I tried a headset with a microphone included on my intel mac mini with Leopard and neither the earphones or the microphone work. The set works just fine a pb g4 and on a dell latitude so the problem is on the mac mini end. Does the mac mini have special requirements? Do I need to get a driver some somewhere?
Physically it seems to fit just fine. The sound out (ear phone socket) on the mac mini is fine when connected to our powered speakers too. As I am inside the 90 basic warranty I want to be sure that it is not a hardware issue. Any thoughts as to what I would do to troubleshoot this?

Seem to have found the answer here. [discussions.apple.com]

A mac mini needs a powered mike. Definitely not obvious in any marketing material I have seen.

Next problem is locating a headset with a powered mike ... never seen one in any local store, though of course I have never specifically been looking for that.

It's simpler to locate a USB headset. Logitech sells a number of Mac compatible USB headsets [www.logitech.com]

I didn't think any Mac made since the Plain Talk Microphone days would work with any headset or microphone for the PC. You have to use either USB or an amp like a Griffin iMate to convert the mic to line-level.

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AllGold
I didn't think any Mac made since the Plain Talk Microphone days would work with any headset or microphone for the PC. You have to use either USB or an amp like a Griffin iMate to convert the mic to line-level.

Not sure when plain talk was around. My pb 12" works fine with the same plain headset as my Dell laptop.