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New Apple Products..
Feb. 9th, 2007 04:55 pmSo I watched Steve Jobs's keynote speech last month and got really excited about the Apple TV. The new Airport Extreme base station was pretty cool as well, but wireless has never been a big concern of mine (802.11g is fast enough for me for now - if I need anything faster I will find a long ethernet cable).
I decided quickly, while still under the Reality Distortion of Steve Jobs, that I would get an Apple TV when I got settled back stateside. As time went on, though, and I started thinking about it, the more I realized that there was another device that lacked a lot of the drawbacks of the Apple TV, had a few things that the new Airport Extreme base station has, and would be significantly more flexible.
The device would be able to be hooked up to a television without problems, including an HDMI HD-TV.
The device would be able to stream music and video from other machines.
The device would have a DVD drive built-in, so I could watch a rented DVD without problem.
The device would be able to have drives plugged into it, so I could expand storage.
The device would then be able to share those drives to any networked computers, including Windows PCs.
The device would be able to be hooked up to my new eyeTV 250, so I could DVR television.
The device? A refresh/refurb/used intel Mac Mini.
I would have to check, but it is definitely possible a G4 Mac Mini would even fit the bill, and for a lot cheaper. Some things that hold me back from the G4 model: Lack of GigE and the lack of the Apple Remote. However, any networked drives would only be attached via Firewire 400, meaning the difference between 100Base-T and GigE is not going to be huge, and I do have an old USB IR remote around somewhere.
Once Front Row is included with Jaguar [EDIT: Should be Leopard], I would be all set. I would also look into the new MediaCentral and see how well that works out.
The G4 Mac Mini, used, would be just a few more dollars than an Apple TV, with a lot more flexibility.
I decided quickly, while still under the Reality Distortion of Steve Jobs, that I would get an Apple TV when I got settled back stateside. As time went on, though, and I started thinking about it, the more I realized that there was another device that lacked a lot of the drawbacks of the Apple TV, had a few things that the new Airport Extreme base station has, and would be significantly more flexible.
The device would be able to be hooked up to a television without problems, including an HDMI HD-TV.
The device would be able to stream music and video from other machines.
The device would have a DVD drive built-in, so I could watch a rented DVD without problem.
The device would be able to have drives plugged into it, so I could expand storage.
The device would then be able to share those drives to any networked computers, including Windows PCs.
The device would be able to be hooked up to my new eyeTV 250, so I could DVR television.
The device? A refresh/refurb/used intel Mac Mini.
I would have to check, but it is definitely possible a G4 Mac Mini would even fit the bill, and for a lot cheaper. Some things that hold me back from the G4 model: Lack of GigE and the lack of the Apple Remote. However, any networked drives would only be attached via Firewire 400, meaning the difference between 100Base-T and GigE is not going to be huge, and I do have an old USB IR remote around somewhere.
Once Front Row is included with Jaguar [EDIT: Should be Leopard], I would be all set. I would also look into the new MediaCentral and see how well that works out.
The G4 Mac Mini, used, would be just a few more dollars than an Apple TV, with a lot more flexibility.
