What is Digg?110 Comments
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"HD is an mpeg stream. most 3D cards ease the burden on the CPU by decoding mpeg (ATI and NVIDIA have been selling this as a concept in their cards for 4+ years now). while the CPU can decode mpeg by itself in absence of a dedicated card, it will be very poor in doing so unless you have a high-end CPU."
HD can be formatted in any streaming media protocol you like; HD is a resolution, not a format.
No 3D cards on the market currently support streaming-MPEG decoding.. at least not the way we think about it. Current graphics cards support DVD accelleration by expediting the longest part of the decoding process (which just so happens to be the last step to the monitor anyways, so it's a good place for it to be), however, current CPUs have been fast enough to decode to full frames DVD content for a while now. Both ATi and nVidia have demoed this for MPEG-4, but have not released it as of yet, meaning that Intel's GMA950 is just as suited at the task as a Radeon Xpress or an nVidia GeForceGo.
We should also make it amply clear that CPU decoding of MPEG streams has been fast for quite a while (especially on machines that support SSE2/3), and the Core Solo and Duo processors both include up-to-date SSE extensions. That being said, the Core Solo should be fast enough to decode a 720p stream without problem (as the Core Duo make it look effortless, never spiking the second core at all during my demo at the Apple store). As for 1080p, it should be able to decode it just fine, though I haven't tested this, so it's only anecdotal for now. However, it is also a good thing to note the Intel graphics chip they went with has enhancements for displaying HD media to offload some of the tax from the CPU, and as long as Apple's applications are aware of it (which they are; Apple's been hands-on with this chip longer than they have the X1600), they will be able to take it into consideration during decoding. - s0ny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Guys, the integrated video isn't bad for this. Yeah, it wont run 30fps games, but if your buying a mac just to play games then your retarded. Apple could never fit a video card in a mini with 256MB or anything equivalent to play HD material for the price point, the integrated graphics allows the mini to run normal stuff with 80MB of ram, but for when your playing 1080p material it can use as much memory as needed. Personally I think its a smart move and regardless it is a step up over the previous 9200.
"it lacks a microphone input, you'll have to buy an USB one, I think that sucks, specially if you spent like a $100 on a super duper plantronic's headset and mic in one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the diagram doesn't show any holes for microphones (unless you can use the Line In)"
Thats what line in is for. I haven't seen a mac with a dedicated microphone input for 10 years! Optical digital in and out is a HUGE step up over the previous minis. Not to mention the addition of standard wireless & bluetooth 2.0, built in 1920x1080 support, 2 ram slots, front row, infrared remote for actually controlling your media library, dual core option, dual layer dvd burning option, AND a 667mhz bus vs 133mhz for the older g4, I think the new minis are a HUGE upgrade over the previous incarnation. And anyone complaining about anything else lacking, the Mini is all about stackability. There are DVR's that fit the minis form factor if you need, and for 50$ you can buy an empty shell that adds numerous ports and lets you add any HD you want to it.
And just to point out, all cable boxes for the last few years have been required to have firewire ports, you can easily turn any mac into a DVR with just a firewire cable.
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2349&p=3
"There are a few reasons as to why the Mac Mini may not be a perfect HDTV HTPC. (and im in no way claiming to be a mac expert. im basing this off the specs we've seen so far)
......
2) 1 Ram slot i think so if you don't upgrade at purchase you may be spending alot more than you expect."
for the record, there are 2 ram slots. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"TRUE THAT, the shared integrated video card CANNOT handle hdtv smoothly."
-1, Inaccurate.
Go read Intel's spec sheet for the GMA950. (Here's a link: http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/ ). Or read one of the reviews: (thanks Google, http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1821804,00.asp ). The GMA950 is probably the most powerful integrated graphics processor ever made. It's fast enough to run Core Image and Core Video, the CPU alone in the machine is fast enough to decode 720p video (sorry kids, that's all I had with me when I was demoing the new iMac), which stands to reason it's fast enough to decode 1080p (as the GPU supports lots of fancy things like true 16:9 output, and HDTV enhancements). Encoding is an entirely different matter.
We'll have to wait and see. It's a pretty good pricepoint for a machine with all of the features they've crammed into it, it's much, much smaller than a comparably equipped Dell (though if you're a PC fanatic you'll not like this; the Dell you can change out hardware easier), it should be extremely quiet seeing as its max power use is 110W (and without a display, it stands to reason that number is inflated, it's likely to run normally at 45W). But, there are problems with the machine too (slow ass HD, optical drive is lame, just adequate RAM, etc), but even Apple has to cut corners somewhere. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"2) 1 Ram slot i think so if you don't upgrade at purchase you may be spending alot more than you expect."
