Before I take the Plunge ...

I am about to purchase a Mac-Mini 1.66GHZ Intel Core Duo (2gig RAM) with the Apple 20" Cinema Display.
Just a few questions before I take the plunge...
I have been reading endless posts surrounding the GMA950 graphics processor and have a quick question for any Photoshop Users / Digital Photographers.
Will the GMA950 compliment the quality of the display in regards to image quality. I rely on screen quality for photographic work. I don't want to purchase an expensive display to be let down by the Mini.
I also run Aperture on my Powerbook (G4 - 2 gig RAM) and intend installing onto the Mac-Mini. Has anyone tried this as the Mac-Mini is not listed in the official system requirements.
Are any of the Macromedia products (mainly Dreamweaver) Universal apps ....
My only other daily usage would be i-Life, Office for Mac, internet etc ....
So the big question is ... will the Mini live up to the task or will I be better suited to an i-Mac ??
Replies appreciated
Jason

I have a mini (and a macbook).
I use Aperture on my Macbook and for comparison I think the machines are so close I can safely say that the mini can and does run Aperture fine. Yes I understand the GPU is under the specifications of what apple states but they don't prohibit from running.
Aperture is one of those applications that really relies on the GPU so performance isn't going to be sellar, but I was pleasently surprised in how it did perform. Its usuable and I use Aperture on my Macbook quite a lot. I have a G5 as my main production machine, but the laptop is used to first hold my images and start editting them.
Here's some Benchmarks that I came across in Macnn. While the test machine is a Macbook, the specifications are so close to the mini you really can gain some knowledge.
The GMA950 really won't be problem with photoshop, its only 3d rendering and core video that the performance starts lagging (when compared to the higher end GPUs) and as I already mentioned I was pleasantly surprised.
I typically shoot in RAW mode, Depending on what I'm doing upload 100 to 500 images into Aperture, do some basic exposure, white balancing and other editing before I export the project.
If your asking would an iMac perform better, well the answer is yes and would your money be better spent on the iMac, I'd also say yes. Would the mini be up to the task, yes it would but you should always go by the old addage, get as much computer as you can afford. The iMac has a superior GPU and you setting youself up for the future better with the iMac.
Mike

Similar Messages

Bloody Macs (ok I might buy one) - Few tips before I take the plunge?

Right despite the frankly incredible price of a mac book pro - I have been using a new imac for the past week on a contract up in London and I have been presuaded that it might be a good idea for me to use one considering y line of work...
now before I drop £2K on a new machine there's a few questions I have that I need to confirm before I make the drop in the next few months.
Files: I have a home server that sits on my network with all of my music, video, documents etc. I use my current Vista laptop's sysnc function so that certain network folders are always available offline, when I get back and log on the network everything syncs together seemlessly. Can I still do this easily on the Mac and just have it as a fire & forget process that just happens every time I hit my own network?
3G - I have a 3G Tmobile modem - any issues with these sort of things?
Phone - My Sony Ericsson mobile syncs to the laptop over bluetooth automatically every time I lift the lid. It syncs contacts, to-do and callendar entries from one to the other with no issues at all - can I do this without having to think about it too much on a Mac?
Email - I'm on Office 2007 at the moment with Outlook 2007 as my Mail client, it handles all of my contacts, emails, calendar functions, and, importantly, my Hotmail account (handles it as a folder just like my POP accounts). How does the Mac handle that sort of thing - well?
Transferring emails in my current Outlook?
Keyboards - can you remap them so the right buttons are in the right place rather than this crazy American way?
Now there are a few reasons why I am thinking of shifting so maybe you could give me some advice on these.
1: I am fed up tinkering with software - really I'm too old and busy to be wondering why the bluetooth has suddenly stopped working and I need to restart, or why network folders of images have suddenly stopped showing thumbnails so I have to open each one individually.
2: Speed - I accidentally opened 14 10MP images in fireworks last night, it took over 2 minutes for the laptop to recover (2Ghz, dual core). What would a Mac do?
3: Weight - the current machine is nicknamed 'The Beast' for a good reason, it's not bad at all but I could probably build a house out of them.
4. sleep - wake time. Vista does a real good job to be hinest of me just shutting the lid and then openng it 10 hours later, I find myself doing it 10 times a day with trains etc. so occasionally I have problems, does the Mac stand up to this sort of abuse?
Thanks for all your help guys - I know there are answers to these things elsewhere - but you lot are all web peoples so your pretty much sitting in the same boat as me
Cheers
Tetsugaku-San
AKA The Tall Designer

