MAC MINI-Size isn't Everything, or the Smaller, the Better

The little box I'm holding in my hand isn't a "box o' chocolates" or a fruitcake tin. I have a new computer! And I have to brag a little. When I made my 1543-mile drive from Orange County to Iceberg Country, my e-Machine rested on the back seat, wrapped in towels and packed inside its shipping box, wedged among with my printer, scanner, and monitor. When I unpacked and reassembled it, it didn't appear to have survived the trip very well; the screen had developed a very obvious tremor, it took anywhere from five to seven minutes to simply boot and switching from one website to another was a nightmare.

In desperation, I admitted there was only one thing to do-and in keeping with my promise to my son-I decided to buy a Mac this time around. With his advice, I chose a Mac-Mini, and thus far, I've had very few problems. Of course, I've had to learn Mac procedures and forgot the PC machinations I've done for the past 30 years, but this old dog can learn new tricks, you better believe it! At the moment, I'm struggling with learning how to make movies with I-Movie (after having finally mastered Window Movie Maker's many quirks and glitches.) But-don't worry-I'll conquer it, just like I did WMMV!

Let me tell you some of the Mini's finer points. According to Apple, it's the greenest Mac Mini yet. It has wireless connectivity-my old wireless printer, keyboard, and mouse work fine with it, as does my scanner. The only thing I have to buy is a new camera. Anyone want to buy a barely-used Logitech Webcam?

Remember when computers were so big they had to have a room of their own, which had to be refrigerated to keep them from overheating? The Mini measures 6.5 insures square and is 2 inches tall. It weighs 6.4 pounds. It also (according to the Amazon description) has a 2.0 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo and a 120 gigabyte hard drive with 1 gigabyte of RAM. (This is good, I've been told.) I've certainly got more room on my desk top now, and no more crawling under the desk to fiddle with the computer tower when it vibrates itself loose and disconnects. It also has 5 USB ports.

These are its other features as well, which only those computer geeks amongst us will understand, but I don't though I'm told they're all good. In deference to the computer-illiterate among us, I won't enumerate them.

And when I turn it on? No bending over--just a touch of the finger-and Presto! It's up and running. I'm still adjusting to that, expecting it to take the almost-ten minutes the other one did, which generally leaves me sitting there staring into space while the computer's booted up in four seconds and waiting for me to wake up and notice it.

All in all, I'm happy as a clam with my new toy.