[Cube] Silence is Deafening

[Joseph B. Gurman]

     Received the Mac mini 1.42/80 from Apple and a 1 Gbyte DIMM from 
Memory-X today; last night, I had picked up a 2-inch putty knife with 
a bevelled edge at Home Depot. With the help of a small pocket knife 
blade as a starter, I was able to insert the putty knife blade as 
directed in the QuickTime movie and pry open first one side, then the 
other of the mini bottom. The assembly then just folded out.

     There's some very thin sheet metal that nominally blocks the 
forward DIMM latch, but it's so thin that it's very flexible, and all 
I had to do was press the latch against it to free up the DIMM. The 1 
GByte DIMM went in smoothly, and the mini booted right up after 
reassembly --- which requires the putty knife to coax the front 
latches into place, but the sides pretty much fell into place on 
their own.

     I didn't have a spare monitor at the time, and ended up using an 
LCD projector instead. The projector fan, about two feet away, masked 
any mini fan noise. Putting my ear right up against the exhaust 
ports, I could hear a little fan noise, but the machine wasn't really 
doing anything at the time. After we have the mini scanned by our IT 
security folks next week, I'll attach it to a monitor in a quieter 
room, and report back on the perceived noise level.

     iLife '05 came on a separate CD-ROM (on the very top of the stack).

     The included DVI-to-VGA adapter has no cable; it's just a plastic 
adapter about 3/4 of an inch long with a male DVI connector on one 
side and a VGA connector on the other.

     Perhaps the best part of the experience was unpacking it in front 
of a confirmed Windows user. By the time he had held it in his hands, 
he was saying, "I could see myself buying one of those."

     Mac mini price from Apple Federal online store: $551. 1 Gbyte 
DIMM from Memory-X: $202. PC user's reaction: priceless.

						Joe Gurman
-- 
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."
                                                             - Douglas 
Adams, 1952 - 2001