Really? Lets start with welfare, it's there because people deserve a second chance (a moral decision) and people need a helping hand (again a moral decision). Now even if I agree with those sentements, it is easily my choice to decide not to help people out with my money. After all, it's my money, and I'm an adult, I can decide what I want to do with it. Yet, the government takes my money and gives it to poor people. They force me to be charitable, thus forcing a particular beleif system on me. You choose to watch porn, I choose to save my money.
How about the drinking age. A consenting adult who can watch porn and kill, but can't drink.
Gun laws in general. A concenting adult can look at porn but can't own a gun to protect his family? Sounds like a moral decision to me.
No, I'm perfectly serious. Every particular set of laws which forbids something that doesn't violate the rights of another person is a moral decision imposing a set of beleifs upon society. Porn, obcenity, drinking and gun ownership are all variations on the same thing.
Check online (like the apple forums) if you don't know what to do.
If that doesn't work, you use AppleCare/waranty (assuming you have it still). The last time something broke, it was my laptop AC adapter due to a design flaw. They sent me a new power supply and a box to send the broken one back. Total down time 48 hours.
The time before that was when I dropped my iBook and the CD ROM door broke (old clamshell). I called apple support, they sent a box, I sent them the computer and had it back in 3 days no charges at all.
If you don't have appleare anymore, do a search for Apple Authorized resellers in your area. I bet there are more than you think. Hint: CompUSA will do in a pinch.
The mac mini is a "decent" game system. Maybe a bit underpowered for what you could get from the PC side of things, but if my experience in upgrading this PC is any indication, you're not getting any powerhouses for $600
The SCSI adapter you would have me on, but G wireless is already supported by the mac mini, just drop in an airport card.
Really it's a matter of whether your application can be handled another way. For example, I'm almost positive you can get a SCSI to firewire adapter for roughly the same price as a PC card.
There are other ways to add technologies that don't involve PC card slots, and though I can't say for certain I would imagine for the average consumer, the throughput of firewire is more than sufficient.
That isn't to say that some people couldn't benefit from the PC card slot, but I wonder whether that number of people is greater than those who would benefit from not having it.
You're right, I forgot apple stopped putting gigabit in all the G4s. That said, the point still stands, for the purpose the mini serves, it's an excelent computer. And I will argue that while you may be able to get a superior computer in some respects for the same price point, you can't get a FAR superior computer in all of those areas for the same price point.
I call bullshit. You price me a top-spec Athlon 64 computer for $500.
Re:iMac mini NEEDS a PC card slot
on
Mac mini Dissection
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· Score: 2, Informative
What would you do with the PC Card slot though? While what I quote from another post of mine below applies to PCI slots, it's almost equaly applicable to PC Card slots as well:
Untill you get to thinking about the slots and what you need them for. Example, my PC sitting here has 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot.
The AGP slot is occupied by a video card, which I just recently replaced for the first time in 5 years. On the mac mini, that's already built onto the board with an ATI chipset.
1 PCI slot is used by my Soudblaster card, which I just recently upgraded, again for the first time in 5 years, and that was because the card never worked right in the first place and this happened to be the time I was upgrading things. On the mac mini, this is built into the system
1 PCI slot is occupied by an ethernet card, un upgraded in 5 years. Gigabit is built into the mac mini
1 slot contains a USB/Firewire card, again, un upgraded, and built into the mac mini.
The other two slots remain unused, and for the forseeable future, I have no use for them. In the end, they're actualy a waste.
So when I look at the mac mini, it has everything I would use PCI/AGP slots for built in.
So then the question becomes well what if you want to upgrade?
Well, when I did my mass upgrade for the first time in 5 years (until now, I had only added RAM), I bought a new motherboard, a new processor, new graphics card, new soundcard and new RAM. My total cost came out to about $600 after rebates.
After reflecting on this, it occurs to me, that if a mac mini suits my needs, by the time I would decide to upgrade it, I might as well just buy a new one for $500.
In fact, for the first time, my computer would actualy be a disposable product. Something that I could (theoreticaly) just discard and buy a new one when it no longer served my needs, and it would be roughly price equivilant to upgrading the system.
So in the end, having PCI slots and an accessable case on the mac mini would seem to be more of a waste than a benefit.
