I currently have a mac mini which hosts all of my music and videos using 1 TB drive. I also use an apple tv to stream the videos to a tv in the other room.

I would really like to just switch the apple tv over to a second mac mini (for many of the reasons mentioned in this post). However, I'm unsure how well this would work. For example, the apple tv is great at streaming movies, but when I use my laptop to look at the shared media library from the first mac mini, the view is horrible. As one example, I can't look at my movies or tv shows individually (everything is shown together: music, tv shows, movies, podcasts). Is there an easy way around this? I basically want my second mac mini to be an apple tv, except capable of boxee, netflix, and the internet... Someone help!

Hello,

This is my first post here and my first day after trying to install Windows XP on my Mac Mini using boot camp. Also, I'm fairly new to Macs in general, so please excuse me if I sound ignorant.

I am using an Intel based Mac Mini with Leopard.

Here's the problem:

I used Boot Camp Assistant to create the Windows partition and rebooted to my Windows XP CD. I saw that Boot Camp formatted the Windows partition as FAT32 (which I liked), so when I got to the screen that asks if I wanted to format it as NTFS or FAT32, I selected the option "Leave everything unchanged". While the Windows installation files were copying, I decided to browse the boot camp instructions. I quickly realized that I was NOT supposed to choose "Leave everything unchanged" as I would not be able to boot to the Windows partition.

Low and behold, once the system rebooted to begin the installation procedure, I got a disk error. I then tried to delete the partition and recreate through the Windows setup and it appeared to help a bit, but am now getting an error when I boot saying that the file system32hal.dll is missing or corrupt.

I just want to go back to Leopard and delete the partition, and start all over (following the directions this time ;). The problem is, I can't figure out how to boot back into Leopard. I tried holding command+option at startup to select my boot device, but it isn't working. It keeps trying to boot to the Windows installation CD, then to the Windows partition. I also can't get the CD to eject. Please help!

Let me know if I missed anything important. Thanks.

I was wondering are the mac minis used for mac mini colo really dedicated or do they cluster them, so they alll share the resources of each other.

What specs would be needed to run a forum?

Is it worth it, or would it be cheaper to host at home?

Can a mac mini run smf through mac osx?

I'm now on my second one since 2005. The first one self destructed after a couple of years of unspectacular, bog-standard media centre use (no over-clocking or 3D gaming).

Just recently my Intel Mac Mini (purchased in July 2007) started squeaking intermittantly so I did my research and concluded that the hard drive was on its last legs.

I replaced that tonight with an SSD OCZ 64gb Core series SATAII drive, booted OS X from the DVD install disk and the damn thing won't let me format the drive. It can see it, but says I don't have permission to do anything with it and then says it's too small to create any partitions (it thinks it has a capacity of 0kb). Every option which might be useful is greyed out to complicate things further.

To top it all off my Mini is still squeaking as it did before which suggests that the problem wasn't the hard drive at all, but the fan seeing as there are no other moving components in these systems.

Any idea where I go from here? I'd really like to get this drive installed now that I've taken the plunge and paid four times more than an ordinary drive twice its capacity would cost.

I'm really annoyed at Apple in general at the moment considering what a lousy job they do of regulating the temperature in these systems. You know, they're not quiet because they run cool, they're quiet because the fan doesn't spin up as you perform more intensive tasks as it's supposed to, all the while shortening the Mini's lifespan without you realising. This doesn't hit home until you run a fan speed regulating utility that does this job properly.

Edit: oh how could I forget - my Superdrive isn't quite so super any more now that it can only read disks. It's barely had any use and now that seems to be defunct too.

So, I'm switching to a Mac, and am willing to spend quite a bit of money to do it. Though, I have quite a few questions before I make the switch; could you guys help?


1. I'm going to buy an iMac. Will I notice any difference between the 2.8GHz and the 3.06GHz model?

2. Will I notice a big difference between the 256mb and the 512mb in the graphics card?

3. What in god's name does a Mac Mini do? Xserve?

4. What's the difference between AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme, besides price? Is Extreme just plain better?

