Thanks, Emily. I am considering moving on/up but am
pondering how far I need to since I am not in the business
anymore. Just a retired pro photographer who treats it like a
hobby now. The Mini has served me well but it won't keep up
anymore I don't think. Maybe a laptop is the way to go.
Thanks to those who have weighed in on the drive experience
issue. One point I would like to make is that I always check and
swap out cables first when something appears to have failed. That
seems like a given. I have found that the ports on the enclosures
seem to be weak spots. I have been using one brand of enclosure
for a while because it fits neatly under the Mini but I have had
repeated failures with those lately. They have always been
promptly replaced with no data loss but I think I had better look
elsewhere. Also no cheap imports from eBay sellers overseas!
Don
On 12/15/10 7:26 AM, Emily L. Ferguson wrote:
At 6:39 AM -0600 12/15/10, Don Roberts wrote:
Currently, a G4 Mac Mini running OS
10.4.11. Trying to decide future hardware route.
I just got a MacBook Pro on eBay for $650. 2.2.mHz, 120G HD, 2G
RAM. FW 400, 800, 2USB ports, Ethernet, old style external video
port. 2007 model.
Came with Leopard installed. The reseller was in Allston, a
"suburb" of Boston. It arrived before they got to sending me the
tracking code! Came with OS discs for Leopard and Tiger. But I
had already upgraded my G4 Powerbook to Leopard.
I'm currently running my Time Machine drive on the FW 400, my
external drive on the FW 800, have keyboard, printer, Wacom and
trackball on USB, CF card reader (FW400) is daisy chained off my
external drive. I run a 22" external monitor as well.
A few days of testing and everything seems to be running properly.
It's not a particularly loaded Mac, no monster HD or blindingly
fast processor. The improvement over the G4 is obvious. however,
and maxing out the RAM would make another big step in improvement.
I suspect I'll use this Mac for a year, maybe longer, before
repeating the routine annual trip to eBay to see what's out there.
You might consider moving on from your Mini, especially if you
have an acquaintance who might be delighted to take it off your
hands. I have bought my last 4 Macs from eBay resellers and both
my camera bodies as well.
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