@nechbi

OK – I really could not resist temptation any longer and picked myself up an Apple iPhone yesterday!

For those of you in the UK, you’ll probably be aware that o2, who exclusively have the iPhone, slashed £100 off the price of the 8GB iPhone to £169 as it would appear that the handset is going ‘end of line’.

I have been toying with the idea of just getting an iPod Touch since that first appeared, but now that the 8GB iPhone is cheaper than an iPod Touch, I just had to do it..

Of course I didn’t want to sign up to an expensive o2 tarrif for 18 months, so promplty Jailboke the handset within minutes of getting it home..

I’ll keep you posted about my experiences with the handset and how, it compares to the market leaders Nokia and their Nseries handsets.

Friday 26th October was a special day for two reasons, firstly it was the day that Apple launched it’s new OS – Leopard and more importantly for me it was also the day that I ordered myself a shiny new iMac.. Unfortunately I had to wait over two weeks for it to arrive on my doorstep. Why it takes so long, who only knows.. it was dispatched on 31st! Like they say good things come to those who wait (and I hate waiting!) and man was it worth the wait.. the little beauty arrived safely on Monday.

Apple just have the art of presentation down to a tee, from the stylized box, to the inner packaging it just all made me go ‘wow’.. It’s just the attention to detail, the little touches like the lint-free cloth for example (for cleaning the screen) that was carefully folded and packaged, but came with discreet apple logo on it. Nice.

The iMac itself is really a sight to behold.. Man do they know how to make good kit. Lifting the 20 inch iMac out of its box, you can’t help but notice the quality of the build, it felt so sold and sturdy with its aluminum finish. Oh it’s sexy! I have to say that I really didn’t like the previous white iMac at all.. It just seemed way to big and bulky for my liking! This on the other hand is slim, sleek and sexy.

The new apple keyboard is something that I really had my doubts about.. Having seen one online – I really wasn’t that taken with it to be honest.. It is just wafer thin and the keys, what happened to them? OMG, how can my first impressions be so wrong, I have been using the new keyboard for a couple of days now, and have been so impressed with it. The keyboard just feels so much nicer to type with. As its more flush with the desk, you dont have to raise your fingers so high to reach the correct keys – it really does enable you to write better. This has got to be a winner with people that suffer from RSI as it gives such a better ergonomic position for your hands.. I really do love this new keyboard.. Kinda makes me want to have one for my PC at work!

One thing that you can’t help but notice about the new iMac is the lovely glossy new screen – it really is stunning especially when you are watching a Hi-Def movie trailer.. This Mac is really starting to blur the boundaries between computer and TV.

What with all this and Leopard, it really is one cracking bit of kit..

Well, I went and did it – gone and got myself an iPod Nano. A quick bid on eBay a couple of nights ago and here it is in my hand today!

The Nano is just sooo small, even compared to my Mini – how did they do it? Although techinically I have down-sized from a 4GB Mini to a 2GB Nano, I’m not really bothered. There is such a thing as too much choice – I found that even with 4GB, I still only played a handful of songs.. and besides it only takes moments for iTunes to download a new set of songs..

Good work Apple, the iPod just gets better and better…

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to resist for very long.. I have now upgraded my Mac Mini from Panther to Tiger.

Not a very dramatic upgrade to be honest, OK Spotlight is neat, as are the Dashboard Widgets, but at the end of the day the relatively small enhancements to the other bits of the OS make the move from Panther to Tiger similar to a move from Windows 95 to 98. Nice but not earth shattering.

It’s still a first class operating system, and I don’t think that I’ll switch back to Microsoft again in a hurry – I am even selling my PC – as I haven’t used it since I bought my Mac..

I have now had my Mini Mac a week – doesn’t time fly when you have fun?

The verdict? It’s Bl**dy awesome!

As I had planned, the Mac is set-up in my living room so that it can be used as a media centre and means that I don’t need to be shut away in my smallest bedroom, that I have converted into an office, when I want to be on the Internet.

I ordered a DVI to Video Adapter with my Mac so that I could plug it into my TV. This seemed a good idea at the time, but as TV’s are such low res I couldn’t read anything on the screen. OK it was fine for watching DVD’s but for surfing or emails it was no good at all. I brought my 15″ LCD screen down from my PC and used that for a while. Although it worked fine I wasn’t happy about having another screen cluttering up the living room.

Over the weekend, I was out and about and had a look in Currys and Comet just to see what they had in the way of Plasma/LCD TV’s. They had some nice sets – shame that the prices weren’t as nice.. I have been dissuaded by Plasma TV’s recently by various different people – and to be honest my lounge just isn’t big enough for a 42″ screen – as much as I would like one!