Of course, you can always argue that hard core gamers and power users have other things and upgrade more frequently, but I argue that no hardcore gamer/power user is buying a $500 computer.
And to end, I should note, I have a PC Card slot on my powerbook. In 5 years of ownership, I have used it ONCE, and that was to see if the new Nextel broadband wireless cards would work with a mac even without special drivers (it didn't BTW).
Untill you get to thinking about the slots and what you need them for. Example, my PC sitting here has 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot.
The AGP slot is occupied by a video card, which I just recently replaced for the first time in 5 years. On the mac mini, that's already built onto the board with an ATI chipset.
1 PCI slot is used by my Soudblaster card, which I just recently upgraded, again for the first time in 5 years, and that was because the card never worked right in the first place and this happened to be the time I was upgrading things. On the mac mini, this is built into the system
1 PCI slot is occupied by an ethernet card, un upgraded in 5 years. Gigabit is built into the mac mini
1 slot contains a USB/Firewire card, again, un upgraded, and built into the mac mini.
The other two slots remain unused, and for the forseeable future, I have no use for them. In the end, they're actualy a waste.
So when I look at the mac mini, it has everything I would use PCI/AGP slots for built in.
So then the question becomes well what if you want to upgrade?
Well, when I did my mass upgrade for the first time in 5 years (until now, I had only added RAM), I bought a new motherboard, a new processor, new graphics card, new soundcard and new RAM. My total cost came out to about $600 after rebates.
After reflecting on this, it occurs to me, that if a mac mini suits my needs, by the time I would decide to upgrade it, I might as well just buy a new one for $500.
In fact, for the first time, my computer would actualy be a disposable product. Something that I could (theoreticaly) just discard and buy a new one when it no longer served my needs, and it would be roughly price equivilant to upgrading the system.
So in the end, having PCI slots and an accessable case on the mac mini would seem to be more of a waste than a benefit.
Of course, you can always argue that hard core gamers and power users have other things and upgrade more frequently, but I argue that no hardcore gamer/power user is buying a $500 computer.
Yeah, god I mean how did we ever survive until the 1930s without social security? I mean god. All those people that starved to death because the governmetn wasn't there to give them a hand out when they stopped working.
As is their right. No one should have to pay for the survival of someone else. However, it's more that obvious that when asked for a specific cause, people are more than willing to donate, see the 15 million raised on amazon.com alone for tsunami releif.
If I were you, I'd avoid that acer. If it's anything like their desktop computers, all those little icons you see at the bottom of the page are going to be randomly plastered all over your laptop.
The scope of discussion was whether having a gun increased your risk of you or your family dying by said gun. The most relevant statistic for that is accidental death.
Actualy windows does. While paid updates are farther away from each other, they cost ~3x as much or more. And the mac OS includes free updates too. Since I got panther last year, I've received 7 updates, all of which have fixed things and or added some sort of functionality that was missing. I havne't had to pay for a single one of them.
The point is that it doesn't come with a keyboard or stuff like that. It's designed for all the people going "I want to try a mac, but I don't want to have to buy a whole new system for their prices, and I don't want a one button mouse or a new keyboard and monitor (I can't tell you how many times I heard that when someone suggested buying an emac or iMac for their test experience)
Let's do this the smart way:
$500 for the base mini. $53 for some third party memory upgrade (though the $75 tag isn't bad if you don't want to install it yourself), $7 for a keyboard if you don't have one, $5 for an optical USB mouse if you don't have one. So we're up to $565 total?
And that processor upgrade also includes an HDD upgrade.
Look, these things aren't supposed to be the next server systems, they're supposed to be a basic introduction to the mac world for people who don't want to buy a new monitor keyboard and mouse just to try a mac.
Your seatbelt can kill you. Insurance can rob you blind, locking your door can kill you if you need to get out of your house quickly, self defense courses can indeed kill you which is why you sign a waiver, helmets can kill you worn incorrectly, an improperly maintained suge protector can kill you, an improperly used firewall can lead to identity theft, an improperly used fire extinguisher can kill you, and airbags most certainly can kill you.
