Mac-Mini Thinking of Buying

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DarkSamurai2003

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
270
Well, I want a Home Theatre PC. Basically, I want it really small and it seems the Mac-Mini is small and nice.

But I was curious on where to get a DVI converter to RCA/S-Video/HDTV?
 
now don't expect it to give you HD as the radeon 9200, though it will display 1920x1200, won't do HD but it does look like it will display out to the TV just fine with that handy little adapter

 
gigglebyte said:
now don't expect it to give you HD as the radeon 9200, though it will display 1920x1200, won't do HD but it does look like it will display out to the TV just fine with that handy little adapter
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It can display 1920x1080, but I guess I don't know that much about HD
 
I recommend waiting till after september 20th. There has been some talk of possible updates, even to the Mini (yes I know we've seen recent updates to the mini but they were basically non-updates designed to stimulate short term sales..). There might be a small update shortly before the show and then on the 20th itself.
 
I would just question why pick a mac mini for a HTPC at all...

I mean, all you'd have is an expensive dvd player, right?

there are no pci slots on a mini for a tv tuner, so you can say goodbye to all the tivo-like good stuff a HTPC should be able to do

not gonna be playing many games on a mac, and a mac mini at that...

I'm just curious what you would do with the mini as a HTPC?
 
Spleeze said:
I would just question why pick a mac mini for a HTPC at all...

I mean, all you'd have is an expensive dvd player, right?

there are no pci slots on a mini for a tv tuner, so you can say goodbye to all the tivo-like good stuff a HTPC should be able to do

not gonna be playing many games on a mac, and a mac mini at that...

I'm just curious what you would do with the mini as a HTPC?
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well there is EyeTV that will do video capture for the Mac so you are not totally on the mark there....besides...what if he just wants to play "Backed up" DVDs off the home network?

 
i'm not trying to flame him, i'm honestly just curious how useful it would be as a htpc in general...

if all he wants is to play 'backed-up' dvd's via a home network, there are MUCH cheaper (and probably a lot more elegant) solutions than purchasing a mini, like a set top box like one of these

http://www.kiss-technology.com/

i mean, heck, a modded-xbox will do all of these 'HTPC' things, such as play dvd's, play shoutcast radio and play media over a network, etc, as well as having the added bonus of playing xbox games

the only thing that the xbox can't do is the 'tivo' stuff, which it seems the mini would have some issues with... maybe it can be done, but not without extra components, hanging outside of the mini, effectively defeating it's small size

i'm just trying to help this guy make a more informed decision, if he ends up going with the mini, more power to him, and i hope it works out well... just trying to say that there are cheaper solutions more directly geared to a htpc environment than the mini
 
Why *not* buy a Mini for it? With a nice high-resolution tv, you could use it for light surfing and such as well. With an EyeTV, you don't need a TiVo. It's really fucking small. Your run-of-the-mill stack of CDs is bigger than the Mini. You could probaly fit about eight Minis in the same space as one Xbox... ;)
 
the xbox can be used for light surfing as well

I'm sure that the USB eyetv will not give you great quality, USB tuners don't really have the bandwidth availiable to them, and you're still attaching something outside of the mini, effectively making it larger

like i said in my last post, i'm not trying to flame the guy, but i just think that the mini would be a very expensive htpc (500 vs the 200 or so for a set top kiss player/xbox) that has a very limited scope of functionality... as i stated many of the features that you would be able to get on the mini would either be done better by a real HTPC (tivo features) or can be done in a much cheaper package ( kiss player, xbox)

i suggest that the poster make a thread in the HTPC section asking about the ultimate small form factor HTPC
 
Yes, of course it can. A freaking cell phone can be used for light surfing. The point is it might be more fun (less aggravation, anyway) to do so on a Mac mini than on a modded Xbox.

From what I've heard, EyeTV gives good enough quality. As for the bandwidth, 480 megabits/second is quite a lot... Definitely enough for recording television. Even with an external TV module, and an external hard drive of impressive size, the Mac mini and all is still smaller than my DVD player, or an Xbox, or most HTPC systems.

If you're going to suggest that he does not get a Mac mini, please do so using, you know, facts 'n stuff.
 
comparing browsing the web on an xbox to browsing the web on a cell phone shows who really has thier facts straight, morty

i am just trying to help the OP make an informed decision, and think about what he wants his HTPC to DO rather than just thinking about what size he wants it... but hey if size is the only factor then by all means get the mini

i never once said, "don't get a mini, it will suxors." Once again, i'm just trying to help him make an informed decision

however, if you're going to suggest that he definetly get a mini, and disregard all the other options, please do so without the, you know, 'f-a-n boy' stuff
 
My perception was that you were more trying to discourage him getting a mini than informing him of the pros and cons. I guess I misinterpreted, then.

Now, I'm not saying he should defintely get a mini. But from first post, it seems he really wanted one and had more or less made up his mind already. I was trying to inform him of things concerning it. He said he wanted one because it's really small. I've not seen a smaller option. Even with an external hard drive and EyeTV, it's smaller than other HTPC systems. The fact that he wanted one really small implies he doesn't want one powerful enough to play Half-Life 53/8: the Revenge of the Billion Physics Simulations on it. If you want a really small system to play film on and nothing else, and would rather spend some extra money on some extra reduction in size, the Mac mini is a great choice. If you want 500 gigabytes of internal storage, dual Geforce 6800s and a processor fast enough to melt Mars, your highest priority is probably not size and you wouldn't even consider a Mac in the first place.

You don't go into the Intel forum telling people to get an AMD instead, 'cuz the Socket 939 logic boards are much better than the ones available for Pentiums, right? He said he wanted a mini, and he wants some information regarding it. Your typing skills are put to better use answering those questions and providing unbiased information, rather than questioning his reasons for getting one.

As for the f-a-n-boy (Wow, it's censored!) comment, I assumes that he had already considered other options. Why else would he ask specifically for where to get a DVI concerter? If you're still in the decision-making process, chances are you'd ask for whether or not such an item exist instead.

No hostility intended, mind you!
 
Hey thanks for the DVI to Video thing. I'm definately going to buy that when I get a mac-mini.

I don't know how to modify the Xbox, and I don't really want to do that unless it's really easy which it seems like it's not.

Yeah, I'm mostly just using it to watch movies, tv episodes and series, and music. Not really going to "record" movies or stuff with it. Most of the shows I want to see I have to pay and download them sort of like iTunes, but with movies and shows. Bunch of Korean Dramas and Movies. I wish I could find an international iTunes like thing for music heh.

What about the waiting thing? Are the Mac-Mini's going to drop in price?
 
What about the waiting thing? Are the Mac-Mini's going to drop in price?
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Yes, they are. All computers will become cheaper over time. ;) It probably won't happen soon, though, and the price drop won't be big, so go ahead and buy one now.
 
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