Mac Mini Mayhem
Many of my friends and relatives recall how my desk collapsed, and my 24″ iMac hit the floor face-first. I consider it a miracle that the iMac survived with no apparent outright physical damage. The screen wasn’t even scratched. Internally I wasn’t so fortunate. The internal hard drive doesn’t work. The DVD burner is possibly gone as well.
The iMac still functions when it boots off an external USB drive. Many people are amazed that it works at all. I have to imagine the iMac isn’t terribly efficient, running off an external USB drive. I decided it was time to make the Mac Mini my primary Macintosh, a year after I bought it.
I rearranged stuff to place the Mac Mini in center position on my desk. I also placed both the Mac Mini and iMac on the same desk. I mounted the Mac Mini’s 19″ monitor on the monitor arm I’d purchased for the 25″ monitor that died. Then I set out to use the Mac Mini as the primary Macintosh. My results were somewhat puzzling.
By this time I was relying on a wi-fi Internet connection. (Don’t ask, because I won’t tell.) Web sites loaded very slowly on the Mac Mini. The problem was really highlighted when I attempted to update the Macintosh computers with Apple’s latest OSX updates. I was looking at a 6-hour download. But the problem really came to light when I decided to order chicken wings from Pizza Hut.
The web site loaded so slowly that I kept banging on the keyboard and trackpad to get my order selections recognized. Then the pizza delivery guy had 2 orders of chicken wings. I realized that, in my frustration, I’d mistakenly ordered the chicken wings twice. It was time to run a speed test.
The Mac Mini’s speed test was pitiful when compared to the iMac’s wi-fi speed test. Then I remembered I’d had the same problem before, when relying on wi-fi for the Mac Mini. The ultimate solution will be to get back to my wired network setup. But that will need to wait a few months.
It was time to again make the Mac Mini a secondary computer, and put the beloved 24″ iMac back into service as the Primary Macintosh. I haven’t totally sorted out the arrangement. I grew exhausted before the work was finished.
But I really love seeing that 24″ iMac hooked up to a 24″ Viewsonic monitor as a secondary display.