Well that's really what I am getting at isn't it? I mean, who really wants to take a Mac Mini + keyboard + mouse/trackpad + external screen with them? If you really need portability, you are much better off with a Macbook Pro 13" which you CAN hook to a the 24" screen (I do it all the time).
Who wants to? I do.
I understand your points.
Here are mine
1.
As i said in my last post, i work mainly from home and some times i work away.
2.
Not everywhere i work on the road has a screen, and so i have had to take my 24" monitor with me.
3.
I also don't like a laptop's mouse/track pad (don't know its proper name). I use left and right click and i use a logitech trackman wheel trackball
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOGITECH-..._JoysticksJoypadsGamepads&hash=item19d0cee7d6
Its way faster than a laptops mouse/trackpad. And its brilliant on the road as the mouse stays still you can use it on any surface.
In one hand i have 4 controls. The thumb-ball, the scroll wheel and L/R click.
I use these 4 all the time.
There is now way one hand can keep up with that on a laptops mouse/trackpad.
My left hand is busy with keyboard short cuts.
4.
I use loads of keyboard shortcuts with logic 9. I am used to a full size keyboard, it helps with a rapid work flow. Working with Logic pro 9 in a days work, i make hundreds of edits, i could get used to the small keyboard and laptop style mouse but it would slow me down big time and drive me ********** nuts!
5.
If i had a laptop on the road working up to 8 hours straight, i'd need the power supply. So thats no faster than plugging in the power of a mac mini.
If you really want to be picky the Apple Laptop magsafe adapter and chord are more bulky than the mini's single lead.
6.
Points 3. and 4. mean i will always want a full keyboard and trackball mouse.
Both of them together weigh, bugger all.
And they fit in my laptop bag easy. And it takes me about 10 seconds to connect them and another 10 seconds to disconnect them. Is that a hassle?
I can tell you that over the course of a full days work, that doesn't even enter my world.
7.
Setting up a this Toshiba screen ( if it works ) will take about another 10 seconds to set-up, one USB chord, no biggie for me.
The whole point for me starting this thread is to get some info on the Toshiba 14" USB powered screen, for those occasions that i work away where there isn't a good size monitor, like on stage, recording a band.
8.
The Toshiba screen is roughly the same size as a 13"MBP. The mini is tiny, and mouse and keyboard nothing weight/size, i travel with a ton of music gear sometimes, so again, it doesn't compute with me, how much more bulk i am hauling around with this mini set-up.
9.
Anyway, even if i was just going to a cafe and surfing the web, its going to take an extra minute to set-up and break down the screen, mouse and keyboard, and the mini set-up weighs but a little more.
10.
In my last post i mistakenly said the macmini would cost £1000 with keyboard and mouse.
It actually costs £970. Add the 24" screen, Toshiba 14" USB screen and Optical drive and its total is £1300.00.
If i bought a 24" screen the, 13" MBP with track-ball and full keyboard is going to cost me £1550.00.
11.
Not many people seem to talk about EMF's, electrical magnetic fields.
There is ton's and ton's of info on the web about it.
http://www.emfs.info/ for one.
I notice EMF's when using a laptop. (My wife has a 13"MBP). Not wanting to blast myself with EMF's is a big reason for me also to not use a laptop for hours at a time.
I have hired an EMF meter and have done a lot of my own research into this. Having a relatively strong EMF field within 1 foot of the body all day adds up over the years to a potential health risk.
This thread is not the place to go deep in to this, but it is another reason i went for the mini, to get the main source (the CPU) of EMF's 3 to 4 feet away from the body.