Files:
Syncing every time you "hit your network" may be a little ambitious. You may need to launch a script to start a sync. I use the UNIX standard rsync command and it works fine. rsync also works on the Linux servers I run, although one "gotcha" is the difference in Mac files. As a result, rsync is a little more complicated going Mac to Mac. There are many other syncing utilities besides rsync, although rsync in built in to the OS as a shell tool.
3G
Don't know what that is, but I have a T-Mobile Motorola cellphone and I get the cheap $5 per month data access. It is extremely simple to "tether" it to my Mac with Bluetooth or USB and get internet anywhere the cellphone works. Very impressive technology.
Phone
Don't really know. For me it is a matter of opening iSync and clicking the "Sync Devices" button. That may be too much work for you. Can't tell you abut the calendar.
Email
MS Office on Mac is identical to Office on Windows... except it looks a whole lot better. There is no prob importing your old emails. I think you'l feel the urge to find better software once you are set up and using Office. I quit using it 2 years ago.
Keyboards
You can select any keyboard layout you prefer. You should know, however, that the Mac modifier keys are more ergonomically positioned, and it may take some habit-breaking to learn to use them. Whenever I use a Windows keyboard I am astonished at how difficult it is to reach the modifier keys.
<hr>
1: I am fed up tinkering with software
You are probably going to tinker with software in OSX but it is easier and the Unix system is so much more reliable. There is no "Registry" in Mac OS so praise God for that.
network folders of images have suddenly stopped showing thumbnails
I have disabled network thumbnails since that action is so network-intensive. Read here for more.
2: Speed
Ouch. I think the Mac would dutifully open the files. Speed would depend on the app. I have also had frustration in this area. I usually resort to the Force-Quit window to quit the app.
3: Weight
These MBPs are nicely designed, lightweight, compact, durable and beautiful.
4. sleep - wake time
There are currently (Leopard) some problems with waking on the MBP, especially with an external DVI monitor attached. In 10.4 (Tiger) this system worked perfectly. I think you are OK unless you are using an external monitor.

Take the Plunge to G5?

I think I'm ready to take the plunge and buy an iMac G5 (found a very good deal on line). But before I do I need to know a few basics about software and whether much of my current software will be unusable with OS 10.3 or 10.4, in which case replacing the software could make the whole thing too expensive. My question is: with some of the software I now use almost daily (especially Photoshop 4.5, and Microsoft Office 97), will these programs work with OS 10,or does OS 10 require newer versions of these software? Would they work with the "Classic" part of OS 10 if not with OS 10 itself? And is Classic like reverting to OS 9? To move from OS 10 to Classic do you have to reboot or can you make the change while booted up? I know these are very basic questions, but they are ones I will need to know before deciding whether to take the plunge.
HK

none of your OS 9 software will work natively in OS X. OS X is an entirely different operating system.
Photoshop 4.5 is a very old version., so it office 97. They probably could run in the classic environment, but more slowly. You might be better off getting something like photoshop elements and using appleworks (comes with the iMac)
As for how classic works, you don't have to reboot to use it. OS 9 boots up within a window and then operates in the background. When you use an OS 9 program, it will come up in windows that look like the OS 9. Classic programs won't be able to use access all the features that OS X programs can.
Where did you find a good deal on the iMac you are considering. Apple controls pricing pretty well, so if its new, its going to cost about the same everywhere. Anything substantially lower that isn't from a regular retailer should be regarded as suspicious. If its used, make sure it comes with the original system disks.

About to take the plunge... (?)

