Hi, Speech does come with the system preinstalled - no extra purchase necessary. I would though recommend you to buy the Apple keyboard and mouse with this product, because if you use another keyboard and mouse there may be some issues - I have had an issue when trying a different mouse for example, and so am glad I decided to buy the keyboard/mouse kit. The unit is the size (around) of a Victor Daisy player. It is very quiet in operation. I have managed to crash it when trying to get onto our main file server Elrond. I am not sure (and still not sure), what went wrong, and had to use (IIRC) command + option + escape to get a task manager window up. I may try reinstalling OSX with less options, as they give you a lot of preinstalled applications with the unit, like games, Quicken etc, and Office demos, which I don't need. Thanks.A Ndrew. -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carol Pearson Sent: 24 September 2005 16:30 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: My experiences with the Mac Andrew, i'm only now showing some interest in this so forgive me if I come in with questions already answered before. First, is the speech an integral part of the MAC now, so already installed and ready to go, or do you have to purchase separately? Please tell us some more on how you find the speech and how versatile it is? How big is the Mac mini? Have you crashed much! Thanks for any further info you can give on this. Regards: Carol Pearson carol.pearson@xxxxxxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- .From: "Andrew Hodgson"<andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> .Sent: 24/09/05 13:27:23 .To: "access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"<access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> .Subject: [access-uk] My experiences with the Mac . . Hi all, . .I got my Mac Mini yesterday and I must say I am completely impressed .with the system. When I started the system, it gave me a short .tutorial on the Voice Over package, and its keyboard shortcuts. I .think the main thing is not go go into this with the expectation that .you will be hand fed the OS in a Windows fashion, as the OS is .certainly not Windows, and has several new concepts. I am still .floundering to a grate degree, but am able to now read/reply to mail .in the Exchange account, am able to read Mac online help, move files .around on the hard disk, and have changed a few preferences. . .I am still waiting to be able to connect to our network folders, (I .am able to connect to our NAS, but cannot connect to our domain or .our W2k3 server). . .One thing this Mac is the one with the CD and DVD burner installed, .as I wanted to see how easy it is to get running. It also comes with .a bluetooth and wireless card installed, which I got partially .working last night to provide wireless Internet access. This is .quite amazing that you get all this in such a small package. . .Hope this information is helpful. .Andrew. .** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- .** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] .** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: .** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx .** and in the Subject line type .** unsubscribe .** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the .** immediately-following link:- .** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] .** or send a message, to .** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq . ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq