Quote:
I'm still interested in trying out Macs, but unfortunately not interested enough to spend the money that would otherwise go towards new components for a new PC. For the amount I'd spend on a mini, I'd be able to buy the Shuttle and CPU that I want, and have a little left over for the video card.


Well, you could always test drive a Mac Mini for 30 days and return it if you don't like it. Honestly, no amount of talk on the web is going to convince you. I personally tinkered with OS X on release day for about 3 hours at the local Apple Reseller. That experience allowed me to justify $500 on a used iMac. From there, I got to know the OS better, and also started to notice some nice Apple designs. The iMac I had was completely fan less and very quiet. From there, I sold the iMac for $600, bought a G4 Cube for about $700 and started using the Mac for more and more things. When it finally came time to replace my PC laptop, it was replaced with the Powerbook, and I don't regret that decision in any way. But none of it would have likely happened had I not taken the initial dive and got the iMac to see how things would work.