Me = I've got a 3.5 Year Old iMac 7.1, with 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, about to install a 4 & a 2 GB of 667 MHz RAM to make it a 6GB system. I also have a 500GB internal ATA HD, and a 500GB External HD.
For about a year now, I've been doing some modest website publishing with iWeb for my Family etc... Family Tree Website stuff etc...
I use Reunion Genealogy software as well as iPhoto etc.... I just had to replace my internal HD a couple of weeks ago. Now I am wondering if it's time to take the plunge to Aperture? I have over 4,000 photo's stored on my external that I use and access folders on, and am always updating more etc....
Can anyone make serious reccomendations for a novice user for Aperture 3.0, or should I skip it altogether until they work out their bugs?
I have read so many poor reviews....
I am running Snow Leopard and will not upgrade to Lion until (if) I buy a new Computer....
Thanks,
Brian

2006? Probably the last time I considered using iPhoto.
In iPhoto, can you:
Import, name the files with a custom, batch nameing scheme? Such as Creation Date + Custom Text + Numeric Counter?
Can you store them where you want in folders using the Project/File name you are creating?
Can you move the master files around and rename them as well?
These were some of the file management features that kept me from using iPhoto.
Perhaps there are there now. But when I had looked at it, iPhoto would rename a photo, but you could not change the file's name in Finder. So when you emailed the Photo to someone, it did not have the name you had changed it to in iPhoto.
Also, what does item #10 mean in the following link?
http://www.apple.com/aperture/iphoto-to-aperture/

Stupid question before I take the time to learn to do this

We are frustrated with Captivate's quizzes and would like to
do something a little more flashy and maybe not so quirky. But we
need the interactive output to be a single swf file to upload to
our LMS. If I take the time to learn to create flash quizzes, would
the output be a single swf file? These are just reinforcement
quizzes before they take the real tests on the LMS system that will
be recorded. Please say yes.

Yes
Well almost, if you intend to play them over the web then
you'll need an html wrapper.
Which Flash can provide in Publish Settings.
If you intend to play them offline then all you need is the
swf and a Flash Player.
hope it helps

Time To Take The Plunge

Well, thanks to what seems like a nice opportunity, I am about to take the plunge later today and get a Rev B ( 20", 2.0ghz, 250GB) iMac. The opportunity? A large, reliable retailer is relocating one of their branches and discarding some of their display stock.
I've been offered $250 CAD off the retail price (which, after taxes, comes to about $283 CAD). That to me seems like a bargain considering I'll be getting full warranty and can buy applecare later. I have, of course, confirmed the specs from the box and will be double-checking that the unit inside the box is the same as that described. I will also be trying to see the unit to make sure it's not badly scratched.
So - in the next couple of hours, I would like the opinions of others. Should there be anything particular I should be asking/looking for prior to handing over my money?
Thanks in advance.

Well, in the end I got a total of $300CAD off ($342 after taxes). I'm quite pleased, and setting up the unit at work - I picked it up on my way - it looks perfect. Of course, I'll find out when I turn the thing on at home, but I had to have my co-workers drooling, so I had it set up next to my desk.
I'll probably copy everything across and buy a wireless router this weekend to take it for a real test run. All I need to do now is find a good source of RAM and then decide between an extra 512 or 1GB chip.
Oh, Wayne: I got it from London Drugs new store in New Westminster. I had heard from a friend on Monday night that their old New West store was clearing them out, and when I asked on Tuesday, I found out they only had one left. Sweet...

Ready to take the plunge, but dont want to face plant

Had this baby for 10 months. I thought before I tried to OC I'd post up and see what the Pro's have to say...
have played with Core Center and NTune off the MSI site for my MB, dont like either. Core Center will clock to 2.4 stable, anything higher blue screens. NTune goes through its thing but i cant figure out how it works.
I'd like to do a modest OC in Bios
looking for advice and links from the big boys
question, can i use ClockGen to play around with settings, then use those numbers for my bios OC?
i have all the files.... cpuz,prime,memtest and speedfan etc. -all latest-
this will be on AIR with a Fatal1ty FS-C77 in a CoolerMaster WaveMaster
PSU is a OCZ Modstream520w

Well, nobody spoke up... so i took the plunge, looks like i didnt face plant after all.
followed the OC NF4 Guide....
AMD3500+ 0.13 SH7-CG (12hr prime and BF2 tested at 2.5)max temp was 39c
CPU at x10
HT at x4
FSB at 250
Vcore at +6.6%v
mem at 2.80
mem divider at 166
2.5-3-3-8 T1
took 3hrs
looks like i got lucky with my 3500+..... CPU will go up to 2.85, mem wont at any mutli
cant belive i was to chicken to OC the last 11 months.....
any suggestions for RAM that will ramp like my CPU?