2 ram slots. Default configuration is 2x256MB. SO-DIMMs (laptop RAM for the less computer inclined).
"3) Front Row is awesome but the remote is rediculous. Simplicity is great but the 5 button remote sucks. "
Good thing it has 6 buttons then eh? ;).
"4) Content. How exactly will we get this content?"
I guess they forgot to mention in bright bold letters this thing has integrated WiFi on all models now, (integrated bluetooth, but this isn't really for data acquisition), and a Gigabit ethernet interface. The internet is full of video content, and it's growing very quickly. Apple's really trying to push online distribution models, and their computers are tailored to support that. And of course, there's always the DVD drive in the front. - rani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People, hang-on. I'm sure that within a week or two someone will benchmark this tiny beast and we'll all know if it runs 720p, maybe 1080p.
Don't forget that apple is targeting this appliance (yes, appliance) for the consumer market and not for a supergeek.
It's hard to even find a 1080p display, and most of the people on this forum would not be able to afford one for at least then next 3 years... so why talk about the price of the Mac Mini?
If the Mac Mini can deliver 720p, and maybe 1080i then it would fit today's market. I'm sure that once 1080p displays (TVs) start hitting the shelves for the masses, Apple will release a new version of the Mac Mini.
As for the remote and audio connector - I'm sure Apple did much more research then anyone on this forum. Again, this is for the average consumer.
Last, I believe this product is targeted as a living room appliance for displaying iTunes videos and playing iTunes audio. This is now Apple's largest income maker. This means that they did not target the product for HD video gaming - or not for video gaming at all.
It's a great product to put next to your TV and maybe as a secondary PC. If you want to run HD games - wait for the Gintel (G5+1). The Mac Mini is not what you're looking for. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"If apple started to put HD content for download on Itunes it would take forever to download. Plus once you started to download HD content you would need a much bigger Hard drive than the one in the Mac mini. Also if it could be played on your Ipod you would need a much larger hard drive in that to. 60 gigs of space is not alot when you are piling HD video into it."
The man speaks the truth. But there are a number of consumers to which HD media hasn't really sold them yet, and it's safe to bank on older medias (seeing as 98% of us still have TVs incapable of making 800x600/720x480 look good). Personally, I'm quite happy with 400x300 or better video, and most of the video podcasts I subscribe to hit right around that mark (I'm extremely impressed with Rocketboom and their recent move to a higher definition stream). And then there's always bittorrent... - chaos86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"The Mini is unbelievably overpriced. Ridiculous."
Go to dell.com and build the same system... if you even can. Intel Core Solo/Duo processor, a good (even though intergrated) GPU, media center functionality (dont knock the 6 button remote til you try it, it works great), gigabit ethernet, analogue/digital/spdif audio in and out, dvi out (with support for non-standard resolutions), wireless, bluetooth.
I think you'll find that the mac mini is very reasonably priced.
Oh, and to others, it's max ram is 2GBs in 2 slots, and the 60gb hard drive is not an issue for those wanting a media center because it streams the media from any other macs or itunes running pcs in the house (over wireless or gigabit ethernet). - agreen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1for the price of this one, you could build a really nice htpc with a tuner card. i like this new release, but it is way overpriced. not to mention no hdcp means it wont work with many hdmi capable tvs.
- PeterElliot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If this thing had one of the replaceable laptop video cards with two outputs - DVI/HDMI-HDCP for the TV and DVI/VGA for a monitor then I'd be all over it.
The hard drive IS too small for most uses - even storing a reasonable amount of any content - but there are a large number of stackable hard drives which go under the mini. You can start with the base unit and add a firewire drive later on.
At the moment an iMac would suit me better... - Goldenatom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As far as I know decoding of HD is done by the CPU not the GPU, at least right now. I know ATI has been doing some work in that area, but its not quite ready for prime time yet.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"No analaog audio out."
It does have analog out through the same exact port as the digital out, as stated above. - ozjmu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The new Mac Mini may be the perfect MAC HTPC, but I still prefer to build my own Windows-based HTPC until Apple comes out with a product that is truly designed for the task (i.e. built-in tuners, etc.)
