Thread: Never considdered Mac, but mini looks interesting.

Originally Posted by thrmaln

How well does the Mac Mini handle road shock? What power supply and shutoff controllers are most using on the mini? What about front ends?

Well, I think ‘road handling’ is pretty well since it’s compact and uses a 2.5” laptop HDD. More and more people are using Mini these days and the number of complains compare to the number of users are pretty less, as far as I can understand.

For the power supply, CNX-P1900 is the most popular and most promising at the moment.
Front end is a bit story; every day people are coming with new developments but I can’t see anyone has actually finished yet. That’s the only drawback.

Oh one other thing, if I have a home PC that is Windows based and a carputer that is MAC will I have compatability issues with transfering files over WIFI between each, or even talking to each other?

There is no compatibility as long as its just transferring file is concern. With minimum networking & Samba knowledge things should be okay. (apple+k to initiate the connection). You can even use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. Visit Mactopia for more info. I was a Linux/Unix user for past 9 years and started using Mac since 4 years. I use Mac + Windows Server 2003 + Linux without (almost) any problem. Only RHEL sometimes complains about Samba but that’s not your case.

Hope that helps. Good luck!!!

No problems with road shock. I have an Acura Integra with pretty stiff springs and it gets really rough at times especially with the bad roads in cleveland, oh. It is true there aren't any good complete frontends, but it depends on what you want to do with your system. I use it mainly for music. I use iTunes and a program called coverflow. It is great for sorting through a huge music library as you can look at the cover art for each album. Google earth works for mac now and it is great for mapping out a course if you are going somewhere and need directions. I have always used windows too and Mac wasn't that hard to get used to. I don't know much about transferring files over wifi. The airport gets fairly good range with my home wireless network if I need to get something off the net I can sit in my garage. I usually just burn a DVD-RW if I want to transfer files though. The CNX-P1900 is the way to go for power supplies, it works great. Go for the mini get the CNX a screen and your set. Make sure to get the adaptor for the power button. You can find a lot of info about hooking up the mini at the mp3car store. Good luck and have fun.

I'm thinking about the same thing and I'm in the same boat as thrmaln. Do you guys see any battery or altenator problems when your Mac goes in sleep mode?

Also, I read that Front Row seems to be popular... is that the "standard" as far as front ends go until something purpose-built for cars comes out?

Thanks

Haven't had any battery or alternator problems and my integra has a pretty small battery. As long as you drive it every couple days it should be fine. As for front row, it looks cool but is hard to sort through a big library of music without a keyboard. I just have a griffin powermate hooked up and it takes forever to scroll to the artists or albums that start with s or t and on.