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While basically being a Windows OS guy, mostly because one can get more value for the money especially when buying used on E-Bay, I bought a dated 2005 Mac Mini just to experience the apple operating system, OS X 10.4, and to open the machine and study the engineering.. Bought a basic 1.33Ghz, 40GB, 500MB Ram unit. The operating system is complete, including basically all needed programs like Browser, Word processing, Spreadsheet, Music recording (Garage band) and many more. To load additional software just place it into a folder on the hard drive and done. No tedious loading, restarting the machine and changing the registry, and resolving the little problems windows PC's always seem to throw at you. OSX is just great, and I would love to run it on one of my IBM Thinkpads, if it were legal. The system came with the apple keyboard and mouse in acrylic which feel just wonderful sold, and with a very short cable of the mouse plugging directly into the keyboard, reducing cable clutter. Unfortunately my mouse does not scroll and right click. The system looks sleek and takes up very little space. Though dated and a bit slow, I love it. Cons: 1) Apple makes it very difficult to upgrade the machine (there are detailed guides on the internet though). I managed to open mine without scratching the underside, but you need to work extremely careful. The memory can be removed easily, but to get to the hard drive, which is sitting under the optical drive, basically the whole unit has to be disassembled, removing and keeping track of many small screws, not user friendly at all and just designed to generate business for apple stores and cost the customer money. 2)The HD failed in a second unit I bought, and many units with a bad HD are offered on E-Bay. Looks like the laptop HD used is not up to the desktop task for longer periods of time. Using a desk top hard drive would have increased size and weight only slightly, but would have resulted in a faster more reliable machine. Actually internet searches seem to indicate that apple machines do require repairs quite frequently and it seems more often then for instance IBM laptops (which i collect). What you pay premium $ for at Apple is the beauty of design and ease of the operating system, not necessarily reliability.Read full review
I purchased this for my young son, as I had a monitor and extra keyboard and mouse already. I upgraded the ram, and put in a 160 gig hard drive, and then installed 10.5 on this, along with several other programs. With a usb hub, a Newertech wireless usb adaptor, my son is sharing our wireless network, and also making music with his guitar and garage band. It's an easy machine to update, and perfect for a kid's room, with the small amount of space it uses. I got a great deal as well, on ebay! I also purchase another used g4 for my other son, and did the same to it. Who can afford a new computer for their kids anyhow? As another reviewer mentioned, this machine is still great, and if it keeps my kids off my computer, I am happy.
I bought this machine because I wanted a small machine to use as a "headless" server that I could pop onto my network and physically forget about. This does just that. I love how quiet and non-invasive it is. There is only one little light on the front of it and none on the back. The fan inside is almost inaudible in a normal living environment. With Apple supported DVI converters to VGA & HDMI on the market, attaching it to my television for local console use was very easy. One thing to note is that since HDMI can very easily go over the capability of the video card, it's best to keep it at 1280x960 or the video card will overheat and stop functioning until the machine is off for 30 or so minutes to cool it down. This is a technology issue and not this machines issue since the HDMI functionality wasn't available when it came out an only exists now as a convenience. With 1GB of RAM, the G4 processor is great for non-intensive processing like iTunes, web surfing, network file sharing, etc, where an Intel processor with modern chip speed/style would be an overkill. I use this as a centralized iTunes server for my house. Being a RISC processor means it will remain cooler than most any machine.Read full review
Let me preface this review by stating that my primary desktop is a late 2009 iMac, and my kids use a late 2009 Mac Mini at their house (nuclear family). I am in the technology field and a Microsoft OS guy since 1992, but have given up on MS for home use due to constant maintenance, upgrades, and issues. RDP to my terminal server at work is enough for me. I bought this G4 Mac Mini as a second home PC for my kids to use, and to keep them off my iMac. I was a bit hesitant because I knew this was the original Mac Mini and the specs were not impressive (1.25ghz, G4 processor). The unit has been upgraded to 1GB RAM so i figured it might be enough. After a fresh OS install, a few Apple software updates, and adding VLC and Adobe, this machine works better than expected. It runs Safari 4 and iTunes Home Sharing at the same time and the performance is great. I know that Tiger may be a bit dated and not supported by some, but the interface is consistent and the operating system is solid. If I get a few years out of this box it could possibly be the best money I have ever spent. I have it connected to a Dell 24" LCD and Dell 2.1 Surround Sound that turned this into a bedroom room home theatre system that runs virtually silent and generates no heat. I just picked up another Mac Mini G4 1.42 with a superdrive, BT, and Airport for our sunroom (iTunes, internet radio, Pandora, etc.) which should complete my home network and computer needs for now. PaulB Watertown CTRead full review
While the G4 is an older MacMini it is still well suited for being a home media server, as well as allowing for web browsing on you tv and it will even play DVD's for those lacking player. IT does have a few draw backs. It is a power pc processor so software support is leaving or is gone so you will need older software in many cases. Yes you can use a DVI to HMDI cable to view on an HD TV but some of desktop will be outside of the viewing area. Use a VGA adaptor if the HMDI adaptor does not display properly for you.
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