a newbie needs advice on purchasing a macmin

[wogboy]

Hi everyone,

so glad to find this forum. I am currently seriously wanting to purchase a macmini but have a few questions, so I'm hoping you can give me a helping hand.

I've been using an old 333mhz imac and there is no point trying to upgrade it. The main uses I want to get out of my mac are:

ripping and burning cd's
burning dvd's of family home movies done on digital camera
watch dvd's
use an ipod, or ishuffle
surf the net, email, etc

So, what I'm asking really is, will the minimac suit my needs.

A couple of other considerations I need to make are regarding my budget. Here in New Zealand the 1.25 combo drive costs NZ$949. The superdrive costs around $1321, another $400 dollars. However, I could get an external 16x Dual Layer DVD writer for $448.

And, one last question, regarding external DVD writers for mac's. I've seen a number of PC/Mac compatible DVD writers on the market, that are cheaper than the mac only DVD writers. Firstly, would they work with a minimac and, would the software be usable or would I have to buy Toast 6, which is bundled with the mac only DVD writer.

Sorry, I know there are a lot of questions, but I thought I'd get them out of the way. Thanks in advance for any help.

regards

Luigi

[idave]

"ripping and burning cd's
burning dvd's of family home movies done on digital camera
watch dvd's
use an ipod, or ishuffle
surf the net, email, etc"

I think the mini would be perfect for everything you stated. I have the 1.42 and do basically all the same things you want to do. You should just go ahead and get the Superdrive for 100 bucks more and don't even think of havng anything less than 512mb ram. Oh yea your in New Zeland forgot so I have no idea of the pricing there. Well you could get an external DVD and use iDVD. If you have any more questions let me know. I've had my mini now for two weeks and have no regrets on the purchase.
_________________
14" 1.25GHz G4 iBook (died)
1.42GHz Mac mini (almost dead)
1.66GHz Core Duo Mac mini (sold)
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini '09 (sold)
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Mac mini

[andp]

Are you new to OSX?

[wogboy]

no, i've been running osX on my imac.

[wogboy]

thanks idave.

Another question regarding DVD writers. I read that the Superdrive is limited 2 five regions then it stays on the last region selected. Is this likely to be the same with external DVD writers?

[idave]