I have a nagging suspicion we haven't ended up helping much. I've had a look - XP is about $100 and Office either under or over $200 depending on the version (I have no idea of the difference between Office XP and 2003). Obviously using the free OpenOffice (2.0 beta) is going to save a big part of the budget...

Cam, 99% of the time PC's come with Windows XP home as part of the package, and then Office XP can be added for about $150. THe PC's that I priced at between $475 and $600 from Dell include WiN XP and Office XP, so that's not really an issue.

Another funny thing..............................just saw a machine from Alienware..................and I thought it was cool!!

I know, I know! outside looks does not the machine make. It Would look good in my office though!

Back to the Mac Mini.

For your $'s the box comes with

iMovie HD: import edit export video
iDVD: make your own themed DVD's
iPhoto
iTunes
GarageBand: make your own music, same concept as Acid Loops
Keynote: presentation software, reads and saves to Powerpoint format
Pages: word processing app, reads and saves Word format

All of the Apple software is 1st rate. I would rate the apps as prosumer, really productive software that is above consumer grade but does not bother the user with stuff that only hard core pros need.

What's nice about them is that they all talk to each other. For example, iMovie acceses your iTunes library so all of your music is available to use as soundtracks and when youre finished editing you can export straight to iDVD. Or building a multimedia disc in iDVD, again all of your iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto assets are available right there in the iDVD interface.

If you had to buy a comparable software suite I don't think you could do it for less than $500 and it would most definately not be integrated.

Steve - you're right. I just had a decent look at their site. I also ran through pricing on a bunch of stuff on Newegg, and you can get something pretty decent (meaning, better than my computer at home except I have a video card for gaming and 1gb of ram) for about $300 plus XP, Office and a monitor.

That's cheap!

Yikes - Mac mini - $499 plus keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Office for Mac - $400...

Keyboard 27.00 mouse 30.00 flat panel monitor $250. still a bargain.

If you go with a Dell, DO NOT buy a GX280. Many have bad mother boards because of faulty capacitors. Also, if you get the low end support you will be talking to India. Spend a little bit more and upgrade the support for Round Rock. Also, if you have kids in college or know someone in college, they can get deep discounts on software or hardware.

The whole idea behind the Mini is to reuse your existing peripherals, monitors, keyboards, mice.

Well, if we're comparing apples to errr, pcs, then the equivalent to a $499 mini in specification (if not functionality!) is I'd guess barely $350-400. For $500 you'd get more ram, faster processor (although this is admittedly debateable), more hd space and a dvd burner...

It won't be as easy to use (in that lovely mac way), of course :D

(edit) or pretty!

Thanks Everyone!!

Can all older MS Office versions be used with XP?

Thanks.

I'm currently using the older Office 2000 with XP

Quote:

Can all older MS Office versions be used with XP? Thanks.

AFAIK, yes.