Mac mini - One week of ownership

[JohnE121]

At the beginning of the year, I decided it was time to replace my old Windows computer which I built 13 years ago. When Windows 10 was forced upon us a few years ago I was not overly excited about running the worlds biggest pice of spyware and vowed to look at alternative platforms for my next machine. After reading some reviews and watching some YouTube videos, the new Mac mini appeared to be a nifty machine, and it really IS. Also, as a side note, I really like the position Apple has taken on personal privacy. I ordered a 16G mini and received it a week ago. I spent the long weekend converting over to the Mac Platform. The migration assistant worked pretty well but missed a couple of things like my Favorites or Book Marks. I simply exported the Favorites from my Windows machine to an XML file and then imported into Safari. My roadrunner mail connection settings did not work but I used the mail app to set up a new connection and the problem was solved. After doing lots of research and talking to some friends, I was able to configure the Mac to work the way I like and learned that Finder is your best friend. I have been using this machine for a week now, along with my Windows laptop for work and I can honestly say that I love my Mac mini. The only thing I miss about Windows is being able to say WTF after I load a web page and the computer freezes for a minute at 100% CPU then browser says that I need to reload the page.

The Mac mini is not perfect yet. Facebook does not display properly on Safari so I had to load Chrome just to use Facebook. After searching the forums, this seems to be a common complaint. Also my external SSD drive for Time Machine seems to randomly disconnect when the machine goes to sleep after switching over to my other machine on the KVM. I ended up checking the box in power management that prevents the computer from sleeping with the display is turned off. The final problem that I have not found a solution for is HDR display settings. When I set the display to HDR, looking at the desktop or Safari is like starring at the sun. It really hurts the eyes. I really like HDR mode when I am enjoying my free Apple TV+. As a result, I find myself keeping HDR turned off except when I watch TV. Is this normal or is there something I can do to make normal use bearable in HDR?

I can honestly say that I have no regrets or second thoughts about leaving the world of Windows and purchasing my Mac mini. Life is good!

 

[Jimmy James]

Good to hear. I think Apples position on privacy is worth a lot. That you get this level of performance is almost gravy for me. Can’t wait to get mine later this year. I’m also on an old machine.

 

[1240766]

Mini fan here as well!

 

[soonwai]

I'm on day 5 of my Mac Mini M1 and loving every minute of it. Came from a MBPR 15" Late 2013. It still chugs along fine but it's great not to hear that fan anymore.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I'm on day 5 of my Mac Mini M1 and loving every minute of it. Came from a MBPR 15" Late 2013. It still chugs along fine but it's great not to hear that fan anymore.

Quite computing is definitely worth the price of admission.

 

[Apple_Robert]

At the beginning of the year, I decided it was time to replace my old Windows computer which I built 13 years ago. When Windows 10 was forced upon us a few years ago I was not overly excited about running the worlds biggest pice of spyware and vowed to look at alternative platforms for my next machine. After reading some reviews and watching some YouTube videos, the new Mac mini appeared to be a nifty machine, and it really IS. Also, as a side note, I really like the position Apple has taken on personal privacy. I ordered a 16G mini and received it a week ago. I spent the long weekend converting over to the Mac Platform. The migration assistant worked pretty well but missed a couple of things like my Favorites or Book Marks. I simply exported the Favorites from my Windows machine to an XML file and then imported into Safari. My roadrunner mail connection settings did not work but I used the mail app to set up a new connection and the problem was solved. After doing lots of research and talking to some friends, I was able to configure the Mac to work the way I like and learned that Finder is your best friend. I have been using this machine for a week now, along with my Windows laptop for work and I can honestly say that I love my Mac mini. The only thing I miss about Windows is being able to say WTF after I load a web page and the computer freezes for a minute at 100% CPU then browser says that I need to reload the page.

