New development this morning, and I have to run off to work, so I can't fix it right now, but hopefully this will help someone think of something.

I ran AirPort Utility on roomie's computer, and it cannot see our AirPort Express. You know, the one he uses all the time (and is using RIGHT NOW) to connect to the Internet. WTF????

Restart his computer? Full shutdown, wait a few, reboot. It clears a surprising amount of problems.

It's sounding like something is wrong with Bonjour on his machine.

Greetings Tech folk, I need some advice about moving forward in the world of Apple.

I haven't been paying attention to the changes in product lines until last night when I began trying to put together some reasonably priced equipment to produce a video blog.

Thanks to NoiseDesign's good advice years ago, I have a Blue Snowball mic...so I'm set there.

The problem is, my current mac is a ppc and an increasing burden in terms of not being able to upgrade.

I settled on a flip ultra HD for the camera, and then realized that I can't run Screenflow on this computer.

Maybe it is finally time to get the mini I've been lusting after for ages.

BUT, now I see that the mini no longer has a dvd drive. This is a travesty, given that I have not owned a tv for 15 years.

Question: Is there an outlet for older minis that you could recommend? (I've tried smalldog, amazon, B+H, cowboom, overstock, bizrate)

I'm pretty sure I can cobble together a decent lighting set up from stuff at my local hardware store, but that won't matter much if I can't shoot or edit!

All thoughts gratefully accepted.

you can buy an external DVD for the mac. [link]

Right, omnis.

I'd still love it if I could find an older all-in-one.

The nice thing about the newer ones, is HDMI output for vdieo. But, I hear ya. It's a hesitation for me too. Why did they get rid of the optical? It's a great media center computer, except it doesn't have an optical drive. And no bluray either.

I have to confess that, having been an Apple user since the II, I'm totally bewildered by the choices the company is making now.

I understand upgrading but this is getting ridiculous.

Their opticals have always been reliable, as far as I have experienced. It just doesn't make sense.

Are the gazillions of dvds and cds in the world _that_ passe?

Mercy. I must be getting old.

Are the gazillions of dvds and cds in the world _that_ passe?

They're not selling their OS that way anymore. At least they're being consistent.

I've had too many system meltdowns over the years to not prefer having the physical operating discs on hand. Again, I'm old.