You could be excused for thinking, with a Mac Pro and an iMac still in use, why would you need a Mini too? The simple answer is that I wanted a complete Media Centre in “one box” to reduce the footprint and clutter of the devices in my lounge. I’d been waiting with bated breath for this latest revision to be released as I expected it to consume less electrical power and still be good enough for any media application I set it to.
So pretty much as soon as Apple announced it, the order was placed.
I went for the 2.0 Ghz model, I couldn’t justify the additional (steep) price tag for the 2.26 Ghz model. I went for the standard 250Gb disk and 2 Gb RAM. Perfect for my needs. It was delivered with Leopard installed and I’m still running it that way. I’ll do some research into compatibility of all my media applications before I settle in to install Snow Leopard, although I know it’s a mere matter of time!
As you can see, there are plenty of ports to hook your Mini up. I’m on Gbit ethernet and have it connected to my 42″ Panasonic 720p Plasma, via mini-dvi to 15-pin d-sub adaptor. A buddy of mine has a rather splendid 46″ Sony Bravia and has his (same spec) hooked up to HDMI running at full 1080p and he tells me it is awesome. As far as replacing my increasingly antiquated panel, it’s good enough for now, so I’m not going to rush out to buy but if the gods of tech shine their light on me next year at bonus time, perhaps I’ll treat myself to a Panasonic NeoPDP v10 50″ screen, then we’ll see what this will really do!
I can safely say I believe my Mini is doing pretty much everything I need it to for a media hub. I’ll go into some detail about software after this, my final “My Macs” post.
It might not be the last one though, I have my eyes peeled for the tablet number that is floating around the rumour sites at the moment. That could be the icing on the cake. My iPhone (albeit cracked and in process of being repaired) is an awesome thing but something slightly bigger with similar functionality would be just amazing for my trips away…
PL
Leave a comment
Comments feed for this article