Why a Mac Mini?

I'm a professional software engineer by day, paying the rent as a software architect doing embedded software at Sun Microsystems. Many years ago I abandoned the Microsoft world and pursued alternatives for my day to day evironment. For me this means a Linux environment, currently Fedora Core 3, as my primary place of business. For my family, including my wife, sixteen year old daughter, and twenty year old son this means Mac OS X. My wife and daughter have iBooks, one G3, one G4. My son has a 12" Powerbook. They all use Mac OS X as their only compute evironment. From time to time I have used Mac OS X, including desktops and laptops, but I find myself migrating back to Linux for compatibility with what I do at work.

I use a homebuilt x86 system for my Linux machine. It has 512MB RAM, a 160GB hard disk, 2.53Ghz Celeron processor, basic Intel motherboard with integrated graphics, and a DVD Burner. I used an Antec case and for a PC it is relatively quiet, but far from silent. I spend most of my day in Firefox, Evolution,Star Office, ggv, and at the bash prompt. I don't play games, use IM, do much graphics work, etc. The x86 system is more than adequate. I work from home almost 100% of the time, so I use this machine for my work as well as my personal stuff.

Why bother with a Mac Mini? The theory is that it is sufficient to do what I do on a daily basis, while taking up much less space, generating far less heat, and making much less noise. Plus it's cool. I started this blog to record my thoughts and experience as I see about using the Mac Mini as my primary environment.