5. What do the ethernet ports do on the AirPort Extreme? Like, is that where you'd plug in your printer to it, and then be able to print to that printer from anywhere in the house? Do I need to plug that into my computer to use it? How good is the range on the Extreme?

6. I'm going to buy either a Macbook, or a Macbook Pro. My only worry with the Macbook (I could care less about the specs, the 2.4GHz model does everything I want x10) but the screen size scares me. I have an HP Compaq laptop right now, at 15" (cost me about $500 for 2GHz and 2GB of RAM, heh) will I notice a big difference between changing to a 13"? I'm sort of doubting I'll care much about the 2" difference, anyone else make the change and have some advice? On the bright side, it would be more portable, right?

7. When buying a Macbook/iMac, does iLife automatically come with it? What about iWork? iWork is a lot better than Microsoft Office, right? Especially Pages.

8. Why should I buy an AppleTV? Can anyone recommend it? The one thing I don't understand about it, is do I buy the movie ON the actual television from iTunes, or do I buy it on iTunes on my computer, and 'send'/stream it to my AppleTV? Is it worth the price, and is there better devices to do this?

9. In regards to the Apple Keyboard. I'm not sure whether or not to buy the wireless, or ... wired ... model. With the wired model, it seems to have a lot more keys (number pad, etc.) is that a handicap, do you wireless users miss it? I know it uses batteries, how often do you have to replace them, I don't want to have to replace the batteries in my keyboard excessively.

10. In regards to the Mighty Mouse. Again, wired or wireless? I'd definitely go with wireless, but the same question I must pose again, does the battery go quite quickly? Like, how many days? What do the buttons on the side of the mouse do - back and forward? Can I right click with it, like I would a normal microsoft mouse?

11. For us old Windows users, does the lack of 'our delete' get annoying? I kinda doubt CTRL+Delete is that annoying, but... yeah.

12. Is there anyway to COMPLETELY maximize the current program running? Like, I know the plus button fits it to the screen, but I'd like it to completely fill the screen like on Windows, can I do this?

13. Would you recommend a Time Capsule? If I buy one of these, do I need an AirPort Extreme?

14. Should I buy refurbished, or from a third-party retailer like MacMall? How do I get the educational discount working on the Canadian site?

15. Do I get a free printer with my iMac purchase?

16. It kicks the crap out of Vista/Windows 7, right? (Mac OS X, that is - especially with Snow Leopard.) It's just a better OS, right? Like, more stable, obviously, almost no viruses (how often does a virus come up?), and a lot more visually pleasing, especially with the dock and the like.

17. For an average Windows user, will I have a lot of compatibility problems switching to a Mac?

18. Do I get a mac e-mail address (@me.com, right?) free? Or do I need MobileMe?

19. What in god's name does Firewire do? Do I really need it? Can I hook up my Macbook( Pro) to a display without it? Will I have compatibility issues hooking it up?

20. What does the Option, Command and Apple key do?

21. Can I open Microsoft Office documents (word, powerpoint, etc.) just for viewing if I don't have Microsoft Office 2008 installed?

22. Is it true that Mac OS X requires 2-4x the RAM of a Vista computer? How much RAM will I need to effectively use a Mac? How much does a gig of RAM cost, I assume I shouldn't buy it from Apple?

23. Convince me why gloss > matte/is suitable. :P

24. Does the iMac/Macbook models get really hot/fans get really loud?

25. What's overclocking mean?

26. Is iPhoto and iMovie as easy to use as they say?

27. How good are the iMac speakers/will I need another kind?

28. Should I get a carrying case, do they scratch easy?

29. How do I turn the iMac on?

30. Big difference between SSD and HDD? DDR2 and DDR3?

THANKS! I may add more after. I know this is a lot of questions but I greatly appreciate it, and it should be fairly easy for a seasoned OS Xer.

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