Apple TV or MacBook Pro?

[pavvento]

Hello,

I have an old MacBook Pro (2007) that I upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM Hard Drive. I am not using it as a Mac computer anymore (got an iMac) and am using it as a Windows machine (I'm a Zune guy...I know I know).

I am thinking of purchasing an Apple TV mainly for NHL GameCenter and the ability to show my iPhoto library on my TV. I have an Xbox that I can use for Netflix and YouTube, etc.

Question: Am I better off hooking the MacBook Pro up to my TV using OS X and streaming GameCenter through the website and showing photos on that or keeping it as a Windows machine and getting an Apple TV?

Any pros/cons would be much appreciated!

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Sell the Macbook Pro for $450, buy an Apple TV, pocket the rest.

Of course that would mean losing Zune... so maybe not. Trust me, I bought a PC specifically because of Zune, I understand the love.

So... sell your macbook pro, buy an Apple TV and a Windows Phone, and use a virtual machine on your iMac for the zune software, or just use Windows Phone Connector

 

[firstapple]

Step 1) Delete Windows off your machine (what a terrible idea in the first place)
Step 2) get an Apple TV, it's only $99. (which, if you didn't waste your money on Windows you would have the money for an Apple TV)

 

[pavvento]

Sell the Macbook Pro for $450, buy an Apple TV, pocket the rest.

Of course that would mean losing Zune... so maybe not. Trust me, I bought a PC specifically because of Zune, I understand the love.

So... sell your macbook pro, buy an Apple TV and a Windows Phone, and use a virtual machine on your iMac for the zune software, or just use Windows Phone Connector

Thanks. I do have Parallels installed on my iMac for whenever I need the Zune. I guess I never considered selling the MBP because I didn't think I could get $ for a 5 year old computer. I'll put it up on CL and see what I can get.

 

[MagnumJoe]

Hi pavvento,
I'm not sure if I'd sale my Macbook Pro just yet. Not sure if this is down your alley, but this is were I am. I just bought a Apple TV 2 and my "new" iPad will arrive on Friday. I have over 200 GB of movies in all different formats, AVI, Divx, and so forth. I've been using Handbreak to convert them which if it's HD it's a very long process. So instead of converting them, I'm planning to JailBreak my ATV2 and installing Plex and using my old MPB to be the server and to store my movies. I have been using Tivo Premier which does great for DVR and at the time I thought it did great, until I compared Apple TV to Tivo. I'm sure it's the processing hasn't updated, but the clarity, color, and contrast is much better with Apple TV. It seems streaming is much faster, that uploading the movies to my Tivo. With the Tivo, the colors looked washed out. There are limitation of what I can do with Tivo. Bottom line, is I'd suggest keeping your MBP and buying a Apple TV 2 or 3. Apple TV 2 brand new 79.00 at BHPhoto probably cheaper after the Friday.

 

[pavvento]

Hi pavvento,
I'm not sure if I'd sale my Macbook Pro just yet. Not sure if this is down your alley, but this is were I am. I just bought a Apple TV 2 and my "new" iPad will arrive on Friday. I have over 200 GB of movies in all different formats, AVI, Divx, and so forth. I've been using Handbreak to convert them which if it's HD it's a very long process. So instead of converting them, I'm planning to JailBreak my ATV2 and installing Plex and using my old MPB to be the server and to store my movies. I have been using Tivo Premier which does great for DVR and at the time I thought it did great, until I compared Apple TV to Tivo. I'm sure it's the processing hasn't updated, but the clarity, color, and contrast is much better with Apple TV. It seems streaming is much faster, that uploading the movies to my Tivo. With the Tivo, the colors looked washed out. There are limitation of what I can do with Tivo. Bottom line, is I'd suggest keeping your MBP and buying a Apple TV 2 or 3. Apple TV 2 brand new 79.00 at BHPhoto probably cheaper after the Friday.

That's an interesting idea. I do have a lot of videos that I have saved on an external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme which I can access from any computer on my network. Can an Apple TV access those files as well?