So my current 2006 Mac Mini is really starting to show its age as an HTPC. Youtube videos are choppy and even some HD quicktime files sometimes don't play their full fps.
I've been looking at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Mac Mini models, hoping to buy a used one off of craigslist or ebay.
The 2010 model has the Nvidia GeForce 320M using 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM.
The 2011 model has the Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 288 MB of DDR3 SDRAM
The 2012 model has the Intel HD Graphics 4000.
I know that based on our current environment, any of these should be able to play HD video files and Youtube no problem whatsoever, but looking ahead to future incarnations of Airplay and other potential HTPC applications, not to mention future versions of OS X, what should I be keeping in mind? Do only some of these models support OS X technologies like OpenCL and hardware based encoding? How much longer do you think the 2010 model will be supported by the latest version of OS X?
I've been looking at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Mac Mini models, hoping to buy a used one off of craigslist or ebay.
The 2010 model has the Nvidia GeForce 320M using 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM.
The 2011 model has the Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 288 MB of DDR3 SDRAM
The 2012 model has the Intel HD Graphics 4000.
I know that based on our current environment, any of these should be able to play HD video files and Youtube no problem whatsoever, but looking ahead to future incarnations of Airplay and other potential HTPC applications, not to mention future versions of OS X, what should I be keeping in mind? Do only some of these models support OS X technologies like OpenCL and hardware based encoding? How much longer do you think the 2010 model will be supported by the latest version of OS X?