Monday, September 18, 2006
The Costco Mac Mini bundle
My mom's computer -- a bulbous six-year-old iMac my late father nicknamed the "Flying Purple People Eater" -- was doing fine for her, but not for me. Mom does just two things on the computer: send and receive email, and writing for her writing group. These are two activities a MacOS 8.5 (!) machine is just fine for. But for me, remembering how to support those old apps and that old OS was getting harder and harder. So, when I saw a Mac Mini bundle at Costco for $499, I snapped it up. (I had seen reports of these online for a while -- but at the price of $699.)
The bundle includes a 1.5-ghz G4 Mac Mini, a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, a package of AppleCare, and iLife '06. I gave mom the new computer, but kept the goodies for myself!
Actually: I'm not yet using the wireless keyboard, and I'm a trackball guy so the mouse is going to go unused, but the iLife is already loaded on my Mini (I wanted iWeb, mostly) and I'm going to see if Apple notices when I apply the AppleCare to my Mini instead of Mom's. (Don't tell.)
Moving her AppleWorks word-processing documents to the new Mini was easy, using a USB thumbdrive. The only small complication is that the new version of AppleWorks insists on upgrading the documents when she opens them.
Moving her Email was tougher. Her old machine used Outlook Express 5.something, and OS X Mail could have converted its data automatically -- IF both programs had been on the same machine, and if that machine had the Classic environment. (Zero-for-two.) So I moved the Outlook Express "Main Identity" folder to the new machine (using the thumbdrive again), and migrated it to the free trial version of Entourage that was on the Mini. Entourage converted the mail in about 30 seconds. Then I opened Apple Mail, and asked to migrate from Entourage to it. The conversion process took some 20 minutes, but every file (going back to December 2000) converted perfectly, at least according to the spot-check I did. Thanks to the always-brilliant Kirk van Druten for suggesting this route.
So now mom's set up for a while, I've got iWeb and (cross your fingers) a few years of AppleCare on my Mini, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse to use or sell -- all for five hundred bucks.
I've read the grumblings on message boards about these Costco bundles. People say that Apple wasn't doing anybody any favors by unloading these close-out machines through Costco. I beg to differ. I think I got a bargain.
And I especially appreciate Microsoft providing the free email migration tool.
The bundle includes a 1.5-ghz G4 Mac Mini, a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, a package of AppleCare, and iLife '06. I gave mom the new computer, but kept the goodies for myself!
Actually: I'm not yet using the wireless keyboard, and I'm a trackball guy so the mouse is going to go unused, but the iLife is already loaded on my Mini (I wanted iWeb, mostly) and I'm going to see if Apple notices when I apply the AppleCare to my Mini instead of Mom's. (Don't tell.)
Moving her AppleWorks word-processing documents to the new Mini was easy, using a USB thumbdrive. The only small complication is that the new version of AppleWorks insists on upgrading the documents when she opens them.
Moving her Email was tougher. Her old machine used Outlook Express 5.something, and OS X Mail could have converted its data automatically -- IF both programs had been on the same machine, and if that machine had the Classic environment. (Zero-for-two.) So I moved the Outlook Express "Main Identity" folder to the new machine (using the thumbdrive again), and migrated it to the free trial version of Entourage that was on the Mini. Entourage converted the mail in about 30 seconds. Then I opened Apple Mail, and asked to migrate from Entourage to it. The conversion process took some 20 minutes, but every file (going back to December 2000) converted perfectly, at least according to the spot-check I did. Thanks to the always-brilliant Kirk van Druten for suggesting this route.
So now mom's set up for a while, I've got iWeb and (cross your fingers) a few years of AppleCare on my Mini, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse to use or sell -- all for five hundred bucks.
I've read the grumblings on message boards about these Costco bundles. People say that Apple wasn't doing anybody any favors by unloading these close-out machines through Costco. I beg to differ. I think I got a bargain.
And I especially appreciate Microsoft providing the free email migration tool.
