Mac Mini FAQ

Answer:Before you sell used Mac Mini, turn off FileVault Disk Encryption, if you activated FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later. Indeed, when you turn off FileVault, encryption is turned off and the contents of your disk are decrypted. The decrypting could take a while, depending on how much information you have stored. However you can still use your computer to do other tasks while the decryption is occurring. To turn off FileVault: Go to Apple menu > System Preferences. Click Security & Privacy. Click FileVault. Click the lock to unlock the preferences pane, next enter an administrator name and password. Click Turn Off FileVault. Click Turn Off Encryption.

Important note: Deleting documents, contacts, reminders, documents, photo streams, or any other iCloud data while signed in to your iCloud account will lead to the removal of all this content from the iCloud servers. These documents also will be deleted from all of your devices that are signed in to iCloud.

One final piece of advice: Before you sell Mac mini: Don’t forget to clean it up. Clean physically up your old Mac Mini to get rid of that cruft and crumbs on the keyboard and mouse. Unplug everything, grab a microfiber cloth and wipe the screen, the keyboard and the case. If you have one of the older keyboards, turn it upside down and give it a good shake to get food crumbs, dust and cat hair between the keys. You can use a vacuum with a soft brush attachment to clean the keyboard. Your used Mac mini might even need a touch up with iKlear or a similar spray.

Answer: The Mac mini may be Apple’s best-value computer. Its small size and low power consumption have endeared the Mac mini to Apple enthusiasts who’ve found a range of uses for the device beyond those envisioned by the electronic giant. You can attach a Mac mini to a television set to create a media center. You can also use Mac mini as a server for a small office. Apple Mac mini Server comes with two internal hard drives (but no optical drive) and Apple’s Mac OS X Server software.

Answer: Yes, both your USB keyboard and mouse will definitely work with Mac mini. The mouse’s second button, as well as the scroll wheel if it’s got one are supported in Mac OS X. You might want to use uControl to swap the Windows and Alt keys, because otherwise you’ll keep pressing Option when you mean to press Command.

Answer: The Mac mini is quiet while working. However, its optical drive is a bit noisy. People say that when you’re heavily working the Mac mini’s processor, its fan can crank up. So the noise of a Mac mini may vary quite a bit, depending on how you’re using it.

Answer: There are a few alternatives for backing up your Mac mini:

Time Machine backs up everything, including photos, music, movies, and documents. After you set up Time Machine, it regularly backs up your Mac without any more effort on your part.

CDs and DVDs can be used to create a burn folder for your important files. Whenever you want to back up the latest versions of those files, open that burn folder, and click click Burn.

Other disks: If you have a second hard disk, you can back up files by copying them from one disk to the other. To save space, you can compress an item before copying it to a backup disk by selecting the file and then choosing File > Compress.

Disk Utility: If you need to back up more files than can fit on a single CD or DVD, you can use Disk Utility to create a compressed disk image of the files.

Answer: Yes, technically it is possible. But this decision will void your warranty if you attempt to open the Mac Mini. However most apple service depots will open the computer for you and put in a 3rd party addition.

Answer: No, it has an external source of power supply.

Answer: Yes, Apple Mac mini comes with a 10/100 ethernet port. Its OS X supports talking to PCs and sharing files.

Answer: Yes, Apple includes a DVI->VGA adapter which allows to use a regular CRT or non-digital LCD on the Mac mini.

Answer: As we said before, you can use this computer for many purposes. For instance, you can turn Mac mini it a home media center. It takes a TV set with HDMI socket, an HDMI cable of course and perhaps an external USB\Lightning USB drive to save large video files. And now you’re ready to plunge into home entertainment. Mac mini will automatically set the resolution, or it is said to do so. But if not, System Preferences is the place where to look. You can also install the Plex server on your Mac mini if you aren’t happy with iOS possibilities.

Answer: Indeed, some Mac minis have a moniker Server and run under server iOS. Yes, this babe in a cute case works wonders. And it’s so small, it can fit just any nook in your home. You’ll get a do-all mail, media and documents server at a reasonable price, for servers usually cost much, much more than a Mac mini.

Answer: Apple promised to bring Mac mini production home but only Macs Pro are assembled in USA at the moment. Spare parts for Mac desktops are manufactured worldwide: in Japan, Taiwan, even Germany and Netherlands. If the parts of your Mac mini could speak, they’d have spoken Chinese, Dutch and German, not English.