- macgabriel87, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nice. i guess the intel mac mini is worthy of something. i thought it was just like the original mac mini with just tiny enhancements. but what im looking for a mac mini is power. and a 1.66ghz duo core with integrated gfx is just good enough for well...movies. 700 bucks just to play movies and audio doesn't blow my mind. but i dont hate the mac mini, its just not what i expected from apple
- leonbev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now can the "perfect HDTV HTPC" NOT have a TV tuner or DVR capability? You're kinda forgetting the "TV" part of HDTV there.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just another baby step towards the inevitable. Jobs is stalling for content to be sorted out, plain and simple -- not just with iTunes, but also with HDCP, broadcast flags, cable card 2.0, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
In fact, at this pace, I doubt we'll see much of an HTPC solution beyond Front Row'd iTunes content until the industry can get its collective thumbs out of its asses and actually create a digital video landscape that is usable -- or at least, stable enough for guys like Apple to code applications around to make it usable.
In fact, at this pace, I think video podcasts will BECOME television for most people unless they get their act together. (Thinking of that recent digg of the article from Variety). - hobbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0guspaz:
-HDMI to DVI cable $129.95-CAD
-DVI to DVI cable $24.95-CAD
-8th-inch mini-jack to RCA cable 12.95-CAD
-Fibre-optic cable compatible with mini $19.95-CAD
(this isn't a converter, its a straight through TOSLINK)
Dude you have to stop buying your cables at Best Buy ... they aren't the best buy.
As to why there isn't an S-Video connector, I would say a lack of space not only externally but on the motherboard as well. Ever seen a mac-mini motherboard? It has traces finer than most early CPUs (I exaggerate, but this motherboard is absolutely packed). - vinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Many people have expressed dissappointment about not having a TV tuner built in. Personally, I already have a TV tuner (an EyeTV) on another system. It's easy to access these recorded shows from the Mac Mini with the new network abilities of Front Row. If you don't have tuner already you can get one for $149 from ElGato.
- TheCount, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Now let's take a moment and elaborate on what "perfect" means, because by no means do I see perfection in the application of the new Mac Mini as a HTPC, HD or ortherwise.
- Guspaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0OK people, HDCP support doesn't matter because the Mac Mini doesn't have a BluRay or HDDVD drive. You're never going to be playing BluRay or HDDVD content from the Mac Mini. You'll still be able to output other HD content over HDMI/DVI, and use your seperate BluRay or HDDVD player.
Now then, people seem to be forgetting that HDMI cable fort he mac mini COSTS $120 USD.
So, sure, you can hook up your Mac Mini to your HDTV. But if your HDTV uses HDMI, you need to pay $120 USD for an HDMI cable. If it uses DVI, you need to pay $50 USD for a DVI cable. And on top of that, you'll need an RCA converter cable to get sound to the TV, since the mac mini HDMI cable doesn't carry audio (AFAIK), so $30 there. Or maybe you'd need a fiber optic cable and converter to hook it up to your sound system, $30 for that. So either way, you're paying a minimum of $80 to a maximum of $150. Even if you don't want HD output, the DVI to S-VIDEO/Composite adapter costs $20, plus cost of cables.
Yeah, you can get the stuff cheaper elsewhere, but it still isn't cheap. How hard would it have been to include an S-VIDEO output on the Mac Mini, along with a 5 cent S-VIDEO to composite adapter that also come with most video cards? - Eccles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0DVI - HDMI cable: first one at Amazon is $14.99.
If you're not interested in the new Mac Mini, why the frell are you posting? Do you go to knitting forums and post about how boring it is? Send hate mail to Pauly Shore for Bio-Dome? Heckle amateur golfers?
Having seen (for example), The Sims Deluxe work properly on only one of the three Windows XP machines in my house, and that I have to give my daughter root access to run Barbie games (as well as the aforementioned Sims), I've decided that the Windows experience is lacking. I'm willing to pay a premium for Macs if they Just Work. If your time is of no value, I suggest you look at other machines. - freonchill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0intel 950 built in graphics - WTF
useless - plzdiekthx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"thanks for the reply, but that really just proved my point. I know the gpu does not help with decoding (as I stated)."
With the use of DXVA (WIndows) or XvMC (X) in conjunction with the right codecs, a modern GPU will accelerate motion compensation for MPEG1/MPEG2/MPEG4 ASP/H.263 and the iDCT. Contrary to what the person that responded to you said, Apple also does use hardware acceleration in its DVD player software, this functionality just isn't generally exported for use by other software.
"All those pixels dont magically appear on your monitor after the cpu is done decoding. It is done by your graphics card."
