Since I bought my Mac Mini this past February I’ve had mixed ideas about how to use it. First it went into use as my primary computer for a few weeks, then the ‘shiny new toy’ effect wore off and I put it on my entertainment center along with my new TV (which has a VGA input), then back to my desk, I did this twice right now it resides on my desk and I’m using it as my primary computer. I really like the Mini, I do think it’s a great little machine very capable for a such tiny footprint. I can easily do 90% of my work on it. Meanwhile my primary Windows desktop just sits there looking stupid. 
. Funny thing is that even with a faster processor, more memory, and more hard drive space I don’t miss my Windows Desktop. The Mac for the most part just works for me, I’ve grown accustom the little eccentricities of OS X and have actually come to like them. I find myself trying to do Mac keyboard shortcuts on the Windows side which drives me crazy.
Having two keyboards on my desk drives me nuts, I cannot tell you how many times I start typing on the wrong keyboard especially when both machines are running. Aside from that it just looks cluttered. The Mac wireless keyboard is a tiny little thing that I never thought I’d get used to but I find myself liking the tactile feel of it over my more expensive Microsoft keyboard. I never thought I’d be able to do without my navigation keys (Page Up, Page, Down, home, end, etc) or a number pad but I seem to have adopted just fine. I still haven’t gotten used to the Mighty Mouse and have since gave up on it, swapping it out for a $10 USB mouse.
On the Mac side applications seem to always follow the same flow, that is they all pretty much look and act the same. Where as on the Windows side apps don’t always have the same look or shortcuts from application to application nor do they always follow the windows GUI guidelines On OSX, I’ve only run into one application that looks crappy and that’s the GIMP which depends on the X11 Windowing system, this is the windowing system that Linux uses and I imagine a throwback to the ‘classic’ days (OS 8 and 9). I’ve never thought of myself as much of an eye candy person and I don’t really think it’s the eye candy aspect of it, it’s the continuity between apps on OS X that I enjoy. I know that pressing Cmd , in any app will bring up it’s preferences stuff like that matters to me, someone who does not have the time to go hunting through help files to find some obscure keyboard shortcut or setting.
Most apps seem to run better and be less intrusive under OS X then their windows counterparts, even if they don’t have all the features of the Window’s app. Yahoo Messenger is one, it’s done very well and elegantly for OS X and does not set itself to run on start up.
That’s always been a sticking point with me, no application should set itself to run on start up without my explicit permission. On Windows nearly every instant messenger and many other programs set themselves to run at start up without even asking, disabling auto start is confusing running through the programs options or worse yet some don’t even have the option and you have to force it via msconfig. Then there’s the programs that explicitly set themselves to run at start up on every update after you told it not to. Just plain bad behavior that boarders on malware, IMHO.You just don’t find many auto self starting programs on Mac, I only found one Skype which was very easy to disable under Users in system preferences.
My only problem with Mac’s lie in the cost, not just the initial hardware costs either, which is ridiculous in itself but we’ll touch on that a bit later. It seems that any hardware made specifically for Mac or that advertises Mac compatibility is inherently more expensive than their windows counter parts. Simple things like a web cam, I can buy $10 web cams for Windows all day, try doing it for a Mac. I haven’t been able to find anything sub-$80. For as much as I use the web cam it’s just not worth it to me. I cannot buy a regular microphone off the shelf for my mini, I need to buy some USB adapter for $40 then I can use a regular mic, or buy a ridiculously priced headset made specifiably for me Mac and use one of my precious USB ports.
Mac Zealots always go around pounding the initially more expensive but cheaper in the long run drum. I don’t buy it, unless you have an all inclusive system like a laptop or iMac that includes the microphone and web cam, things like Mac compatible web cams and microphones add into the cost. Then you run into issues with those all inclusive systems, they aren’t easy to service, in fact they’re made outside of RAM and sometimes hard drive upgrades to be only serviced by “Apple Geniuses”, which factors into the cost of ownership too. I can pop open my windows desktop and replace every component while this is possible on Mac systems they seem to be purposely made to be hard to crack open and get to the guts of the machine.
Other Mac zealots will argue that the design of the computer is factored into the price, okay you’ve got me here they are beautifully designed but again I’m not much of an eye candy guy give me a while box computer and I’ll shove it in a CPU cabinet somewhere. I don’t need the all-in-one look of the iMac or the bushed aluminum look of the new iMacs/Mac Books.
Yet others will argue that last longer, I haven’t been playing with Macs long enough to know that. I do know that Snow Leopard the next version of OS X is coming in September dropped support for PPC processors this means in a mere three years machines that supposedly last longer can no longer upgrade to the latest version of OS X. I’m sure they’re still perfectly functional but so much for the last longer argument. My last PC last me through 6 years of heavy use before I put it out to pasture and gave it to my mother for games, it’s still running today 7 years later. I doubt that an Apple machine will be usable for much longer than that.
I’ll always compare price vs features and for me the so called Apple tax does not add up. I could go for a pimped out new Mini and do all my computer work on that but at over $1000 it just isn’t cost effective. I can build a machine with same hardware and a windows license for $500-$600 and have an upgradeable machine that runs pretty much everything under the sun. I do think Apple is being stingy by keeping OS X on Apple hardware only, it just shows greed especially now that OS X runs on X86 and x64 processors there is no good reason why it cannot run on a ‘white box’ PC.
My problem with the Mini now is I can see myself getting so used to and comfortable with it, tying myself to the platform, so that down the road when it comes time to upgrade I’m going to be forced to pay the apple tax because I want OS X. I’m really thinking of going cold turkey using my Windows computer as my main desktop and putting the Mac back on my entertainment center as a media computer for streaming, this way I don’t get too used to it and ‘need’ a mac when I upgrade.
