hdbeat.com— The new Macmini is everything I hoped it would be. Here is why it is perfect as a HTPC. It has more than enough power, support HDTV outputs and SPDIF outputs. Not to mention a remote!
Feb 28, 2006View in Crawl 4
"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.
so when was the exact time that moron Mac zealots took over Digg? Can't we get some other news here? This is what happens when you don't have a site admin. Every Mac elitist nerd gets 10 digg accounts and submits and diggs everything. They probably hire WOW farmers in China to help them.
OK 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?
DVI - 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.
Too little too late I'm afraid. They needed to bring out something pretty special to catch up with MS and unfortunately this wasn't it. Unless this is just a temporary measure while they put something more complete together then they have abdicated the Media Centre market to MS and will be out of it forever.
geminitojanusMar 1, 2006
Wilf: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.
plzdiekthxMar 1, 2006
"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.
ruiner5000Mar 1, 2006
so when was the exact time that moron Mac zealots took over Digg? Can't we get some other news here? This is what happens when you don't have a site admin. Every Mac elitist nerd gets 10 digg accounts and submits and diggs everything. They probably hire WOW farmers in China to help them.
guspazMar 1, 2006
OK 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?
ecclesMar 1, 2006
DVI - 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.
hiroMar 1, 2006
Too little too late I'm afraid. They needed to bring out something pretty special to catch up with MS and unfortunately this wasn't it. Unless this is just a temporary measure while they put something more complete together then they have abdicated the Media Centre market to MS and will be out of it forever.
smart55Jul 4, 2008
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