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16-09-2007, 04:53 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Willetton, WA
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Mac Mini vs. Apple TV
I put this in this thread as Apple groups Apple TV with the iPod.
I really want something I can connect to my TV to watch video. Naturally the Apple TV is appealing but would I get any benefit in having a Mac Mini?
What are your thoughts?
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The World According to Andrew - http://atomac.aucs.com.au
Hector: iMac 20" 2.16Ghz Ajax: Mac Book 13.3" 1.83 Ghz
AuPod II: iPod 5G 60 Gb aNYPod: iPod touch 8 Gb AgPod: iPod mini Silver A Pod: iPod Shuffle |
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16-09-2007, 04:59 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Perth, WA
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Optical drive
Ability to add extra codecs easily
Ability to add extra storage easily (external drives)
Downsides - I don't think the Mini has quite the output options the TV does,
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16-09-2007, 05:15 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Willetton, WA
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So the question really is: Are the inherent benefits of the Mac Mini justified in the extra cost?
__________________
The World According to Andrew - http://atomac.aucs.com.au
Hector: iMac 20" 2.16Ghz Ajax: Mac Book 13.3" 1.83 Ghz
AuPod II: iPod 5G 60 Gb aNYPod: iPod touch 8 Gb AgPod: iPod mini Silver A Pod: iPod Shuffle |
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16-09-2007, 05:27 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Colac
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If all you want it for is to play back videos from you computer, you cant really justify the extra cost of a mini.
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16-09-2007, 05:31 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: nhulunbuy
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i had the choice and went with a macmini, i didnt want to have to hack my hardware to play my content and the macmini just seemed a more elegant solution for a bit more money. also got a 250Gb HD to sit it on.
i think it comes down to what you can afford.
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MBA, MBP 17", Mac Mini media centre, PB 15" G4,
1TB Time Capsule, eye TV hybrid
ipods 1 x20GB 1G 1 x 40GB 4G & 1 x 80GB iPod video, 16GB 1G iPhone
website web gallery MTAU KIVA lending team |
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16-09-2007, 05:58 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Willetton, WA
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Yeah...I guess I could afford either. The TV seems so elegant. Elegant and limited and, no, I really don't want to have to hack it.
__________________
The World According to Andrew - http://atomac.aucs.com.au
Hector: iMac 20" 2.16Ghz Ajax: Mac Book 13.3" 1.83 Ghz
AuPod II: iPod 5G 60 Gb aNYPod: iPod touch 8 Gb AgPod: iPod mini Silver A Pod: iPod Shuffle |
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16-09-2007, 06:22 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne
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hmmmm - for what its worth, I had a G4 mac mini connected to my TV to play divx files, eyetv etc, but I found it a little unreliable, especially when coming out of sleep. I kept losing the ElGato DTT I had in the USB port of the mini. It looked like to me that it was tripping the 'fuse' in the USB port and removing power from it. The only way to get it back was to power the mini off and on. This started getting tiresome for me. So, I moved the Eyetv and El gato to my iMac in the other room and replaced the mini with an Apple TV. Its only 40GB but I dont store anything on it - I stream everything from the iMac. I have found that EyeTV and the El Gato are much better behaved on the Intel iMac. True, I had to re-rip my DVDs so that the are in mp4 that iTunes can serve to the Apple TV but I didnt have that many. I do now and I am kind of committed to the way I am doing it now. EyeTV prepares my recorded tv programs for the Appple TV and I use a combination of VisualHub, Popcorn3 and Turbo.264 to do my encoding.
One thing I did have a problem wih with the Mac on my plasma was screen resolution - I could never get it quite right - it looked kinda squashy. I didnt do too much investigation on it as I didnt really have the time. It was connected via RGB. My Apple TV is connected via HDMI and all is sweet re: resolution.
Of course, results may be different with an intel mac mini - mine was POWER based.
My 2 cents worth...............
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Last edited by zootman; 16-09-2007 at 06:42 PM.
Reason: cant spell for nuts...............
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16-09-2007, 06:26 PM
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Ultimate Consumer
Group: Regulars
Location: Canberra ACT
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I have a Mac mini and wouldn't change it for anything!
I looked at the Apple TV but decided it wasn't enough / and too limiting.
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Home entertainment - Mac mini 1.83GHz 2GB RAM + 40" Sony Bravia X Series (HD LCD TV)
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16-09-2007, 06:49 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Sydney
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I think the AppleTV as Steve said is a hobby for Apple. If they doa 2nd gen one then we might see something really competative with the Mac Mini.
__________________
iPhone 3G | iMac 24" Alu | MBP 15" Early 2008 | Dell 24" LCD
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16-09-2007, 06:56 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Willetton, WA
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Thanks. That is interesting. I guess the larger amount of functionality described in favour of the mini above is perhaps better provided by my iMac.
__________________
The World According to Andrew - http://atomac.aucs.com.au
Hector: iMac 20" 2.16Ghz Ajax: Mac Book 13.3" 1.83 Ghz
AuPod II: iPod 5G 60 Gb aNYPod: iPod touch 8 Gb AgPod: iPod mini Silver A Pod: iPod Shuffle |
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16-09-2007, 07:55 PM
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Widgeteer
Group: Forum Leaders
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I'd pick the Mini (which is what I have).
With Leopard all the AppleTV functionality is on the Mini, but the mini also has all the advantages described by others here.
Pros:
- can record TV with tuners add.
- can have codecs added easily.
- can run Windows or Linux.
- can be upgraded easily (HD space and ram).
- can play DVDs and CDs.
- is much, much quicker (Dual core 1.88ghz modern CPU... AppleTV has a 1ghz single core CPU).
Cons:
- no component.
- no HDMI, so you have to use DVI and might have to mess around a little more to get thing displaying well. VGA looks better than component if you can't get HDMI or DVI working.
Pretty easy choice!
Last edited by marc; 16-09-2007 at 08:00 PM.
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16-09-2007, 07:57 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne and Brisbane Australia
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As mentioned the one area Apple TV seems to outdo the mini is screen resolution particularly on large TV's. I have a mini on my plasma and when i connected the Apple TV the difference was quite large.
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16-09-2007, 07:59 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Sydney, Australia
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I use an AppleTV... It suits all my needs perfectly. Use it mainly for video podcasts and my music library.
I use my Xbox 360 as the HD DVD/DVD player.
__________________
Mac Pro 2.66GHz, 8800GT, 8GB RAM / MacBook Air 1.8GHz, SSD / iPhone 3G 16GB / iPod nano 8GB / tv 40GB
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16-09-2007, 08:04 PM
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Widgeteer
Group: Forum Leaders
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formulagpguys
As mentioned the one area Apple TV seems to outdo the mini is screen resolution particularly on large TV's. I have a mini on my plasma and when i connected the Apple TV the difference was quite large.
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Should be about the same... how do you have the Mini connected? In fact, the Mini can drive full 1080p, but the AppleTV can't (720p is the max it can do).
So full HD is only possible with the Mini. |
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16-09-2007, 08:09 PM
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Regular
Group: Regulars
Location: Melbourne and Brisbane Australia
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had the mini through dvi and the Apple TV via component...with the mini the letterbox is much larger (so more screen size on the Apple TV).
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