Should I take the plunge?

Hi Folks
I've come to this forum, because I'm on the verge of requesting FTTC broadband. Our exchange and cabinet have just gone live for Infinity, and I would certainly benefit from faster upload as I regularly upload large audio files.
However, all the reported problems on here cause me to hesitate.........
I'm very close to the cabinet, and the BT wholesale checker suggests I should get virtually maximum speeds on both download and upload.
So what's the story?..... Are the majority of customers happy - are these hassles affecting a minority, whether the disconnects or slow evening speeds?
I could go with TalkTalk, (my present ADSL provider) but it will still be BT who will need to fix any issues, so thought I might as well just take the service from them directly......

garyevs wrote:
I am in the same position, also considering signing up for BT Infinity.
It seems that people are really complaining about the lack or ineffective support they receive when they do have a problem. It seems that the BT service desk just go through the motions rather than actually getting things fixed. Is there a plan to return this service to the UK, as this may improve things ? No plans.
I have a couple of other queries I hope someone can help with:
Do BT throttle the service at any time, or block any ports ? No throttling on any of the Totally Unlimited Packages
Are there any restrictions to users using a VPN ? No
My current provider provides a webpage showing connection logs etc, is this type of thing available ? Depends what you are looking for. Nothing is provided by BT in the form of a log that shows what or when you connected but you can access the Homehub router stats.
Thanks in advance.

Why do I still intimidated to take the plunge

I have asked for some help in the past but frankly I had moved away from using TM because I got overwhelmed. Well I am going to dive into it, but I’m still feeling very intimidated. Please bear with me and do hope that I could get simple, easy way to have a better understanding.
I am using Leopard with 350G Int. HD, and have 271GB available, that should tell you how little I use the Int. Dr. I only use the Int. DR for my Apps, and a few docs I create. Most of the work I do is working with pictures, RAW, and JPG. I have installed Lightroom but haven’t gone full throttle until I get my workflow in place.
Consequently, I rely using Ext. HD and this is what I currently have:
1- 2TB FW HD
3- 1TB FW HW with 2 partitions. Part 1 Extended (Journaled) 248GB avail
Part 2 Extended 453GB avail, 228GB used
I originally partioned this Drive because I used Pt. 1 as a bootable Drive while using Tiger, but since I upgraded to Leopard I deleted the bootable copy. I used SuperDuper.
4- 500GB Extended (Journaled) 323GB avail, 141GB used not current with all back ups from primary 350GB primary drive.
5- 350GB Extended currently used as Primary Drive storing. This Drive is almost full there is only 6GB available. There is about 275GB use. So that makes my entire image/data file is about 300GB give or take.
6- 2 older Internal HDs that I have place inside enclosure since I didn’t want to throw them away but don’t have too much faith since they are pretty old. The are formatted as FAT 32 in order to use them with my XP laptop from time to time so these Drives are more as spare or temporary depository drives.
Here are my questions:
1- I have read that both the best way to make TM work is to format the drives as (extended journaled), according to Genius bar, and (extended only). Which is the right way, yes I already ready know about the example that was illustrated in the FAQ Myfiles vs. myfiles but I’m still confused. Keep in mind that I have a major task ahead of me since I need to reformat, delete files etc in order to set up TM, consequently, I’d like to get it right.
2- I have been thinking using the 1TB DR as the Primary Ext. drive.
Should the remove the Partition or leave as 2 Partitions
3- Using the 2TB as the Destination DR to back up a) 1TB DR, as indicated on #1. I am confused trying to figure it how to set up the workflow. Is it better to use SuperDuper or set it as RAID 1 using the App. from the DR manufacturer (Western Digital).
4- 500GB use it as the destination DR with TM.
5- I need some suggestion how to best use the 2 older Enclosure Drives.
No matter what I aware that need to format the Drives, and frankly that is what is making me a bit ambivalent about it. I would appreciate some help thanks, since I am stuck
Thanks for any assistance

