My thought is this - Mac Mini's are great, but they start at $600 new (yes, you could buy one used, but thats a poor comparison) versus this $300. When it comes down to a kids first computer or something to just hook up to your TV, that $300 could be better spent on a number of other things (like, say, adding that $300 to your TV budget and getting a better TV)Also, the Mac Mini has a piss-poor graphics card (integrated GMA950), whereas the AppleTV has a real 7300 graphics board. It all comes down to the person but I can totally see a market for AppleTV as a computer buyers.
The procedure is still a bit complicated. Wouldn't this spread better if somebody who got it working just posted a full disk image that could be copied to the Apple TV hard drive? The ideal thing would be a full OSX that's running the Apple TV interface but is capable of running VNC and all other OSX programs too.
Since it's such a low-power device, many people will want to keep in on all the time, connected to torrents and ed2k. But what would prevent this from also being a wireless router? Could I plug my cable modem into the ethernet port and broadcast the traffic over the Airport Express card into the rest of my house? If yes, this box is really starting to resemble the "living room device in my mind" that I've so long hoped for. What it needs now is a more capable remote with an LCD so that the thing could be operated (to play music from my network server, for example) without needing to turn on the TV to operate the interface. As a bonus, the remote would also be a wireless phone that makes calls over Skype or Googletalk. Well, a guy can dream...
AppleTV School Computer LAB:One 20" iMac for Teacher to be used as a workstation/server.25 AppleTVs with Apple Keyboard, Mouse, and decent LCD panels.THOUSANDS of dollars less than a room full of iMacs, or (gasp!) MacPros.More and More Kids can get Apple computing on the cheap,and School Budgets remain intact.
jklyonApr 1, 2007
APRIL FOOLS (probably but I hope not) Can't get it to work. >.
imthedarkcydeApr 1, 2007
Imagine a beowulf cluster of appleTVs!
zikiApr 1, 2007
Omg his monitor is bigger than my bed!
goofygarberApr 1, 2007
My thought is this - Mac Mini's are great, but they start at $600 new (yes, you could buy one used, but thats a poor comparison) versus this $300. When it comes down to a kids first computer or something to just hook up to your TV, that $300 could be better spent on a number of other things (like, say, adding that $300 to your TV budget and getting a better TV)Also, the Mac Mini has a piss-poor graphics card (integrated GMA950), whereas the AppleTV has a real 7300 graphics board. It all comes down to the person but I can totally see a market for AppleTV as a computer buyers.
lump1Apr 1, 2007
The procedure is still a bit complicated. Wouldn't this spread better if somebody who got it working just posted a full disk image that could be copied to the Apple TV hard drive? The ideal thing would be a full OSX that's running the Apple TV interface but is capable of running VNC and all other OSX programs too.
lump1Apr 1, 2007
Since it's such a low-power device, many people will want to keep in on all the time, connected to torrents and ed2k. But what would prevent this from also being a wireless router? Could I plug my cable modem into the ethernet port and broadcast the traffic over the Airport Express card into the rest of my house? If yes, this box is really starting to resemble the "living room device in my mind" that I've so long hoped for. What it needs now is a more capable remote with an LCD so that the thing could be operated (to play music from my network server, for example) without needing to turn on the TV to operate the interface. As a bonus, the remote would also be a wireless phone that makes calls over Skype or Googletalk. Well, a guy can dream...
geekeeApr 2, 2007
Wow. That actually makes the AppleTV box useful. Apple is not going to like this hack. I wonder if it's real.
xistboiApr 3, 2007
Yes, its real:<a class="user" href="http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/04/10163/">http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/04/10163/</a>
leesoongApr 7, 2007
AppleTV School Computer LAB:One 20" iMac for Teacher to be used as a workstation/server.25 AppleTVs with Apple Keyboard, Mouse, and decent LCD panels.THOUSANDS of dollars less than a room full of iMacs, or (gasp!) MacPros.More and More Kids can get Apple computing on the cheap,and School Budgets remain intact.