Posted by jonathan
on March 09, 2006
I just ordered 2 Gigs in 2 x 1 Gig SODIMMS from Other World Computing. Sadly I managed to SNAFU my billing address, it was still set up as my old apartment, and by the time I got it sorted out, I was to discover that the memory is on backorder.
Well, I am not particularly surprised, as the Mac mini in standard 512 Meg form really struggles when running more than a few applications. In particular the Adobe Lightroom Beta really crawls along, and it’s the only app I can use for dealing with lots of RAW camera files. I’m sure that Lightroom *is* slow, being a beta and all, but it runs pretty decently on my 12″ Powerbook with 1.25 Gigs, so it should fly on my mini once I get it hooked up with the memory.
Posted by jonathan
on March 04, 2006
I am really pleased that Microsoft Remote Desktop runs happily on my Intel-based mini. I just downloaded RDC 1.0.3 from here [macupdate.com] and it started, configured and worked first time accessing my company desktop over secure VPN.
This is great because this software lets me access my Windows desktop, Outlook, and Issue database out of hours, which is really useful to me.
Performance seemed pretty similar to my Powerbook, maybe just a hair slower. Let’s hope that Microsoft provide a universal binary for RDC in the not too distant future.
Posted by jonathan
on March 04, 2006
Had another day of yard work today. The last few weeks in Houston have been quite wet, and it’s hard to get an opportunity to do anything to the garden.
Anyway, today we managed to get some weeding in the beds, and get the lawns all mowed and nice.
Somewhat against the advice of Meredith’s mom we hit the local pawnshop and bought a little $60 gas mower. Yard crews cost upwards of $100/month, and that’s only when you can induce them to actually show up, so the mower will have paid for itself just after mowing the lawn just a couple of times. If it lasts the summer, then we’ll think about getting something better next year.
Meredith managed to start the mower, and enjoyed a brief ‘mow’ around the backyard.
Posted by jonathan
on March 04, 2006
I picked up one of the new Mac Minis on Thursday night. I picked the 1.66 Core Duo version with the 80Gig HD and superdrive (DL burning).
So far, it’s very impressive. It’s hooked up to a Hitachi 751 19″ monitor that I picked up for $25 from ABB as they are upgrading to lcd panels.
As usual, the Apple packaging is great, and the shiny plastic wrapped little box sat snugly in the protective polystyrene. It wasn’t the work of but 10 minutes to connect everything up and join the network.
So far, the performance is great, and all the software has run fine, even my Pantone Huey software that I use for color profiling the display. The only tiny glitch is that iPhoto brought up the adjustments panel at the bottom left of the display where I couldn’t find it which was pretty frustrating until I managed to jigger with the display resolutions and get it back where I could find it again.
The performance is great, and will be even better once I boost the memory up to 1 Gig. I already used iPhoto to print a couple of pictures and my Epson Stylus 780 was recognized flawlessly and just appeared as my printer pretty much exactly when I plugged it in.
