Testing Sites in Safari
Since buying the Mac Mini I've had a few people ask me if it's been worth it. Well, for me, yes it has. As a web developer who (occasionally) needs to check sites on the Mac and in Safari it's invaluable and worth it for that alone.
You can see what a site looks like using services like iCapture, which will take a grab of your site in Safari and show you an image of what it looks like. This is NOT testing though. This might check your layout appears ok, but it doesn't test anything else. What about buttons, form submissions, and JavaScript routines!? You can't tell a customer the site is Safari-ready when all you've done is check the page layout is ok! If you need to check sites on a Mac, you need a Mac.
The Mac Mini is a great way to get yourself setup to test in Safari. It's cheap inexpensive, small, good looking and can use your current KVM equipment.
What do you do with the Mac for the rest of the time though? Well, I use it as a jukebox, constantly playing music in iTunes as I work on my Windows PC. It's good for watching DVDs on too. Sometimes I just use it for the pleasure of it. Buy one. You won't regret it.
More on testing tomorrow.
As OS X now comes in an x86 version, with few tricks you might install it on a standard PC (SSE2+ CPU) or on VMWare 5. And share your internet connection. And test your web sites with Safari.
Hi Jake!
Just a neat app that I got from a colleague recently: {Link}
You can use it to control several PCs with one mouse/keyboard (also for Mac & UNIX + it's open source..).
Keep up the good work - I visit your blog daily and it's been very useful to me..
@Keiser
Don't forget to mention, to do so you will need a top of the line pentium, the sound still won't work (along with any odd hardware you might have) and unless Apple has changed its tune lately, it would still be a copyright violation.
Buy a mac mini. The time you save will pay back the cost.
I love my Mini and now use it for everything except Notes related work --- the OS/X Mac client is just unbearable.
Thinking about acquiring a mini - can anyone advise does it work with a standard PC KVM with PS2/USB converters ?
Jim. I've not tried it, but I would be very surprised if it didn't work with a KVM. Why wouldn't it? My Linux server does. Why not a Mac?
I've read that there typically is no problem with a KVM and a mini unless you're using a wireless keyboard/mouse. There seem to be some issues there.
Perhaps you don't know that U can install the Lotus Notes Client also on a Mac and sometimes it works betten then on a PC.