Pondini wrote
It's best if all the drives being backed-up, and your TM drive, are the same. But if you have some case-sensitive and some case-ignorant being backed-up, then the TM drive must be case-sensitive.
Of course, and that's why I'd like to do it the right way. More than likely I will reformatting one Drive at a time. If you said that the Drives must be case-sensitive = Journaled, as you indicated.
There are many opinions on whether other drives (the ones being backed-up) should be journaled. Apple recommends it, some folks disagree. I'd be inclined to go with Apple, but it's your call.
And that is the reason why I posted my question since I seen both version being suggested. I assume that by being case-sensitive it means exactly the example that was listed under FAQ,i.e., if I was going to change the name of a file from upper to lower case, which I do from time to time. It's best to format the Drives as Journaled.
TM will only back up the various flavors of Mac OS Extended.
Now you got me confused. If previously you stated that TM Drive must be case-sensitive, I remember way back you told me that there are 4 flavors of OS Extended. One of them was Extended(Case Sensitive, Journaled, correct?
The Partition Map Scheme is also important; it's best if they're all GUID, but Apple Partition Map will also work in most cases. The only major issue is, you can't install OSX or updates to an APM drive attached to an Intel Mac.
If you have some drives/partitions that are Mac OS Extended, (not journaled), you can, if you want, turn journalling on without reformatting. In Disk Utility, select the partition, then from the Menubar, File > Enable Journaling.
Please bear with me, you said that it's best all Drives are GUID. I have no idea how to set it up, it sounds that is the best options because Apple Partition Map won't let install OSX updates.
Yes, I have a 1TB Drive with one Partition with 700GB formatted as Extended (not Journaled) and the other Partition is Extended Journaled 250GB. But here it the thing I am trying to determine if I need to a) formatting the entire Drive without a Partition b) keep both Partitions and then complete the back up by populating the Destination Drive manually.
The only reason I partitioned the 1TB DR was because I dedicated one Partition as my bootable Drive when my old iMac had a 250GB Internal Drive, but my current iMac has a 350GB Int. Drive; so not sure what to do. Do you think that I could use the same partition when my current Int. Drive has 350GB and the Partition dedicated as bootable Drive has 250GB, keep in mind that I use very little my Int. HD currently I am using only 26GB out of the 350GB.
Using the 2TB as the Destination DR to back up a) 1TB DR, as indicated on #1. I am confused trying to figure it how to set up the workflow. Is it better to use SuperDuper or set it as RAID 1 using the App. from the DR manufacturer (Western Digital).
If you're going to use this as your TM drive, it needs to be 2-3 times the size of what you're backing-up. I don't know what you're trying to do with RAID -- please explain.
It was suggested by WD tech support to use the 2TB DR as RAID ONE or mirror DRive in order to keep a redundant copy on the same Drive in case I lose one data on one of the DR.
As far as the size of the destination drive I didn't realize that I had to allow 2-3 times the size of the source Drive. Well, that is the case then it sounds that the suggestion made by WD to use the 500GB Drive as the TM destination drive is not the practical one.
I am now thinking about setting the workflow as follows:
1TB Drive as Primary Ext Drive and using this Drive as the Source Drive for TM and using the 2TB Drive as the TM Destination Drive, but not sure if I should keep it as a single Drive or mirror, I need some suggestions here.
But if I won't be using the 500GB DR as the TM Destination DR, so how do I use this DR? I also would like to creating a back up of the 1TB DR using SuperDuper. So does that mean that I need to buy another DR?
Your internal HD has about 80 gb on it.
Partition 1 on the 1 TB is not backed-up, right (is/was a clone)?
Partition 2 on the 1 TB has 228 gb.
The 500 gb has old backups.
The 350 has about 275.
My internal HD has about 27gb and 297GB available
Partition 1 on the 1 TB is totally empty, previously I kept a bootable copy before I upgraded to new Leopard
Partition 2 on the 1 TB has about 249GB but is not current the back up so I'm short by 100 GB
The 500GB yes I have about 325GB of concurrent backup, there still 272GB available
The 350GB has 273GB and it's almost full. This represents the total amount of data on my Primary Ext DR that I need to back up
Plus the additional 27GB in the Internal drive
That totals (80 + 228 + 275) about 580 gb of data to be backed-up.
And you have 350 + 350 + 500 + 1 tb + 2tb = 4.25 tb of total disk space.
If that's wrong, please clarify. Then solutions may be fairly obvious.
My total (26 + 273) about 200GB data to be backed-up, the 228 is duplicate copy
Basically, in a nutshell all I want is
1- Have a single primary External HD to save my files images/data
2- Back up this data using TM using the best Ext. DR from the ones I have, i., 2 TB (not sure if I should set it up as a mirror or a single drive)
3- Back up the Internal and Ext Primary DR using Superduper. Not sure if I should keep a bootable copy or not
4- The two older Ext. Drives that are formatted as FAT32 I'll keep them as extra in case of emergency not part of the backup workflow