However, in each of these cases, it's a small chance, and most require inappropriate use or application of the technology involved. So it is with owning a gun. A gun properly maintained, stored and used has as much of a chance of killing you as anything else. Sometimes even less.
Yes, thousands of people are shot each year by a gun. How many are criminals? 2.5 million crimes are stopped each year by guns.
How many millions die each year from car accidents? I'll give you a hint, of all the accidental deaths in the US in 2001, cars accounted for over 40%, guns for less than 1%
The Brittish Home Office says that during an armed robbery, if you resist with a gun, you have a 6% chance of being injured. Doing nothing raises your chances to 25% and non-violent resistance raises it to 45%. Personaly, I'll take the 6%
1) Wearing a seatbelt won't accidentally kill my family
Actualy, yes it could. There are many reported injuries and deaths due to seatbelts and there (sometimes incorrect) usage.
2) Having insurance won't accidentally kill my family
No, but it does continuously use money that could be better saved up for a time when you may be strapped for cash. Lack of food could kill your family.
3) Locking my doors won't accidentally kill my family
If you need to get out of your house quickly it could.
4) Learning self defense won't accidentally kill my family
But inadequate training could lead to your death, so why start?
5) Wearing a bike helmet won't accidentally kill my family
Wearing it improperly could
6) Using surge protectors won't accidentally kill my family
If they stick their fingers or metal into the various open sockets it could.
7) Using a firewall won't accidentally kill my family
No, but theft of your identity could lead to loss of money, which could cause problems (see point about insurance)
8) Owning a fire extinguisher won't accidentally kill my family
Misuse could cause the fire to spread more and kill your family
9) My airbags really really likely won't accidentally kill my family
but they could.
In case you haven't noticed, many of these points regard inappropriate use. That's because unlike your very insane assertations owning a gun WILL NOT accidently kill my family. Misuse can. Misuse of ANYTHING can kill you.
By the way, I suggest you look at some REAL facts rather than what you've heard floating about:
according to CDC reports from 2001:
you are 4 times more likely to drown or burn, 17 times more likely to be poisoned, 19 times mor elikely to fall to your death and 53 more times likely to die in a car accident than by a firearm.
In 2001, 65 children died from accidental gun deaths, 11 times that number died from drowning. (Ibid)
Less than 2% of all accidental deaths to children 0-14 are from firearms as of 1995, by contrast, 4% suffocated, 11% burned and 51% died in the car. (National Center for Health Statistics)
Can you provide anything to back up your claims that gun owners and their families are FAR FAR more likely to die by gun?
Unless you're a cop, live in Compton or know someone called "Fat Tony" put the gun away... might help not to be so scared of everyone too.
Why is it ok for a cop to own a gun but not me? Who's going to protect me while I wait for the cops?
I suggest you read up on your court cases. The police have NO obligation to protect you, just to uphold the law. And I would have more faith in the cops ability to protect me if it didn't take them 45 minutes to get to my apartment after bullets came through my roomate's window. Read that again. Someone was shooting at our apartment and it took the police 45 minutes to get here from a substation 5 minutes away.
Maybe it just makes you feel big.
Hardly. Carrying and knowing how to use it properly however DOES make me confident in my abilities to defend my life or someone elses should the need arrive.
However, I do have to wonder, do people owning guns make you feel small? Is that why you seem to have such an irrational hatred of those with a desire to protect themselves and exercise their rights?
I wouldn't accept door locks or seatbelts with a 10% failure rate, I'm sure as hell not going to accept a locking mechanism on a gun with one.
Gun misfires are a nature of the weapon, and you can do things to ensure minimal risk. They also happen a lot less than 10% of the time.
As for old powder, if you're properly practicing with your gun, that shouldn't be a problem.
It takes quite a lot to jam a revolver, and even automatics have a 10% jam rate.
Yes, every new system has a chance of failing. My point is, the less systems you have, the less of a chance there is of failure. Murphy's law and all that.
I'd rather a good gun lock rather than an electronic system with many different points of failure.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? Lets start with welfare, it's there because people deserve a second chance (a moral decision) and people need a helping hand (again a moral decision). Now even if I agree with those sentements, it is easily my choice to decide not to help people out with my money. After all, it's my money, and I'm an adult, I can decide what I want to do with it. Yet, the government takes my money and gives it to poor people. They force me to be charitable, thus forcing a particular beleif system on me. You choose to watch porn, I choose to save my money.