Outputting pixels is just a matter of bandwidth. The computational expense of 1080i is in decoding. - vinny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I like how it has no HDMI output, rendering it useless for DRM managed HD output. That's another group of consumers that will be looking for a way to get around the next DRM fiasco, good."
If you want HDMI output you can buy a DVI-HDMI cable like the Belkin PureAv. - ManInTheBunker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"it lacks a microphone input, you'll have to buy an USB one, I think that sucks, specially if you spent like a $100 on a super duper plantronic's headset and mic in one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the diagram doesn't show any holes for microphones (unless you can use the Line In)"
what, you want an XLR input on a mac mini??? are you serious? use the analog/SPDIF line in! - smart55, on 07/04/2008, -0/+0Cheap Samsung HDTV Lcd
http://astore.amazon.com/cheap.samsung.hdtv.lcd.-2 ... - antdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How about HDTV encoder?
- PoVRAZOR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0VGA/DVI, sure. But why isn't there a component video out adapter?
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"The GMA950 is a DirectX 9 part through a combination of software vertex processing and meager hardware pixel shader resources. It can run Aero Glass, or run CoreImage filters simply because it supports fragment shaders. That doesn't mean it will do so well."
But, it does do it, and that's the #1 reason for its existance, as I stated. Intel built this thing so that vendors such as Apple, Dell, Gateway and HP wouldn't go to ATi and nVidia for graphics cards in their next generation computers if they couldn't help it, and to keep prices down on the bare bottom budget boxes (which, in the end, is what the Mini is). If a user is seeking more, they can step up to a platform without integrated graphics, but when you're building products on the cheap, you go with what's cheap, and the whole chipset (i945) is damned cheap (I've seen quotes putting it at $45 a pop). - plzdiekthx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Yes. It also support's Vista UI, which is the #1 reason Intel designed this more powerful graphics chip for budget machines "
The GMA950 is a DirectX 9 part through a combination of software vertex processing and meager hardware pixel shader resources. It can run Aero Glass, or run CoreImage filters simply because it supports fragment shaders. That doesn't mean it will do so well. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Is it just me or is Mac hardware 100% laptop hardware now? The Intel Mini, the Intel iMacs, the Macbooks, etc. I guess I just never noticed before.
- dominowrecker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"No, honestly I think you're confused by it. The processor in most modern machines does _all_ of the front-end decoding stuff for MPEG streams (save MPEG-2, which most graphic cards have interfaces to do completely). However, where a graphics card can kick in and help the decoding process is with a technique called iDCT (inverse Discrete Cosine Transform, if you've gotta know); which is one of the last steps in decoding MPEG data, and thusly makes logical sense to be located on Video Hardware.
"
thanks for the reply, but that really just proved my point. I know the gpu does not help with decoding (as I stated). I am talking about after that. All those pixels dont magically appear on your monitor after the cpu is done decoding. It is done by your graphics card. To put it another way....if you had a 1mb card from the old days, your dvd's would indeed playback weird. Even if the decoding portion would be perfect, the display itself would not.
Thank you for also explaining what I feared about the mini.....sounds like I wont be getting one. For that price I can build a small pc about the same size, that can do anything I need it to. (and they dont look half bad either) - DiggRadar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I like how it has no HDMI output, rendering it useless for DRM managed HD output"
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) works over both HDMI and DVI. The question isn't the connector but whether the Mac Mini supports HDCP.
However, as someone else has pointed out, the current Mac Mini won't be playing HD DVD or Blu-Ray, so the only HD content you will be playing will be downloaded. The DRM requirements for playing HD content downloaded over the Internet is a different issue. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"As a follow up to my previous post - does anyone know if I use a DVI switch that the OS-X can detect the two different monitor sizes (1280x1024 VGA and 1366x768 DVI) and automatically resize the display?"
Malformed question, but I think I can answer. Yes, if you have a monitor switch, OS X should dynamically resize the screen, as long as your switch supports it (and I believe most do). I use something similar with my iBook; when I plug it into an external display, it turns off the integrated display and just uses the monitor (which supports a much higher resolution), though this isn't normal OS X behavior (you have to download a small tool that sets the iBook to run in Clamshell mode, though for the life of me I can't remember what it's called, but I'm sure a quick Google can help you out). *breathe in*. So yeah, it should be just fine. - vypergts, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0One word, "TiVo Series 3."
Ok so that's technically two words and a number, but seriously... - plzdiekthx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"The GMA950 is probably the most powerful integrated graphics processor ever made."