Nervous System 9/System 10.1 user ready to take the plunge into Jaguar. . .

I am the very happy owner of a an iBook 406 (Power PC G3) running System 9.2.2 and System 10.1.something. Perhaps needless to say, I rarely venture into the mysterious wilds of OS X. I'm hoping some kind and informed soul can answer my questions three. . .
1. Enticed by a really cheap refurbished iPod Shuffle, I bought some software and am going to be upgrading to 10.2.8. Before actually doing anything, though, I want to make sure that the upgrade won't reinitialize my hard drive or touch any of my System 9 stuff, just improve the OS X section of the hard disk.
2. I have a huge number of documents created by a truly ancient version of Microsoft Word (version 4.?, I think, purchased in 1993). What is the easiest way to translate all of these things into some format that doesn't require Classic run?
3. I guess there is no third question. Sorry. =)
Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can offer,
Dagonet
Mac OS 9.2.x

Dagonet:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
OS X is really not mysterious, although it is very different from OS 9. Once you get the hang of it you will love it.
First of all, I suspect that your iBook is the iBook (Firewire) 466 introduced in September 2000. It will supoort the latest version of OS X, but you may need to Update your firmware.
I also suggest upgrading your RAM to 576 MB to be able to run OS X smoothly. You can check out the prices of popular brands of RAM at ramseeker.
I further suggest that you consider upgrading to Panther (10.3x) rather than Jaguar. To install Panther your computer will need to meet the minimum system requirements for Panther.
Take a look at Mac OS Support-Jaguar for information about Jaguar. You will need to purchase the Full Retail version of Jaguar or Panther. You can purchase universal installer versions guaranteed to install at applerescue
Be aware that Computer specific or upgrade versions should be avoided since they are optimized for the computer to which they are specific and will therefore very likely cause problems during or after installation. On the legal side, it may be a violation of the Software License Agreement which statesThis License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single computer at a time. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time...
I suggest that you backup your entire computer to an external Firewire Drive using a utility like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Then completely wipe you disk and install, or do an erase and install.
Please do not hesitate to post back with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

I'm gonna' take the plunge... but a question first

I have Time Machined, and also cloned, my drive. I plan on trying Safari 4. My question is this: if it's a real turd (terd, if that word is censored), what besides the application itself would I need to restore from Time Machine?
Would I also need to restore the safari caches folder, metadata, etc.?? If this thing is a disaster, I would want an exact replica of the 3.2.3 I'm using now.
I have no add-ons or third party plug-ins, so my fingers will be crossed.
Thanks in advance

Hi
I see you've gotten some (bad news) answers on the Time Machine forum.
Not completely bad news, although I'm glad Ben raised the question.
Time Machine will work, however you would need to restore the entire system, which will take some time. Instead, restore your HD from the cloned backup (which program did you use to create the clone). That ought to be a faster way to go.

Do I take the plunge and upgrade to infinity?

Hi all,
After months of the BT wholesale checker saying that Infinity will go live on my phone number by the 31st Decemeber it has finaly been updated to say that it is now available. However I have some concerns.
Over the past few months I have visited these forums and have seen a great deal of people with issues. Some are simple and quite nasty. I'm concerned because I work from home a lot and our family busines whilst not using the internet very heavy does indeed rely on it. I have heard story's like peoples orders being cancelled and then they are left with no internet what so ever. For me this would be VERY bad. For the family business just 3 or 4 days could do damage that would not be reversable.
I have 2 friends who have ordered infinity in the last 3 months in different areas and both had problems, one had the order cancelled saying that even though the checker said he could get it, he's order was cancelled, but they turned everything off a couple of days after the cancelation, his phone and internet where down for around 3 weeks. My other friend still has major issues and his fault is now being delt with the BT CEO's assistant.
Problem for me is that I want Infinity rather than need it, Everything works fine on my ADSL connection now wth BT. I get around 5mb down and just under 1mb upload, whilst infinity is not essentual it would be a big bonus in it's upload speed.
I'm itching to order but BT's reputation holds me back. Any thoughts or personaly experiences to help me make up my mind?
Thanks
Dean.

