I am appealing to the many and varied Beoworld members worldwide for some advice.

I have now been converted to Macs for around four years now, I am am huge fan and would not consider reverting back to the dreaded PC.  I first bought a Mac Mini for my daughter and then one for myself  I love the easy use, the format of the OS system and the way that almost anything I connect to the Mac works with ease, I am a huge fan and have converted several friends and work colleages  to the Mac way of life  and they have all been very greatful for my persistance in converting them.

But:

I recently purchased iLife for £55 and whilst I admit some responsibility for not reading the small print, it never occured to me that once I had bought the software I would not be able to install it on my daughters machine as well as mine.  For this I would need to buy the 5 user option at a substantially higher cost.  For this she was greatly disapointed.

For her birthday I bought my daughter and iPhone.  What an absolutely amazing piece of equiptment.  I was able to use it for a few days myself before I handed it over to my daughter on her birthday,  this was purely for research you understand, honest!  She had to drag it out of my hands on the  big day, I have never found it so hard to hand over a present, even to my daughter.  She of course was delighted and loved it.  Until she tried to sync it with her Mac Mini..........OS version not compatable so it would not sync! £279 plus £35 per month and it will not sync with her Mac!

To try and resolve the above problem I splashed out on Leopard for Xmas.  I spent the extra money on a 5 user version (so I do learn sometimes) and tried to install it on her Mac.  After it had been running for 24hrs it became apparent that it was not going to work.  Why...because her mac was too old a version.  So We cannot sync the iPhone and cannot update the OS system with £129 software.

This is not what I have come to expect from Apple and have become disolutioned and intend to write to Apple to complain.

So... I ask you Beoworld members, have you any experience of writing to Apple, what sort of response did you get.  I am also aware that writing to the correct person can make a huge difference to the outcome of the complaint.  Do you know who would be the best person to address my complaint to ( I live in the UK)

Finally, do you sympathise with my situation or is it just a result of my own lack of understanding, do I have a valid complaint?

I value the opinion of Beoworld members and would appreciate any thoughts or advice that you may have to offer to help me overcome this temporary glitch with my Mac affections.

Many thanks in advance

Peter G 

 

Hi Peter,

I understand your frustration, though I'm not entirely certain whether you have a legitimate complaint when it comes to the iPhone syncing. Most hardware providers do state compatibility with other equipment, and in many instances there are limitations when it comes to what plays with what. (Just ask Vista users who have had to upgrade just about everything to regain functionality.)

It's the curse of the Digital Era that new generations of equipment are not conversant with prior platforms.

As to the user license issue with Leopard and iLife. Considering what MS is charging for Office, I don't find 55GBP prohibitive for a one-user pack. Though I must confess I have never read the fine print, and installed both Leopard and iWork on my Macs and my daughter's, without any problems. I'll have to read that EULA again!

Go to the apple.com/iphone site and check compatibility as stated there. If your issue of Mac mini is stated to be compatible, then you have ground to tell Apple how upset you are.

You're not alone with your frustrations. I've just been told by an Apple insider that BluRay implementation is coming in the new computers from Apple -- this means that my iMac and Mac mini will either have to face a disk drive upgrade, or I may even have to replace at least one of them - should have waited with the iMac!
 

I don't believe the Iphone can not be synced with an older Mac Mini. They are not that old and Itunes doesn't require a lot.

 

Could you provide more details, what is the mini mac model number? What year is it from.

 

Jk 

Tip. Go to the Apple Store website, click on the iPhone and look for the chat symbol next to the phone number, top left. Click on it to open a chat box to Apple staff and pretend your buying. You can ask them as many questions as you like. I do it often.

Naughty but nice. 

looks like apple won't be including blu ray after all , they're going for the digtal download idea

itunes for movies , not a bad idea

take your ipod round to your friends house with 20 films ( in 720p h264 - so they will look amazing ! ) on it or a sack full of dvds / blurays ?

nuff said ! 

'Fraid to say I don't think you'll have a leg to stand on.

The iPhone WILL work with your MacMinis, all that's required is that you update the OS (which isn't too taxing). Leopard, Apple's latest OS is much better than any of their previous OSes. The only thing which may be needed is a RAM upgrade, relatively cheap and easy for any Apple store to do.

RE, the whole iWork thing, it does seem a little silly, but let's just say there's nothing really stopping you from installing it on more than one machine from a technical point of view...

Flappo The Grate:

looks like apple won't be including blu ray after all , they're going for the digtal download idea

itunes for movies , not a bad idea

take your ipod round to your friends house with 20 films ( in 720p h264 - so they will look amazing ! ) on it or a sack full of dvds / blurays ?

nuff said ! 

I thought iPods only supported up to 640x480 resolution??

i'm talking aboot mp4 files etc that you upload to the hd 

you can take that portable hd to your mates house - voila ! 

that's ALL the ipod is , a portable data carrier after all

mp4 files can be virtually any resolution 

Just to update you, I should have listened to Alex in the first place.  I visited one Apple store in Manchester (UK) and they told me that leopard should install without any problem with the os currently on the Mac Mini as long as there was sufficient memory available on the hard drive.  I checked and there was almost 20GB and it still would not install.  I then went to the Apple Store in the Trafford Centre with the Mac MIni in my hands and they ran a diagnostic on the machine and told me it did not have enough RAM, only 256k currently.  I then purchased a 1GB ram chip from Crucial Memory and today installed it.  The Mac booted up first time with no problems, it is as you would imagine much faster to run software and has now install Leopard with no problems.  This has also enabled my daughter to Sync her iPhone which she is delighted about.  So, all problems resolved and everyone now happy.  I just wish that I had listened to Alex back in March, Sorry Alex you were RIGHT.  Many thanks for your suggestions and advice.   Peter G

I'm always right, I'm a teenager