I had my eye on a Samsung 32″ LCD TV but to be honest I could just not justify spending over a grand on a TV set. I then came across a smaller LG LCD TV and after initially not being sure that I wanted to down-size my existing 28″ widescreen to a 26″ LCD I soon came around to the idea.

So that was it – before I knew it, I was loading one into the back of my car! Next stop was Argos to pick up a new TV stand. I choose this one as it had glass shelves that would enable me to show off my Mac as well as my other TV equipment, plus it wasn’t gonna break the bank!

After a bit of assembling the new stand was in place, I un-wired my old set-up and re-wired my new configuration in place.

The screen res is fantastic – it’s so kewl to use a 26″ monitor! My doubts of having a slightly smaller screen soon faded, it was just right in fact!

I’m so glad that I spent that extra bit more money by getting a wireless keyboard and mouse – no messy wires trailing about – and with my wireless internet connection it really is the dog’s do-dahs!

I have now converted most of my CD’s into iTunes and have now removed my CD rack from the lounge. All my music is now accessible by the click of a button. I really am LOVING iTunes!! I had used it previously on my PC before, but didn’t really take to it – but it is just so simple an easy to use – I find it so much easier to play a song from my iTunes library than I ever did with MS Media Player.

All in all I’d say that I’m loving the Mac – it is far superior than a Microsoft based computer I have no intention to switching back!

I checked the Order Status first thing yesterday morning, and it was still stuck on ‘Depart Terminal – Luxembourg’. After a spot of work, I decided to check again at lunchtime, this time I had to look twice as the status had now changed to ‘Out for Delivery’ – Could this be true? After checking the TNT status page, this was in fact correct, my Mac Mini had arrived at Cardiff Airport at 7am, and was at Exeter Depot at 10, and out for delivery at 10.15!! Kewl… It was on it’s way to me..

All excited, I rushed home to see if I had missed the delivery, and hoping that I would be able to catch him during my lunch hour.. Just as my lunch period came to an end – he arrived with 3 packages – a Wireless Keyboard, another box with Wireless Mouse & TV Adapter and of course the Mac Mini itself!

I bought it all back to work, as I knew that my colleagues were interested in seeing this little beauty, and that I wouldn’t be able to wait until after work to play with it!

I have to say that the Mac Mini is STUNNING – It’s such a wonderfully engineered computer, It looks great and just oozes quality.

After popping the batteries into the wireless keyboard & mouse, I booted up the Mac. The set-up was very slick – why can’t Windows be this easy? In no time at all I was up and running. …

After an initial play – I think that I am gonna LOVE this new computer – and think that I may be another Mac switcher..

Well the 15th has come – the day that Apple claimed that my Mac Mini would be shipped on or before – and no sign of it

The Apple order status still says that it has departed Luxembourg, but that was on the 12th.. There are TNT consginment numbers, but they came back with errors. I phoned Apple today to find out what was happening, they said that it takes 5-7 working days from shipment, and that we’d have a better idea when TNT get hold of the package – So I guess it’s held up at the ports.

Guess I’ll have to wait a wee bit longer.. groan.

I had another look on the Order Status page on the Apple Store today, like I do most days and see that my Mac Mini has finally been shipped from PARDUBICE, PA, CZ on 10th and has arrived at LUXEMBOURG, LU, LU Today! Yeah! – I’m not sure how long it’s gonna take to arrive here in the UK, I’d imagine it will be the beginning of the week…

Just a matter of couting down the days ’till my new toy arrives….

It’s not even been a week yet and I am starting to get impatient waiting for the Mac Mini that I ordered to arrive..

Apple’s Order Status says that my order will not be ready until 15th March! I CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG!! How long does it take to lob a few components into a chassis? 4 weeks apparently!

Oh well, good things come to those who wait! So I have been told!

I was reading an article on noDRM.com about somebody that had strapped their Mac Mini to the back of their 42″ plasma TV. Now I’m not sure that I totally agree with that idea, come-on the new Mac is a lovely bit of kit, so why hide it away? I’m not sure that it’s even that practical to load DVD’s tucked behind a monster screen anyways..

But the Plasma TV has got to be a must-have for a Mac-Mini user who is going to use their mac as a media centre.

I have been looking at Plasma TV’s for a year or so now, they are still more money than I wish to pay for a television even though they have come down in price.. I’m not even sure that a monster screen would look right in my rectangle-shaped living room, but there is nothing like watching things on a big screen!

I really cannot afford a Plasma or LCD screen at the moment, but I think that this will be the top of my next-to-buy gadget list..