Really, is that why both NVIDIA and ATIs's integrated low-end offerings outperform it? Until yesterday you probably didn't know anything about the GMA950, but today it's the most powerful integrated graphics processor ever made. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"The GMA950 is probably the most powerful integrated graphics processor ever made."
"Really, is that why both NVIDIA and ATIs's integrated low-end offerings outperform it? Until yesterday you probably didn't know anything about the GMA950, but today it's the most powerful integrated graphics processor ever made."
My bad, the word Intel was supposed to be in that sentence (the most powerful Intel Integrated Graphics processor), which is true. As you may be aware, digg doesn't have an edit button yet ;) - Ansible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I like how it has no HDMI output, rendering it useless for DRM managed HD output. That's another group of consumers that will be looking for a way to get around the next DRM fiasco, good.
- Nik420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"As has been said previously, there's no way in hell this thing will be able to handle high def video. As such, reported as inaccurate."
My current G4 Mac Mini has no problem handling High Def Video (after a RAM upgrade - > 512MB). I do not see where a faster system would have a problem. I think you are blowing smoke out your ass.
Still hate the idea of Intel graphics though, even if it is faster than the Radeon 9200 I currently have. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No HDCP support means it won't play HD Content from BluRay or HDDVD comaptible discs.
And it won't do that anyway cause of no BR or HDDVD player.
Downloads are just not around the corner anytime soon.
10 GB movies? Available for DL?? Few years away. - dominowrecker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well I think a lot of you are confusing the role of the video card.
Yes its true (as of right now anyway) processor handles decoding, however, you still need a beefy video card to display that decoded image at 1080-30. You will see studder, and image split if the card is not able to handle that much decoded data.
So I have my doubts on it....but who knows....maybe they have a trick up their sleeve to deal with this issue in software.
also kinda of a mac noob question here...but can a card be added to the mini? or are you stuck with the integrated crap?
Cause if you can replace it that wouldnt be so bad (after all there are mini pcs about the same size that can handle larger cards) - jayness, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Apple really did really drop the ball on making a great media center. No PVR, analaog audio out. It could have been something, it could have been a contender!
- cusoman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"My current G4 Mac Mini has no problem handling High Def Video (after a RAM upgrade - > 512MB). I do not see where a faster system would have a problem. I think you are blowing smoke out your ass.
Still hate the idea of Intel graphics though, even if it is faster than the Radeon 9200 I currently have."
The fact remains that there's been no end user testing done and no one knows how well it will handle in the real world yet. The headline says "The new Macmini IS the perfect HDTV HTPC" (emphasis mine, and funny how they use the term htPC for a Mac) and that is a unfounded statement. Thus, it is inaccurate. - zero_tek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The mac mini as it is right now looks like a good afforable box. It is about 150 -200 dollars more than a dell or something crappy like that but you get a ton of stuff with that. Dell hands out trials of Norton while Apple gives you iLife '06.
And the remote is awesome, I don't want to have a remote with thirty buttons. I use a ati remote for an all in wonder card and I use like 4 of its buttons: volume, fast forward, and power. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"While the new Mac mini does have some nice features, like front row, that make it more attractive as a set top box, I think the Xbox 360 is currently a much better bang for your buck. The only advantage I see for the mini is the downloadable TV shows on the iTunes music store, but the resolution is so low it doesn't make that much of a difference and the ability to play games is crucial for me."
Well, I can understand where you're coming from, but a machine that's built for Gaming just doesn't compete at any level with the Mac Mini. The Mini is a media machine; it's built for people who are tight on the budgets, people who bought iPods and now think they want to get their feet wet on a Mac. It sits nicely on top of that Dell you probably already own, and your Dell's monitor, keyboard and mouse hook into it, and poof, away you go. Apple's beginning their transition into the living room by making it easier to take the Mac Mini there; including sharing in Front Row for easier media access, now All models ship with WiFi (something that to my knowledge isn't at all available for any shipping Desktop Dells), and thanks to the new chips they're using, its audio footprint should be significantly reduced (but we'll have to wait and see for certain). And having support for a remote is a great addition.
So you see, it's not targeted at the XBox 360. While the 360 is a great machine in its own right, it's very primarily a gaming machine, and all of the other functionalities are an afterthought. And, as you notice, neither machine is a PVR ;) - PeterElliot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0As a follow up to my previous post - does anyone know if I use a DVI switch that the OS-X can detect the two different monitor sizes (1280x1024 VGA and 1366x768 DVI) and automatically resize the display?
