more questions from a newbie

[wogboy]

thanks to everyone who answered my previous post.

Now, I am "this" close to getting a mac mini. Just need some extra advice.

I am trying to decide whether to buy the mini with a superdrive, or to invest in an external dvd drive. Which would be a better investment. All I want to do is watch DVD's (of varying region codes), burn cd's/mp3's and created DVD's from digital camera footage. I've read that I-tunes doesn't recognise external drives. Is this true? Any ways around it?

If going for an external drive, which would people suggest. I'm considering a Lacie, but apparently the ASUS is Mac compatible and half the price (here in New Zealand)

thanks in advance for any help.

regards

Luigi

[obewan]

I ordered a 1.42 with a Superdrive this morning. I figured it's of less hassle to just get a dvd pre-installed. You might be right though that an external drive is the better investment because you can bring it with you down the line or switch it between systems. SInce you are a new Mac user I say get the Superdrive! JMHO

[53buick]

[numediaman]

I like external drives, but I won't talk you out of ordering a SuperDrive.

iTunes has always recognized external drives (as far as I know) -- the problem has always been iDVD. But with the newest version of iDVD externals are now (for the most part) supported. If you go external, stick with name brands. I have LaCie drives and am very happy with them. I also have an old Yamaha drive that has always performed -- but that was back in the SCSI days (it's hooked up to an eight year old 8600 PM.)

I also don't care for Apple's slot loading drives -- but a lot of Mac fanatics love them. (I find them loud and touchy.)

In the end, you may want the SuperDrive simply because it is a relatively inexpensive upgrade when ordering direct from Apple.

Verdict: can't go wrong either way. Since I already have externals, I ordered my mini with Airport & Bluetooth, as well as 512 RAM. I would have gone with 1 gig of RAM but the price was too high (IMO) -- but a week or so later Apple dropped the price. Had I to do it over, I might have gone with the gig of RAM.
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Mini arrived 2-11-05. Apple customer since 1982.

[chip5]

Get the Superdrive but if your looking for a good external drive check out the http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10502 its a nice drive. My brother owns it and I would recommend it. If your worried about burning iTunes to an external drive don't and no matter what you'll always have the combo drive in the mini.

[billabong]

[Hoffer]

I got the 1.42 with superdrive. I bought a 12" PowerBook 2+ years back without superdrive. I kicked myself after a month or 2 because of it. I won't make the same mistake again.

[numediaman]

I must say that I can't stand the drives in the PowerBook -- but the drive in the mini is very nice. While its noisier than the drives you will find in the G5, its pretty quiet compared to my PB.

If you do get an external LaCie, please remember to get the latest driver. One of my unpleasant surprises was when I found that my mini "did not support" my LaCie DVD burner. The problem, of course, was that I needed the new driver LaCie posted in January. Now everything is fine and I can finally use iDVD.

For the record, the only problem so far with my mini involves audio. I suspect we will start seeing topics on this very soon. The problem is both with the mini and the new GarageBand. (That's what they call a tease.)
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Mini arrived 2-11-05. Apple customer since 1982.

[devo]

[numediaman]

The issue is when you are recording audio in. I use an iMic and have successfully recorded using just about every type of software on my PB. But things blew up on my mini.

I have started a couple topics on this on the Apple site. But basically this is where I am right now: if I record using GarageBand2 I get loud pops during the recording process -- they start at about the 30 second mark. Strangely, these loud pops can be heard and "seen" in the sound wave GB creates. But when I press stop, the sound wave is re-drawn and there are no pops/spikes in the sound pattern.

I downloaded something called CoreAudio Manager -- this did not end the issue -- only changed it. Now I get even louder pops in GB2, but they start at the 60 second mark. I believe this is a mini issue -- not a GB2 issue.

I downloaded a little recording software package from Griffin called Final Vinyl and have had good results so far.

My audio out is fine -- and all my video software (iMovieHD, iDVD and Final Cut Express) all work fine. By the way, with my new mini I bought Soundsticks2 speakers. Now my audio out isn't good -- it's amazing!
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Mini arrived 2-11-05. Apple customer since 1982.

[James T. Kirk©]