PC Peripherals The new Mac Mini - Potentially a great HTPC + 24X7 combo

superczar

superczar

Skilled
Apple has quietly released the new Mac Mini based on the newer Penryn cores/1066 Mhz FSB/DDR3/ 9400 graphics

First the good:

The performance is obviously the same as the unibody Macbooks which means it can make a great HTPC with sufficient reserve power to handle a 1080p at less than 50% CPU load

at the same time the low power consumption makes it a suitable choice for 24X7 download setups (The new Mini is supposed to idle at 13W at the wall plug :O )

On the flipside,

-it's expensive (~30K) although a similar HTPC config with a casing less than half as stylish will come close to this mark anyway ..so it makes a compelling proposition for someone willing to spend a fortune on say an Antec casing (and there quite a few around who have),

- need to add an external HDD for HTPC usage since the internal drive is a 2.5" with limited capacity

- the base model comes with only a Gig of RAM (wtf) and although upgrading the RAM is easy, it's not as easy to open the Mini compared to

a regular PC
 
I had thought of this... but the limited (2.5" drive) upgrade option put me off this idea. I don't see much point is plugging in external drives with another power adapters. I think I'll stick to Atom and cheap mini-itx tower cases for my home server idea. That's a lot of saving. :)

On the other hand, mini does make good option for HTPC despite the lack of HDMI port. I think 1gig ram and 9400 graphic should be more than sufficient... plus you can download and install hacked apple TV OS on it, get apple remote and you're quite set.
 
superczar said:
[/B]-it's expensive (~30K) although a similar HTPC config with a casing less than half as stylish will come close to this mark anyway ..so it makes a compelling proposition for someone willing to spend a fortune on say an Antec casing (and there quite a few around who have),

- need to add an external HDD for HTPC usage since the internal drive is a 2.5" with limited capacity
Click to expand...

this would be the main factor i guess. building your own htpc would include a huge hdd in that price.

but still not bad.
 
mini does make good option for HTPC despite the lack of HDMI port.
Click to expand...

It does have DVI which give you the exact same PQ as HDMI

Dont macs have gpu acceleration for HD content?

why should i use 50% of my cpus capacity just to play HD content?
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They do, in fact GPU accelerations works without the need to tweak any settings
 
superczar said:
It does have DVI which give you the exact same PQ as HDMI
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Yep it does indeed... but my point was in context for single cable for A/V vs. Adapters (DVI-to-HDMI for video, Optical to Coaxial or just simple TOSLINK cable for audio) etc. :)
 
Yep it does indeed... but my point was in context for single cable for A/V vs. Adapters (DVI-to-HDMI for video, Optical to Coaxial or just simple TOSLINK cable for audio) etc.
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True, although I use a DVI-HDMI cable + TOSLink despite HDMI on my HTPC since I found the software side setup less tedious
 
i play hd using perian or vlc on my mac. there are no good hd codec for mac and no one uses hardware acceleration until its quicktime supported format, I seriously doubt 1080p playback in mkv or wmv format. Next big problem is sound, anyone wanting decent sound needs a soundcard. i give good importance of sound in htpc. DVR is also not possible.
 
i play hd using perian or vlc on my mac. there are no good hd codec for mac and no one uses hardware acceleration until its quicktime supported format, I seriously doubt 1080p playback in mkv or wmv format.
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1080p playback works happily on my unibody MB ..since the CPU util stays below 50% all the time..

Havent tried WMV, but why'd any sane person want to use WMV for a 1080p

Next big problem is sound, anyone wanting decent sound needs a soundcard. i give good importance of sound in htpc.
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The Mini has SPDIF out ...

As for DVR, I do not use it..not sure how many of us do..USB /firewire capture should be possible though
 
Party Monger said:
The whole point of building an htpc is upgradablity, i dont think thats possible in a mac mini?
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No the whole point of an HTPC is a small, unobtrusive design that sits quietly in the corner, doesn't not draw power and has LOTS of storage space.
 
How's this for a cheaper alternative? UK price is GBP310 (USD$440).

Asus Eee Box 206 Specs:
... the 223 x 178 x 16mm machine is based on Intel’s 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor and 945GSE chipset. An AMD ATI Radeon HD 3450 GPU is also included to feed the HDMI port.

...A bundled remote control...

...1GB of DDR 2 memory and a 160GB 5400rpm hard drive.

...an integrated five-in-one memory card reader.

...headphone-out, microphone-in, audio-out...

...802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There's an Ethernet port too.

...only consume around 20W of power.

...around 26dB in idle mode.
Click to expand...

EDIT: Some pics of it mounted behind a LCD
 
Anish said:
No the whole point of an HTPC is a small, unobtrusive design that sits quietly in the corner, doesn't not draw power and has LOTS of storage space.
Click to expand...

Well then wont a player like WD media player be much more smaller and compact and loads of storage?
 
How's this for a cheaper alternative? UK price is GBP310 (USD$440).
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marginally so, but an atom over a C2D/1066mhz FSB/DDR3 to save $60..thanks, but I'll give it a skip

not to mention that the extra $60 also gets you a much neater looking package
 
One of the best things about it as a HTPC is and I'v seen this in action at a couple of places: With very minimal mods, it can be mounted behind your VESA mount compatible flat screen. I'll try to get pics next time I see this.
As for storage, it has a Firewire 800 and gigabit ethernet, That is good enough for me. The $150 discount that I'm getting from Apple on this is tempting, very tempting.

edit: just saw those EEE pc pics, that is what I'm talking about.
 
Party Monger said:
Well then wont a player like WD media player be much more smaller and compact and loads of storage?
Click to expand...
Yup true, but this can also switch to a full fledged PC when needed, something which the WD Player/EEE will be underpowered to do.

Basically you have to give it to Apple for giving desktop level processing power in that form factor. Till the EEE Box comes with full fledged Dual Cores and DDR3 RAM along with a proper GPU for that price point, Apple's killing it.
 
superczar said:
marginally so, but an atom over a C2D/1066mhz FSB/DDR3 to save $60..thanks, but I'll give it a skip

not to mention that the extra $60 also gets you a much neater looking package
Click to expand...

Comparing UK prices would make sense here since the Eee's US price isn't out yet. The Mini is 500 GBP for the base model. That's almost 200 GBP more than the Eee.

BTW the Eee doesn't have an optical drive built in. That means an external DVDRW for those who need it.

ASUS Eee Box - Official Specifications
 
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