple at $75. (I paid $64 for my 256 mb SODIMM in my iBook about three months ago.)
99.99_9_% of the people buying this Mac won’t need or fully use a Gig of RAM.
And I flat LOVE my iBook. Bought it based on my experience with my iPod.
…and a third. Transmit is awesomely good. Beats the pants off of Fetch. It’s my default ftp client software, and I have to send and import files all day long.
Transmit is da bomb. Three thumbs up.
“PC” is actually a specific machine: the IBM Model 5150 “Personal Computer”. This is the “PC” that “compatibles” are compatible with.
Interesting. I did not know that.
It does get confusing, however, when you’ve got “PowerPC” on the Mac side.
It’s harder to compete at the bottom than at the top. Selling a cheap box means margins are lower, which gives Apple less money to put back into R&D, which retards their ability to innovate—and Apple’s innovation is ultimately why its users are so loyal. It also means you need a hell of an efficient supply chain, and while Apple’s inventory management is pretty good, Dell is the best in the business; you’re not going to beat them playing by their rules.
I think the reason we’re seeing the Mac mini now is twofold: not only is this a good time for Apple to attract new users, the iPod’s popularity (and high margins) gives Apple a cushion to fall back on if the mini’s success eats into the other models’ sales too much. Plus, the mini is very carefully engineered to avoid cannibalizing Apple’s higher end; as people are already noticing, trying to configure a mini to match even an eMac’s specs is a futile exercise; you’re better off just buying the more expensive machine from the get-go. Which is just how Apple wants it.
Another possible theory (feel free to prove me wrong): Are Mac Mini’s using notebook memory chips? Those would be even a greater premium than desktop memory chips.
I read on a Mac board that the Minis are using regular sized chips. Cannot confirm that for myself, that’s just the talk.
From Macworld.com
Looks like I could put 512 Mb in a mini and add the 256 Mb to my G4 Powermac. 
If I may channel Arthur Naiman, author of some of the early versions of The Macintosh Bible: Yeah yeah, the Mac is a “personal computer”. It’s not a PC. The PC is not “a personal computer”, it’s the Personal Computer™, and by extension all that is of its legacy amongst both IBM offerings and compatible machines by other vendors (the legacy of the “clones”).
When we talk of computers we own, we need not refer to them as “personal computers” as if to distinguish them from the mainframes we’ve got in the living room. C’mon, all of our computers are “personal”!
A PC is an Intel-compatible machine of the sort that will run Windows natively, and generally speaking that also means it will run other operating systems designed to run on the industry-standard Intel platform, such as Red Hat Linux.
A Mac is not a PC. It’s a Mac. A Mac is either a Motorola 68K-compatible or a PowerPC-compatible machine of the sort that will run the MacOS natively, and generally speaking that also means it will run other operating systems designed to run on PPC equipment, such as Yellow Dog Linux. Most Macs are literally Macintosh computers made by Apple, and right now there are no off-brand knockoffs available but that could change as of tomorrow (the modern MacOS does not depend on a ROM anymore, which makes cloning without Apple approval a far easier task than it was in the MacOS 9 days).