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Refurb mac mini

adamcarvell

adamcarvell

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 15, 2013
349
31
warwickshire england
Hi ordered a i7 256sdd 2012 mac mini coming on thursday was going to order the 2014 i5 max out the ram and add a ssd but chise the i7 instead i can add the ram at a later date have i made the right choice ?.
When it arrives how do i transfer movies over from a win 7 pc . Connect the pc speaker sytem its a creative labs six speaker set up with three 3.5 jacks.
Also the software i use are vlc gomplayer winrar opera and uttorent will thease be fine to use on the mac mini ?. Or are there better alternatives that would do the same job ?. Btw its my first ever mac.
 
The easiest way to transfer data is to use Dropbox/OneDrive or using an external drive formatted to exFat.
 
adamcarvell said:
Would it be possible to format my external to mac then load my win 7 pc back up and just drag and drop the files over then reconect the mac mini ?.
Click to expand...

If you want to use this method, you'll need to format that both the windows and Mac machine can read/write to such as exFAT, as mentioned by maflynn.
 
adamcarvell said:
Also the software i use are vlc gomplayer winrar opera and uttorent will thease be fine to use on the mac mini ?. Or are there better alternatives that would do the same job ?. Btw its my first ever mac.
Click to expand...

I too switched to Mac in the last year or so and here are the alternatives that I found I like better.

VLC --> MPlayerX
winrar --> The Unarchiver
utorrent --> Transmission
 
I keep my music on an external NAS drive so that wan't really a problem.
Just map the existing drive to the new Mac.
Other docs and stuff I just copied to an external USB3 drive and then copied it back to the Mac.
 
adamcarvell said:
what type of speakers do people use with there mac mini I have a http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=SPC-IT6100
creative labs Inspire T6100 5.1 Channel Speaker System used for my pc but I don't think I can use them with the mac mini ?. I might to get an alternative any recommendations.
Click to expand...

I don't see why your existing system wouldn't work with the mini. The mini has an audio line out/headphone minijack that supports digital and analog.
 
Thinking of buying the wired apple keyboard to compliment my mac mini dint need a wireless one are they any good ?. Was going to use the usb port on it for the mouse is that ok also ?.
 
adamcarvell said:
Thinking of buying the wired apple keyboard to compliment my mac mini dint need a wireless one are they any good ?. Was going to use the usb port on it for the mouse is that ok also ?.
Click to expand...

The full-sized Apple keyboard is excellent. It is a real computer keyboard as opposed to the BT keyboard which is really a laptop keyboard. It is nice to have all they keys available, especially both Deletes and the 10 key numbers. Also for Windows work it has two Control keys.
 
scottsjack said:
The full-sized Apple keyboard is excellent. It is a real computer keyboard as opposed to the BT keyboard which is really a laptop keyboard. It is nice to have all they keys available, especially both Deletes and the 10 key numbers. Also for Windows work it has two Control keys.
Click to expand...

the usb work well with a wireless mouse ? or the magicmouse ? like free up a usb port on the mac mini ok ?.
 
Create & Solve Some Small Problems First!

adamcarvell said:
...should i upgrade to yosemite reading some of the opinions on here im unsure first ever mac so have nothing to compare it to ?.
Click to expand...

No! Use it the way that you got it for a while. Get accustomed to Mavericks as you begin learning OS X. Set up Time Machine or some other backup solution and get used to your new computer before making major changes. Yosemite can wait. In fact, Yosemite will almost certainly get better with time.
:apple:
 
Celerondon said:
No! Use it the way that you got it for a while. Get accustomed to Mavericks as you begin learning OS X. Set up Time Machine or some other backup solution and get used to your new computer before making major changes. Yosemite can wait. In fact, Yosemite will almost certainly get better with time.
:apple:
Click to expand...
Tried to set up time machine last night on my WDMycloud NAS drive last night but it wouldnt work for some reason kept looking fir airport?.
 
adamcarvell said:
Tried to set up time machine last night on my WDMycloud NAS drive last night but it wouldnt work for some reason kept looking fir airport?.
Click to expand...

Yep. It took me a bit to get my Seagate Goflex Home working at first. Now it is transparent and trouble-free. Even my recent update to Yosemite proceeded without a hitch.

Take your time and do adequate research. Try not to rely on just one source for information. Even the manufacturers can have outdated comments or suggestions available along with the newer current information.

Do you have everything connected by Ethernet? At first I ran Time Machine across WiFi and that was slow and less reliable. My GoFlex home was connected directly to the router but the Mac had a wireless network connection. Now everything is Gigabit fast. It might be a good idea to try a direct connection at first even if you plan to use a WiFi link in your backup system.

How is your NAS hard drive formatted? Which router are you using? I don't recognize that Airport error message. It sounds like your NAS is not yet mounted and forcing Time Machine to look for a target drive. Perhaps some other forum user will know what it means.
 
Celerondon said:
Yep. It took me a bit to get my Seagate Goflex Home working at first. Now it is transparent and trouble-free. Even my recent update to Yosemite proceeded without a hitch.

Take your time and do adequate research. Try not to rely on just one source for information. Even the manufacturers can have outdated comments or suggestions available along with the newer current information.

Do you have everything connected by Ethernet? At first I ran Time Machine across WiFi and that was slow and less reliable. My GoFlex home was connected directly to the router but the Mac had a wireless network connection. Now everything is Gigabit fast. It might be a good idea to try a direct connection at first even if you plan to use a WiFi link in your backup system.

How is your NAS hard drive formatted? Which router are you using? I don't recognize that Airport error message. It sounds like your NAS is not yet mounted and forcing Time Machine to look for a target drive. Perhaps some other forum user will know what it means.
Click to expand...
its all connected via ethernet both mac mini and nas and i can open the files in the nas ok on the mac mini.
 
seemed to have set the NAS up but one problem i have is my external WDblack drive that i download to asks for password every time then fails to download due to permissions ?. how can i just download straight to it please.
i am the only one in the house that uses the computer yet it ask for passwords in finder also . now that i have set up wd my could as timeshare it won't let me delete the timeshare folder on my other external drive i don't have permissions ? i knew how to do it in win7 but lost on osx ?.
 
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