[geeks] Mac World announcements...

[Joshua Boyd]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 09:54:50PM +0000, Mark wrote:

x> > The question I have is will a PPC Mini push 720p video as well as the
> > AppleTV?
> 
> I don't know, but I suspect not. The Core Duo mini I played with 2  
> years ago was touted as much faster and it was scoping 24.7 fps on a  
> Spiderman 3 H.264 720p trailer.
> 
> Besides all that I haven't seen any used PPC minis going 'cheap'  
> anywhere either. They seemed to be in unusually high demand last time  
> I looked.

Maybe things are different where you are.  When I look, it seems to me
that most of the time Intel minis used cost almost as much as new Minis
(so typically over $450), whereas I see quite a number of PPC Minis for
as low as $200 (but often closer to $300).
 
> > I don't have a TV to hook it to anyway, although I plan to get a  
> > TV.  My
> > thought is that after getting the TV, a PPC Mini and Apple TV together
> > might be more pleasing than just an Intel Mini.
> 
> Nah. For what it'll cost you, a base model Core 2 Duo mini on it's own  
> will work way better. You don't just get a better CPU, you get a  
> faster hard disk on SATA (so when it's grinding the disk playing a  
> movie it's not hammering the CPU interrupts a t the same time) and  
> also the PPC mini didn't have a remote AFAIK. You could go nuts too  
> and use something like eyeTV and use it as a DVR too, maybe with a  
> 500GB Firewire disk hung off it for keeping shows on. That's how I'd  
> do it at any rate.

Well, it would be entirely possible to get both machines for just over
$400, especially by the time I'd have a TV anyway.

The Mini would be meant for general computer use (I'd want one with
bluetooth to put the keyboard and mouse on my lap on the sofa).  I
wouldn't attach a large disk to it or hang an eyeTV off of it.  If I
hung a eyeTV off anything it would be some old mac in the basement.
However, I may choose to live strictly with network content since I
won't have cable and there probably isn't anything worthwhile OTA
locally (at least I don't expect to get anything other than Fox, NBC,
and PBS).  Also, I would prefer to have a computer in the basement as an
iTunes server, especially if the AppleTV can possibly be convinced to
work with mt-daap on Solaris.

I'm hoping I'd get a TV with 2x HDMI, 2xComponent, and at least one
S-Video and one composite.

I figure the Mini and a BluRay player on the HDMIs, the AppleTV and a
Wii on the components, and legacy game systems on the Svideo and
composite.  Hopefully I'd someday be able to get a serial controlled
HDMI or DVI switch and also add a Black Magic Design HDLink adapter.

But who knows what I will actually be able to do at whatever time.
Perhaps by the time I could do this Minis or the AppleTV will be much
more powerful. 

I still really wish that Apple would cut the Mini price back to $499.