How about the drinking age. A consenting adult who can watch porn and kill, but can't drink.
Gun laws in general. A concenting adult can look at porn but can't own a gun to protect his family? Sounds like a moral decision to me.
No, I'm perfectly serious. Every particular set of laws which forbids something that doesn't violate the rights of another person is a moral decision imposing a set of beleifs upon society. Porn, obcenity, drinking and gun ownership are all variations on the same thing.
It does. I was mistaken.
You fix it yourself if possible.
Check online (like the apple forums) if you don't know what to do.
If that doesn't work, you use AppleCare/waranty (assuming you have it still). The last time something broke, it was my laptop AC adapter due to a design flaw. They sent me a new power supply and a box to send the broken one back. Total down time 48 hours.
The time before that was when I dropped my iBook and the CD ROM door broke (old clamshell). I called apple support, they sent a box, I sent them the computer and had it back in 3 days no charges at all.
If you don't have appleare anymore, do a search for Apple Authorized resellers in your area. I bet there are more than you think. Hint: CompUSA will do in a pinch.
Forgetting the fact that that thing is 3x as much and bigger than the mini, why the hell does it need a 500W powersupply? At max, the mini uses 85W
Yay for FUD!
The mac mini is a "decent" game system. Maybe a bit underpowered for what you could get from the PC side of things, but if my experience in upgrading this PC is any indication, you're not getting any powerhouses for $600
The SCSI adapter you would have me on, but G wireless is already supported by the mac mini, just drop in an airport card.
Really it's a matter of whether your application can be handled another way. For example, I'm almost positive you can get a SCSI to firewire adapter for roughly the same price as a PC card.
There are other ways to add technologies that don't involve PC card slots, and though I can't say for certain I would imagine for the average consumer, the throughput of firewire is more than sufficient.
That isn't to say that some people couldn't benefit from the PC card slot, but I wonder whether that number of people is greater than those who would benefit from not having it.
You're right, I forgot apple stopped putting gigabit in all the G4s. That said, the point still stands, for the purpose the mini serves, it's an excelent computer. And I will argue that while you may be able to get a superior computer in some respects for the same price point, you can't get a FAR superior computer in all of those areas for the same price point.
There are firewire adapters for composite video in, the mini can take an airport card internaly and the modem is v.92.
I call bullshit. You price me a top-spec Athlon 64 computer for $500.
What would you do with the PC Card slot though? While what I quote from another post of mine below applies to PCI slots, it's almost equaly applicable to PC Card slots as well:
Untill you get to thinking about the slots and what you need them for. Example, my PC sitting here has 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot.
The AGP slot is occupied by a video card, which I just recently replaced for the first time in 5 years. On the mac mini, that's already built onto the board with an ATI chipset.
1 PCI slot is used by my Soudblaster card, which I just recently upgraded, again for the first time in 5 years, and that was because the card never worked right in the first place and this happened to be the time I was upgrading things. On the mac mini, this is built into the system
1 PCI slot is occupied by an ethernet card, un upgraded in 5 years. Gigabit is built into the mac mini
1 slot contains a USB/Firewire card, again, un upgraded, and built into the mac mini.
The other two slots remain unused, and for the forseeable future, I have no use for them. In the end, they're actualy a waste.
So when I look at the mac mini, it has everything I would use PCI/AGP slots for built in.
So then the question becomes well what if you want to upgrade?
Well, when I did my mass upgrade for the first time in 5 years (until now, I had only added RAM), I bought a new motherboard, a new processor, new graphics card, new soundcard and new RAM. My total cost came out to about $600 after rebates.
After reflecting on this, it occurs to me, that if a mac mini suits my needs, by the time I would decide to upgrade it, I might as well just buy a new one for $500.
In fact, for the first time, my computer would actualy be a disposable product. Something that I could (theoreticaly) just discard and buy a new one when it no longer served my needs, and it would be roughly price equivilant to upgrading the system.
So in the end, having PCI slots and an accessable case on the mac mini would seem to be more of a waste than a benefit.