The Mac mini is not perfect yet. Facebook does not display properly on Safari so I had to load Chrome just to use Facebook. After searching the forums, this seems to be a common complaint. Also my external SSD drive for Time Machine seems to randomly disconnect when the machine goes to sleep after switching over to my other machine on the KVM. I ended up checking the box in power management that prevents the computer from sleeping with the display is turned off. The final problem that I have not found a solution for is HDR display settings. When I set the display to HDR, looking at the desktop or Safari is like starring at the sun. It really hurts the eyes. I really like HDR mode when I am enjoying my free Apple TV+. As a result, I find myself keeping HDR turned off except when I watch TV. Is this normal or is there something I can do to make normal use bearable in HDR?

I can honestly say that I have no regrets or second thoughts about leaving the world of Windows and purchasing my Mac mini. Life is good!

Better late than never. Welcome aboard.

As to missing saying "WTF," start reading more and more MacRumors and you will find yourself back in the "WTF" groove.

 

[alien3dx]

sorry to weird. expecting something like keyboard confusion and explorer vs finder.

 

[JohnE121]

ne later this

sorry to weird. expecting something like keyboard confusion and explorer vs finder.

Yes I had some keyboard confusion. That was quickly fixed with the link below and my Brother label maker. As for Finder, I was not able to find my documents and pictures that were transferred over from Windows. I spent an hour on the phone with my Father just learning the basics.





https://osxdaily.com/2018/01/31/use-windows-pc-keyboard-mac-remap-option-command-keys/

 

[drsox]

I've had a Mini for years - used as a headless compute box for intensive tasks. I run it via VNC on an MBA. When the current one is 2 years old I'll also swap it for a M1 version. I already have a M1 MBA.

 

[pldelisle]

At the beginning of the year, I decided it was time to replace my old Windows computer which I built 13 years ago. When Windows 10 was forced upon us a few years ago I was not overly excited about running the worlds biggest pice of spyware and vowed to look at alternative platforms for my next machine. After reading some reviews and watching some YouTube videos, the new Mac mini appeared to be a nifty machine, and it really IS. Also, as a side note, I really like the position Apple has taken on personal privacy. I ordered a 16G mini and received it a week ago. I spent the long weekend converting over to the Mac Platform. The migration assistant worked pretty well but missed a couple of things like my Favorites or Book Marks. I simply exported the Favorites from my Windows machine to an XML file and then imported into Safari. My roadrunner mail connection settings did not work but I used the mail app to set up a new connection and the problem was solved. After doing lots of research and talking to some friends, I was able to configure the Mac to work the way I like and learned that Finder is your best friend. I have been using this machine for a week now, along with my Windows laptop for work and I can honestly say that I love my Mac mini. The only thing I miss about Windows is being able to say WTF after I load a web page and the computer freezes for a minute at 100% CPU then browser says that I need to reload the page.

The Mac mini is not perfect yet. Facebook does not display properly on Safari so I had to load Chrome just to use Facebook. After searching the forums, this seems to be a common complaint. Also my external SSD drive for Time Machine seems to randomly disconnect when the machine goes to sleep after switching over to my other machine on the KVM. I ended up checking the box in power management that prevents the computer from sleeping with the display is turned off. The final problem that I have not found a solution for is HDR display settings. When I set the display to HDR, looking at the desktop or Safari is like starring at the sun. It really hurts the eyes. I really like HDR mode when I am enjoying my free Apple TV+. As a result, I find myself keeping HDR turned off except when I watch TV. Is this normal or is there something I can do to make normal use bearable in HDR?

I can honestly say that I have no regrets or second thoughts about leaving the world of Windows and purchasing my Mac mini. Life is good!

Nice to read that. Most of your "problems" are software issues which will likely be solved through future updates.
I personally don't like migration assistant. I prefer to have full control when switching computers to avoid passing crap from one to another.

 

[mgymnop]

Nice story. I converted to Apple myself one week ago and not looking back to Windows. I got a MBP and I am very happy. It was a big ordeal to transfer all my files but most of it was on one drive (documents etc) so that was easy. I had tons of issues to move stuff from Google (photos and music) to my laptop. But finally everything is transferred. I didn't use the migration assistant though. Never trusted those programs. Love how my iPhone and Mac work together. I hear you not knowing where your transferred files end up and where they should belong. Took me 2 days to figure it out. I transferred 50,000 photos into the pictures folder and was wondering why they never showed up in the photo app. Had to Google that you have to import them into the app.