- FuzzyBunny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0While the new Mac mini does have some nice features, like front row, that make it more attractive as a set top box, I think the Xbox 360 is currently a much better bang for your buck. The only advantage I see for the mini is the downloadable TV shows on the iTunes music store, but the resolution is so low it doesn't make that much of a difference and the ability to play games is crucial for me.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"well I think a lot of you are confusing the role of the video card."
No, honestly I think you're confused by it. The processor in most modern machines does _all_ of the front-end decoding stuff for MPEG streams (save MPEG-2, which most graphic cards have interfaces to do completely). However, where a graphics card can kick in and help the decoding process is with a technique called iDCT (inverse Discrete Cosine Transform, if you've gotta know); which is one of the last steps in decoding MPEG data, and thusly makes logical sense to be located on Video Hardware.
Just to make it clear (as I was actually mistaken before), Apple _doesn't_ use any hardware support for their DVD playback, so anything you're watching on your Mac is done exclusively by your processor, and thusly, as anyone with a Mac can tell you, it does just fine in decoding. A beefy graphics card isn't neccesary, but anything with 2D Accelleration is nice (simply because of fast clipping and displaying); Windows actually advocates using the DirectMedia layer in their operating system, which (like Quartz on the Mac), accellerates movie drawing quite a bit.
As already stated, the Intel GMA950 is more than adequate to support any MPEG stuff thrown at it, be it all the way up to 1080p, but it's yet to be known if the Core Solo/Duo is fast enough to decode 1080p (but it is known it's more than fast enough to decode 720p w/h.264 and run applications in the background, so it stands to reason).
And lastly, no, the Mini is a sealed machine for the most part. RAM and Harddisk upgrades are possible, if you're willing to hack it to bits you can use a new optical drive, but as for the motherboard, it's a solid unit so you're likely not going to be able to upgrade anything there (except the Processor, which will likely be on a ZIF socket, so it stands to reason upgrading will be an option). And if you've never seen a Mac Mini, there really isn't any more room inside of it to be had; it's 6"x6"x2", or if you stack 3 DVD cases on top of one another, it's roughly that size. - rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Apple has finally gone MICKEY MOUSE. Only a fanboy would think this is an HDTV box, an overpriced HDTV box at that.
- bimmerboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0From geminitojanus post. - http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/
Specs for the 950 Integrated Chip
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Core
256-bit graphics core running at 400MHz
Up to 10.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth with DDR2 667 system memory
1.6 GPixels/sec and 1.6 GTexels/sec fill rate
Up to 224 MB maximum video memory
2048x1536 at 75 Hz maximum resolution
Dynamic Display Modes for flat-panel, wide-screen and Digital TV support
High Performance 3D
Up to 4 pixels per clock rendering
Microsoft* DirectX* 9 Hardware Acceleration Features:
Pixel Shader 2.0
Volumetric Textures
Shadow Maps
Slope Scale Depth Bias
Two-Sided Stencil
Microsoft* DirectX* 9 Vertex Shader 3.0 and Transform and Lighting supported in software through highly optimized Processor Specific Geometry Pipeline (PSGP)
Texture Decompression for DirectX* and OpenGL*
OpenGL* 1.4 support plus ARB_vertex_buffer and EXT_shadow_funcs extensions and TexEnv shader caching
Advanced Display Capability
Up to 2048x1536 resolution for both analog and digital displays
Consumer Electronic display (Digital TV) support
Display hot plug support to automatically detect new display connection while system is operating (CRT and DVI)
Two Serial Digital Video Out (SDVO) ports for flat-panel monitors and/or TV-out support via Advanced Digital Display 2 (ADD2) cards or Media Expansion Cards
Intel Media Expansion Cards available providing TV-out and PVR capability
Multiple display types (LVDS, DVI-I, DVI-D, HDTV, TV-out, CRT)
Dual screen support through ADD2 digital video devices
HDTV 480i/p, 576i/p, 720i/p and 1080i/p display resolution support
Interlaced Display output support
16x9 and 16x10 Aspect Ratio for widescreen displays
2x2 Panel Scaler
Stunning Video Playback
High Definition Hardware Motion Compensation to support high definition hi-bitrate MPEG2 media playback
Up and Down Scaling of Video Content
High Definition Content Decode - up to two stream support
5x3 Overlay Filtering.
Let's wait for the benchmarks before we make judgement based on what we read. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wilf:
You make good points, but you really don't have to flame about it. If you like it, use it, if you don't, don't. That's really down to that. -
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