Of course, you can always argue that hard core gamers and power users have other things and upgrade more frequently, but I argue that no hardcore gamer/power user is buying a $500 computer.
And to end, I should note, I have a PC Card slot on my powerbook. In 5 years of ownership, I have used it ONCE, and that was to see if the new Nextel broadband wireless cards would work with a mac even without special drivers (it didn't BTW).
Untill you get to thinking about the slots and what you need them for. Example, my PC sitting here has 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot.
The AGP slot is occupied by a video card, which I just recently replaced for the first time in 5 years. On the mac mini, that's already built onto the board with an ATI chipset.
1 PCI slot is used by my Soudblaster card, which I just recently upgraded, again for the first time in 5 years, and that was because the card never worked right in the first place and this happened to be the time I was upgrading things. On the mac mini, this is built into the system
1 PCI slot is occupied by an ethernet card, un upgraded in 5 years. Gigabit is built into the mac mini
1 slot contains a USB/Firewire card, again, un upgraded, and built into the mac mini.
The other two slots remain unused, and for the forseeable future, I have no use for them. In the end, they're actualy a waste.
So when I look at the mac mini, it has everything I would use PCI/AGP slots for built in.
So then the question becomes well what if you want to upgrade?
Well, when I did my mass upgrade for the first time in 5 years (until now, I had only added RAM), I bought a new motherboard, a new processor, new graphics card, new soundcard and new RAM. My total cost came out to about $600 after rebates.
After reflecting on this, it occurs to me, that if a mac mini suits my needs, by the time I would decide to upgrade it, I might as well just buy a new one for $500.
In fact, for the first time, my computer would actualy be a disposable product. Something that I could (theoreticaly) just discard and buy a new one when it no longer served my needs, and it would be roughly price equivilant to upgrading the system.
So in the end, having PCI slots and an accessable case on the mac mini would seem to be more of a waste than a benefit.
Of course, you can always argue that hard core gamers and power users have other things and upgrade more frequently, but I argue that no hardcore gamer/power user is buying a $500 computer.
Except it's not being used like an insurance policy. People are collecting even though they don't need it.
Yeah, god I mean how did we ever survive until the 1930s without social security? I mean god. All those people that starved to death because the governmetn wasn't there to give them a hand out when they stopped working.
As is their right. No one should have to pay for the survival of someone else. However, it's more that obvious that when asked for a specific cause, people are more than willing to donate, see the 15 million raised on amazon.com alone for tsunami releif.
Social Security's overhead is less than 1 percent.
I call bullshit
If I were you, I'd avoid that acer. If it's anything like their desktop computers, all those little icons you see at the bottom of the page are going to be randomly plastered all over your laptop.
The scope of discussion was whether having a gun increased your risk of you or your family dying by said gun. The most relevant statistic for that is accidental death.
Actualy windows does. While paid updates are farther away from each other, they cost ~3x as much or more. And the mac OS includes free updates too. Since I got panther last year, I've received 7 updates, all of which have fixed things and or added some sort of functionality that was missing. I havne't had to pay for a single one of them.
Depends on whether said bibles are mandatory reading in public schools funded by taxpayer money.
The point is that it doesn't come with a keyboard or stuff like that. It's designed for all the people going "I want to try a mac, but I don't want to have to buy a whole new system for their prices, and I don't want a one button mouse or a new keyboard and monitor (I can't tell you how many times I heard that when someone suggested buying an emac or iMac for their test experience)
Let's do this the smart way:
$500 for the base mini. $53 for some third party memory upgrade (though the $75 tag isn't bad if you don't want to install it yourself), $7 for a keyboard if you don't have one, $5 for an optical USB mouse if you don't have one. So we're up to $565 total?
And that processor upgrade also includes an HDD upgrade.
Look, these things aren't supposed to be the next server systems, they're supposed to be a basic introduction to the mac world for people who don't want to buy a new monitor keyboard and mouse just to try a mac.
Your seatbelt can kill you. Insurance can rob you blind, locking your door can kill you if you need to get out of your house quickly, self defense courses can indeed kill you which is why you sign a waiver, helmets can kill you worn incorrectly, an improperly maintained suge protector can kill you, an improperly used firewall can lead to identity theft, an improperly used fire extinguisher can kill you, and airbags most certainly can kill you.
