πŸ“• Node [[2005 01 11 how the mac mini fits into my life]]
πŸ“„ 2005-01-11-how-the-mac-mini-fits-into-my-life.md by @bmann


layout: post title: How the Mac Mini fits into my life created: 1105503311 tags: - Small Form Factor - Mac - Multimedia PC - Small Form Factor - Mac Mini - Benq FP231W - Elgato - eyeTV - Small Form Factor - Mac - Multimedia PC


Yes, I think I&#39;m <a href="http://www.apple.com/macmini/" title="Apple's new Mac Mini">getting one</a>.

I&#39;m looking at the Mac Mini to be our new desktop, stay-at-home machine, as well as to form the basis for a media center.

Mike Davidson has a good outline for the <a href="http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/01/macworld-january-2005">Media Mac</a> that he wants to see from Apple, but I&#39;m going to outline how I think the Mac Mini (plus a few other pieces) is going to work for me today.
My personal main machine is a PowerBook 15&quot;. At home, an original iMac 15&quot; 800Mhz G4 is our desktop machine.

Generally we use the iMac to watch movies and listen to music (TV given to parents, stereo in storage until we have a bigger place). The Pro speakers go as loud as needed in our small apartment, and Kate and I can sit fairly close to the monitor. I <em>could</em> use my phone to control movie and music playback, but generally I just learn forward and use the keyboard.

The iMac is now almost 3 years old. It&#39;s about time for my parents to get a new machine, so it will find a good home there.

So, the Mac Mini becomes our new desktop. With no monitor. Excellent! I&#39;ve been hemming and hawing over the choice between a projector and a big LCD monitor for a while. I still might add a projector at a later date, but this is a good excuse to get an LCD monitor.

The <a href="http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12245&amp;vpn=FP231W-D&amp;manufacture=BENQ" title="Benq FP231W at NCIX">Benq FP231W</a> is the screen that I&#39;ve been looking at. It&#39;s pricey (about $1800CDN), but has some very good features:
  • very fast 16ms response time
  • all the connectors you need: D-Sub/DVI-D/S-Video/Composite (could connect any video source, including game console)
  • 4-port USB 2.0 hub
  • it's frickin' gigantic
Reading a couple of reviews (I&#39;m not going to link to any, because I didn&#39;t really find them useful) seems to indicate that the one downside is that the viewing angle is a bit constrained, so watching from farther away might not be ideal. I&#39;d love to see the screen in person, but haven&#39;t found it here in Vancouver anywhere.

Well, that could be it to replicate what we have today, with a machine that is 50%+ faster and a monitor that is...did I mention gigantic? Oh yes: I would have to get some computer speakers back out of storage -- these would connect to the headphone jack that is the audio output for the Mini Mac.

But I want to do a little more media. Specifically, some <acronym title="Personal Video Recorder">PVR</acronym> action, that will let me watch TV and record it on the computer.

So, this means an external solution. The <a href="http://www.elgato.com">Elgato</a> solutions look like the best bet.

The two Elgato products that would seem to be the best fit for me are:
  • eyeTV 200: Firewire-attached MPEG2 encoder and TV tuner, comes with remote ($279)
  • eyeTV Wonder: USB2.0 co-branded product with ATI; compression is done on the Mac ($129)
Actually, there is a third-party product on the Elgato site (since it&#39;s bundled with Elgato&#39;s EyeTV software): the <a href="http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402UMac.htm">Plextor ConvertX PX-TV402U (Mac)</a>. It&#39;s listed at $229US, or $283CDN from the <a href="http://www.plextorshopcanada.com/">Canadian store</a>. This is an interesting product -- it offers MPEG1, MPEG2, and DivX hardware encoding. No remote, but for the price difference, I can get an <a href="http://www.ati.com/products/remotewonder/index.html">ATI Remote Wonder</a> -- and it&#39;s an <acronym title="Radio Frequency">RF</acronym>, remote, too, so perfect for controlling iTunes when you&#39;re not in sight of the computer. The ConvertX looks to be in the lead.

The Mac Mini is going to form the basis for my media center, and I&#39;m going to get the chance to experiment with TV 2.0 using a PVR system. What are <strong>you</strong> going to do with your Mac Mini?

(Andy has a <a href="http://anarkystic.com/blog/archives/2005/01/11/uses_for_the_mac_mini.php" title="reoriginalize: Uses for the Mac Mini">few uses in mind</a>)

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