This year’s summer bonus has been paid again. To coincide with this, I purchased a Mac mini, which I have longed for. It is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I am looking forward to it now.
Buy Mac mini M4 & HDMI cable
The Mac mini I purchased is the one linked below, purchased from Amazon.
2024, M4 with 10 Core CPU, 10 Core GPU, 16GB, 256GB minimum configuration.
I also purchased an HDMI cable for connection to the monitor, a short one of 0.5m.
We have a short Ethernet wired cable on hand that we purchased earlier, so we will be able to use just these two.
Other accessories will be shared with your current main PC. Usually Bluetooth, wired if needed.
Motivations for past attempts to purchase and reasons for stopping
I have a long PC history, 37 years since I bought my first NEC PC 8801 MH, but this is the first time I bought an Apple Mac.
There have been several times when I have tried to get a Mac.
For compiling PowerPC Linux
Once upon a time I used PowerPC-based Linux machines. One was an OpenBlocksS first generation.The other is a Kuro-box.
OpenBlocksS first generation was a model with PowerPC MPC860 CPU and 16MB memory, CF card or 2.5 inch HDD could be connected, and it was used as NAT server.
Kuro-box is a model of PowerPC 200MHz, 64MB memory. It has higher performance than OpenBlocksS, it has more memory, I compiled kernel etc. here and was running it on OpenBlocksS. 3.5 inch HDD could be built in, so I could make PowerPC Linux environment cheaper than OpenBlocksS. I was able to make PowerPC Linux environment more inexpensively than OpenBlocksS. Personally, I think it was an interesting model because it allowed me to solder a serial console to the outside.
However, the amount of CPU capacity and memory was small, and it took time to compile.(Emulators were not practical at that time.)
At the time, PowerPC Macs were the most powerful PowerPC CPUs available to consumers. I was on the verge of buying an iMac with an integrated monitor, but decided against it due to lack of space.
Intel Mac
After that, my Mac fever cooled down for a while, but when the Intel CPU version of Mac mini came out, my heart was swayed again.
My first exposure to the Mac was at age 20 on a Macintosh Color Classic. I was playing with spreadsheets to imitate simulations. Since that time, I have had a vague yearning for the Mac. This continues to this day.
When the Intel CPU version of Mac mini came out, I was very worried about whether to buy it or not at that time as well.
At that point, I stopped at, “Well, what are you going to use it for?” I was stuck at the point where I thought, “Then what will I use it for? The reason is that I didn’t feel any inconvenience with Windows, and I didn’t feel iOS was that attractive.
Reasons for this purchase
After having thought about purchasing a Mac mini several times before, I decided to purchase it this time for the following four reasons.
- M4 CPU
- Price
- UNIX like OS
- iPhone / iPad compatibility
M4 CPU
The Apple M4 is an ARM-architecture CPU, and is said to offer a significant increase in processing power from the M2 to the M4.
Although not as good as Windows PC + GPU for use with generative AI, I suspect that the optimized software is lighter.
Using CPUs other than x86 or x64 is very intriguing to me. Currently I would like to touch ARM and RISC V CPUs.
For one of them, I chose the Mac mini M4.
Price
Price was another reason to push back.
- Income generated by Google AdSense, including this blog
- Revenue from purchases made through links on Amazon Associates.
I was able to save up to where these savings almost met the price. The timing was just right.
UNIX like OS
In the past, I have always been exposed to BSD-based systems, and from the past to the present, I have always been exposed to Linux.
I am also interested in getting to know the Mac OS, a UNIX-like OS with a different origin. I am also interested in using homebrew, a package manager.
iPhone / iPad compatibility
I use iPhone/iPad as my phone and tablet. The rest are iOS-based.
Although iTunes can be used on Windows, we expect that it will be easier to use on the Mac since it will be more compatible with the iPhone/iPad.
Musubi
Here is a summary of the Mac mini M4 and what led to its purchase.
I plan to write an article on the usability of the Mac OS from a Windows user’s point of view on my other blog.
Arrival is scheduled for tomorrow. What will it be like to use my first Mac? I am looking forward to it.
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