However, in each of these cases, it's a small chance, and most require inappropriate use or application of the technology involved. So it is with owning a gun. A gun properly maintained, stored and used has as much of a chance of killing you as anything else. Sometimes even less.
Yes, thousands of people are shot each year by a gun. How many are criminals? 2.5 million crimes are stopped each year by guns.
How many millions die each year from car accidents? I'll give you a hint, of all the accidental deaths in the US in 2001, cars accounted for over 40%, guns for less than 1%
The Brittish Home Office says that during an armed robbery, if you resist with a gun, you have a 6% chance of being injured. Doing nothing raises your chances to 25% and non-violent resistance raises it to 45%. Personaly, I'll take the 6%
For $500 and $8.33 a month, you could get a Mac mini and do the same thing, with less viruses and spyware.
1) Wearing a seatbelt won't accidentally kill my family
Actualy, yes it could. There are many reported injuries and deaths due to seatbelts and there (sometimes incorrect) usage.
2) Having insurance won't accidentally kill my family
No, but it does continuously use money that could be better saved up for a time when you may be strapped for cash. Lack of food could kill your family.
3) Locking my doors won't accidentally kill my family
If you need to get out of your house quickly it could.
4) Learning self defense won't accidentally kill my family
But inadequate training could lead to your death, so why start?
5) Wearing a bike helmet won't accidentally kill my family
Wearing it improperly could
6) Using surge protectors won't accidentally kill my family
If they stick their fingers or metal into the various open sockets it could.
7) Using a firewall won't accidentally kill my family
No, but theft of your identity could lead to loss of money, which could cause problems (see point about insurance)
8) Owning a fire extinguisher won't accidentally kill my family
Misuse could cause the fire to spread more and kill your family
9) My airbags really really likely won't accidentally kill my family
but they could.
In case you haven't noticed, many of these points regard inappropriate use. That's because unlike your very insane assertations owning a gun WILL NOT accidently kill my family. Misuse can. Misuse of ANYTHING can kill you.
By the way, I suggest you look at some REAL facts rather than what you've heard floating about:
according to CDC reports from 2001:
you are 4 times more likely to drown or burn, 17 times more likely to be poisoned, 19 times mor elikely to fall to your death and 53 more times likely to die in a car accident than by a firearm.
In 2001, 65 children died from accidental gun deaths, 11 times that number died from drowning. (Ibid)
Less than 2% of all accidental deaths to children 0-14 are from firearms as of 1995, by contrast, 4% suffocated, 11% burned and 51% died in the car. (National Center for Health Statistics)
Can you provide anything to back up your claims that gun owners and their families are FAR FAR more likely to die by gun?
Unless you're a cop, live in Compton or know someone called "Fat Tony" put the gun away... might help not to be so scared of everyone too.
Why is it ok for a cop to own a gun but not me? Who's going to protect me while I wait for the cops?
I suggest you read up on your court cases. The police have NO obligation to protect you, just to uphold the law. And I would have more faith in the cops ability to protect me if it didn't take them 45 minutes to get to my apartment after bullets came through my roomate's window. Read that again. Someone was shooting at our apartment and it took the police 45 minutes to get here from a substation 5 minutes away.
Maybe it just makes you feel big.
Hardly. Carrying and knowing how to use it properly however DOES make me confident in my abilities to defend my life or someone elses should the need arrive.
However, I do have to wonder, do people owning guns make you feel small? Is that why you seem to have such an irrational hatred of those with a desire to protect themselves and exercise their rights?
I wouldn't accept door locks or seatbelts with a 10% failure rate, I'm sure as hell not going to accept a locking mechanism on a gun with one.
Gun misfires are a nature of the weapon, and you can do things to ensure minimal risk. They also happen a lot less than 10% of the time.
As for old powder, if you're properly practicing with your gun, that shouldn't be a problem.
It takes quite a lot to jam a revolver, and even automatics have a 10% jam rate.
Yes, every new system has a chance of failing. My point is, the less systems you have, the less of a chance there is of failure. Murphy's law and all that.
I'd rather a good gun lock rather than an electronic system with many different points of failure.