http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/4869/hasselhoffzm5.gif

this is a test....

I have a Compaq desktop with a gig of ram. In less than a year the thing started shutting itself down at random times, would drop work being done and a whole lot of odd stuff. Turned out the RAM was bad. I replaced it (9 month old machine) and Compaq did not want to pay for the parts. Interesting. I sent a letter to the State Attorney and BINGO!! a few weeks later there was a phone call from Compaq main office. "How much did it cost for the RAM replacements? OK...We will send you out a check for double that amount"

Otherwise so far so good.......Wouldn't buy another one though...Ever try to understand a technician from India?

All of us better get used to this. The offshore model for things like this isn't going anywhere. In fact, its going to become the new Onshore model as well. There is no need to transfer these roles responsibilities to a team, a division, or a contractor in India who will collectively do the job for $10/hr when you can give them all work VISAs and bring them to the states to do the job for $8/hr. Onshore or Offshore, you are going to be dealing with this for the rest of the time you own a computer and have a 'customer service' number to call.

I don't disagree with the above at all.

I bought the Mini so I could try the Mac thing without spending too much money. Add the keyboard, mouse, USB hub, 2nd keyboard, memory upgrade, and now the 3rd keyboard, and I have more money in it than I would have had in a new PC. The Mini is the bottom of the Mac line, but its definitely still Cadilac compared to the average home use PC so I wont ***** too much about it costing more $$$.

I love OS X and I really appreciated the portability of the machine during hurricane season last year. I come across usability features of OS X that are new to me and seem to be really well thought out all the time. For example: The shortcuts, and using Grab instead of the PrtScrn-paste to Paintbrush-crop-cut-paste-save as .JPG method that I would use in Windows to get a screen print.

However, I've had more than one application that is delivered with OS X just disappear from the machine after an update. Mail for example. I've been using Thunderbird for the last 6 months because Mail just disappeared after an update. The most aggravating thing to me is that these machines are the Gold standard for video and music applications, and I cant hear anything on 80% of the videos I either download or watch on Google or YouTube.

My mac has been less than reliable, IMHO. Its a nice and highly capable machine with a really slick OS. Every other MAC user tells me that my experience is not normal, so take everything above as my opinion only.

The only instances of my XP machines (SP1 and greater) EVER requiring a reboot have occurred when the power has gone out long enough for my UPS to fail. I haven't done a Windows update on them in at least a year. I honestly haven't had to rebuild an XP machine since SP1 was released. The Spyware and virus stuff has been manageable for a while now with FireFox, Thunderbird, and Ad-Aware. Its not Cadilac, but it works fine and has been relatively trouble free for me.