Hi, Steve: Janina here ...
I purchased a fully loaded Mac Mini earlier this calendar year and I'm generally quite pleased with it. I added a BT keyboard to my order, and it's the keyboard I use most often though I have also added the Mini to my USB based KVM. The KVM also works well with a simple swap of the Windows and Alt keys from a PC. I would note the swapping didn't work properly until I got sighted assistance, but has been rock solid since. Whatever! <grin> The only downside I've experienced is not enough USB ports. Yes, I have Apple's extra ports dongle thingie, but it doesn't recognize plugged in USB devices on reboot. Pulling the USB connector and plugging it into a different USB port fixes things--but one shouldn't have to do such things just because one rebooted. If my needs were postponable, I would tend to want to wait for the new Apple CPU which should provide significantly improved performance. I now have two Macs, my Mini and a 2013 vcintage Airbook. I expect to replace the Airbook sometime after the new laptops with the new CPU come to market. Until then, I can still run Big Sur on mine--but it's likely the end for me there, too. Best, Janina Steve Matzura writes: > My 2012 Mac Mini is nearing the end of its natural life. It's already not > possible to upgrade to Big Sur, but more than that, it now runs quite hot > and acts squirelly after an hour or so of just sitting there doing nothing, > then when I give it something to do, it really starts acting like a person > would act who has a high temperature--gets sluggish, misses keystrokes, > takes way too long to do things that took mere minutes, etc. Sometimes > VoiceOver lags in both speech output and navigation ... it's time to think > about a replacement. > > > So, what's your recommendation? I'd prefer a Mini, but an all-in-one would > be a fine second choice because it has a screen after all. I really do not > want a MacBook because I just don't have the horizontal real-estate anywhere > for anything even that small, which is why a stand-up all-in-one like an > iMac something would be far superior physically. > > > What do I use a Mac for? Not much other than Zoom, Pro Tools with Komplete > Kontrol, and occasionally Reaper, plus the usual handful of native > applications like Messages, Pages, Keynote, TextEdit, Calendar, and a few > others. > > > If I'm going to spend Mac money, it's got to be spent on something that'll > last me at least another six or seven years--up to the last operating system > version the system will allow--so I'd prefer to buy something new even > though it's big money rather than buy something a few years older that'll > only last me four more years or les. > > > Since nobody really knows much about the new M1 processor and how it behaves > with VoiceOver, not to mention music applications like Pro Tools and Reaper, > I'm hesitant to get one of those, but wow do they sound tempting and > sw'w'w'weet! > > > So, with those two things bracketing my choices--something new but maybe not > cutting-edge versus something a few years old that won't last the full > seven-year cycle, what are your thoughts? > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: > mk...@ucla.edu and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ > --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/0bc936fb-89cb-74c2-02e2-c48eacdd6b7a%40noisynotes.com. -- Janina Sajka https://linkedin.com/in/jsajka Linux Foundation Fellow Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Co-Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: mk...@ucla.edu and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/20201117070615.GA2531%40rednote.net.