Yes, don't even think about it. If you can have it, grab it.
I was wary of BT also, but I think they do a pretty good job overall, given they don't directly run the network, thats Openreach. I also figure they should still have greater influence with Openreach than any other ISP. It's also easer to talk to someone at BT than any other ISP I've been with over the years.
The price diff between Total broadband and Infinity option 1 is v. little. Why would you stay with 5M, if you can get 5 to 8 x speed? 5M was great up until last year, but no longer. They are saying Openreach will double infinity speeds to 80M.
I remember moving off dial-up to Broadband(sort of) at 1/4 M, blissful at the time, but laughable now.
Yes of course some people have had problems, or some initial disatisfaction (myself included), but I wouldn't let that deter you.
I think you would be extremely unfortunate if an Openreach engineer left you without a workable connex of at least 3 times yr current speed. In fact I believe if they can't give you at least 15M they won't put you on Infinity. The first ten days your speed will prob vary quite significantly. You have to let that happen, BT retail will not take any action, until that period has elapsed.
If after 2weeks yr speed is significantly off that BT said, or "promised" - "Contractual Speed" even, as I used to goad BT with, then you have to stamp your foot and be firm. Tell BT to insist Openreach get on with it, if you have important business traffic, tell them that right at the start. Do not waste time on the Indian call centre after the first time, go straight to Warren Buckley, BT Sales Director via email or twitter, he'll pass yr case to Executive level Complaints who'll put Openreach's nose to the grindstone. Without ELC, I might still be lanquishing on sub 20M, but they got me to my target/contract of 30.7M, now seem to be getting up to 35M.
Having an Openreach engineer set up the system, instead of receiving a new modem in by post and told to do it yourself is good. It's your one opportunity to get info on your situation, such as where yr cabinet is, not ness the nearest one, whether the cable is copper or aluminium (bad news). You also get a new master socket fitted, and if you want it in a diff. room they should do that also, free, gratis.
Great start to the New Year, I reckon.
Bernardo

Take the plunge with Creative Cloud?

I am new to Adobe products and services. i am an aspiring photographer and I already have Lightroom 5. Should I enroll in Creative Cloud so I can own and learn Photoshop CS6?

With CS6 you have the choice to own or subscribe.
The Cloud version of Photoshop is now Photoshop CC (the next version after CS6).
Whether it's worthwhile for you really depends on what you want to do.
Try downloading the trial version first and take it for a spin.
Your other option is Photoshop Elements 11.

Yikes! About to take the plunge.

So I was trying to wait until Leopard to buy my 15in MacBook Pro, but with all the work piling up as a Junior in college I can't do it any more. All the time spent thinking about it (my first mac!) and dealing with my clunker of a Dell isn't productive anymore. So I missed the free nano and I don't even get Leopard (sigh) but I'm just a few clicks away from saying what the 'heck'. Any words of advice, warning and/or encouragement?

Ahhh... Go ahead dive right in!! I always am on the end of the discussion saying why bother waiting for something like leopard.. I would much rather have a new computer for an extra month than wait and save $129. That extra month of enjoyment and increased productivity is well worth the $129. Enjoy... Jay

ICloud - when to take the plunge?

When I read all the posts in the iCloud community I see reports of numerous and diverse problems. I am NOT a techie, and I am not a "first mover". So I believe I'd better wait until iCloud is ready for prime time. I LOVE the concept but when I see all the questions and comments from experienced community members I think I'd better wait until nearer July. I'm hoping Apple is taking heed of this communities' members and ifixing the problems. Anyone disagree?

I haven't any issues. This is a forum for people to come with issues so not a fair perspective.
If you have questions maybe someone can advise

Before I take the Plunge ...

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