The nice thing about the Mini is not having to hack an Xbox or buy a laptop to get a small, quiet PC for menial tasks. Although its still a Mac, which means having to learn all those hotkeys and make the constant annoying shift from Mac to PC and back again... have you any idea how often I get frustrated because "Ctrl" and "Control" do NOT do the same thing? and the lack of mouse buttons and scroll wheels on the mac? and the annoying way all the different programs use the menu bar? and the fact that the 'power' button on the G4 is where 'eject' should be? (the day they figure out how to make the CD appear next to the keyboard when ejected will be the day I see the point of putting the eject key *on* the keyboard. I'm going to have to lean over to grab the CD once its ejected anyway, why not put the button next to the CD tray?)...
*takes deep breaths, counts to ten*
Anyway, I think the Mini is sexy enough that, despite all that, I still want one...
Oh, get over yourself and buy a third party mouse, ye whiny git! As I said over on my own Journal, there have been multibutton rodents even back in the days of Apple Desktop Bus - now that USB has largely unified the rodent market there is simply No Fucking Excuse to whine about such things.
They don't put hardware eject buttons on the optical drives because it's a Mac OS thing to allow the OS to ensure all writing (this is primarily from the floppy/Zip/Jaz kind of media but still) is complete before allowing the disc to be ejected. That's why it's a keyboard/software thing rather than a hardware button. It's a different way of looking at things. Frankly, in a lot of ways I prefer the way MacOS works to the way Winhozed does.... but I have to deal with the latter because it's annoyingly ubiquitous.
LOL if I actually owned a Mac of my own then it would be sporting a Logitech laser-mouse before it left the showroom. Unfortunately I have to live with macheads who have eschewed the opposable thumb and individually controllable digits, and have come to think of their mousing hand as some sort of grippy point stick rather than a versatile interface device.
RE: eject buttons, well yes you have a point (as does colitis) in that a keyboard-mounted eject button is easier to find. And whereas most PC drives have a light to tell you if its still doing anything, it *would* be nice if you didnt have to look at it.
I like the way Mac is so tightly integrated- it just works. I just wish they'd steal some of the (few) bits off Windows that work a little better.
Oh, get over yourself and buy a third party mouse, ye whiny git!
Sheesh, that was a bit blunter than me :)
They don't put hardware eject buttons on the optical drives because it's a Mac OS thing to allow the OS to ensure all writing (this is primarily from the floppy/Zip/Jaz kind of media but still) is complete before allowing the disc to be ejected.
Yeah, but your average garden variety optical drive has an OS-controllable lock on the eject button...
Oh, get over yourself and buy a third party mouse, ye whiny git!
Totally. :-)
Microsoft has some super mice, and they work instantly on MacOS with no drivers. My personal favorite is the Notebook mouse, which is teensy and light, and comes in silver or black. Silver to match the powerbook, black to match everything else... I've got 4 of them.
The Microsoft bluetoof mouse works instantly with MacOS as well. It strikes me as somewhat ironic that it's a whole lot easier to get it working with a Mac than it is to get it working with Windows (requires an installer and two reboots).
and the lack of mouse buttons and scroll wheels on the mac?
(brain explodes)
Why not just get a mouse you like? I've got a Dell-badged Intellimouse on the PowerBook I'm using right now, and the machine at home is an old Intellimouse Explorer that I've had for donkey's years.
Any USB mouse will work. Just fine. And the OS can use it too; I get right-button context menus, scrolling in the web browser, and one of the spare buttons kicks in the Expose window switching.
the day they figure out how to make the CD appear next to the keyboard when ejected will be the day I see the point of putting the eject key *on* the keyboard.
I find the eject button on the keyboard is much easier to find than one on the system unit. Hit it without looking, reach out and grab the CD from the tray without looking. I don't find it as easy to hit an eject button on a CD drive itself without looking.
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Sweetest brick I've seen in a while!
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*takes deep breaths, counts to ten*
Anyway, I think the Mini is sexy enough that, despite all that, I still want one...
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They don't put hardware eject buttons on the optical drives because it's a Mac OS thing to allow the OS to ensure all writing (this is primarily from the floppy/Zip/Jaz kind of media but still) is complete before allowing the disc to be ejected. That's why it's a keyboard/software thing rather than a hardware button. It's a different way of looking at things. Frankly, in a lot of ways I prefer the way MacOS works to the way Winhozed does.... but I have to deal with the latter because it's annoyingly ubiquitous.
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RE: eject buttons, well yes you have a point (as does
I like the way Mac is so tightly integrated- it just works. I just wish they'd steal some of the (few) bits off Windows that work a little better.
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Sheesh, that was a bit blunter than me :)
They don't put hardware eject buttons on the optical drives because it's a Mac OS thing to allow the OS to ensure all writing (this is primarily from the floppy/Zip/Jaz kind of media but still) is complete before allowing the disc to be ejected.
Yeah, but your average garden variety optical drive has an OS-controllable lock on the eject button...
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Totally. :-)
Microsoft has some super mice, and they work instantly on MacOS with no drivers. My personal favorite is the Notebook mouse, which is teensy and light, and comes in silver or black. Silver to match the powerbook, black to match everything else... I've got 4 of them.
The Microsoft bluetoof mouse works instantly with MacOS as well. It strikes me as somewhat ironic that it's a whole lot easier to get it working with a Mac than it is to get it working with Windows (requires an installer and two reboots).
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(brain explodes)
Why not just get a mouse you like? I've got a Dell-badged Intellimouse on the PowerBook I'm using right now, and the machine at home is an old Intellimouse Explorer that I've had for donkey's years.
Any USB mouse will work. Just fine. And the OS can use it too; I get right-button context menus, scrolling in the web browser, and one of the spare buttons kicks in the Expose window switching.
the day they figure out how to make the CD appear next to the keyboard when ejected will be the day I see the point of putting the eject key *on* the keyboard.
I find the eject button on the keyboard is much easier to find than one on the system unit. Hit it without looking, reach out and grab the CD from the tray without looking. I don't find it as easy to hit an eject button on a CD drive itself without looking.