I have long yearned for a computer in my family room (aside from the PowerBook) - one always at hand, one the kids could use for games, etc. I've held back because I couldn't afford a decent TV and because I wasn't sure about getting a Mac mini.
That changed this weekend.
On Wednesday, I bought a stock mini duo. Fearing that the RAM was insufficient, and not being all that eager to crack the case like a little white lobster, I returned the mini Friday for an "ultimate" package at my local Apple Store - 1GB RAM, 100GB HD. How this qualifies as "ultimate" I don't know, but the little green sticker on the box clearly says ULTIMATE, so who am I to argue?
Saturday, I purchased a Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" HDTV at Best Buy for $1534. I have no idea why it was $1534 - even the web showed it at $1804 (now $1699), but it was. 1920x1080 resolution (!!), decent quality, and all I needed for a reasonably small room where much of the TV viewing is family-oriented. I also bought a wall mount bracket. All of this was in New Hampshire, so no sales tax, and I get a corporate partner discount on the Macs (6% for consumer Macs). I already had a BT keyboard and mouse.
Total expenses: US$2531.
Mac mini duo/1GB/100GB............... US$ 892
Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" HDTV....... US$1534
Wall-mount bracket for HTV........... US$ 105
Total................................ US$2531
I first set the TV on the island in the kitchen and connected it to the mini. Understand: the largest monitor I've ever owned was 20". The largest TV I've ever owned was 27". Booting a Mac onto a 37" 1920x1080 monitor was like staring at the face of God. I know there are those of you with 80" screens and/or dual 30" LCD monitors. Not me. So, right away, I was thrilled.
The next thing I did - my 5-year-old was there - was wirelessly stream "Kim Possible" off of the iMac in the other room via iTunes/FrontRow. Awesome.
I then mounted the TV and found the mini a spot (temporary, until I build a new cabinet for the cable box, DVD player, mini, and UPS to mount on the wall under the TV). Saturday evening and yesterday, I played with FrontRow - mainly the movie trailer previews, which I love, even though I think the rest of FrontRow is mediocre at best, browsed MR (of course) (and faked my Oscar results), and watched some 1080p QuickTime trailers.
Today I swapped my cable box for an HD one, and the setup - minus the cabinet I have to build - is complete.
I mention all of this setup info because my review is centered around how well the mini functions in a family room/home theater room. Others can review it from the point of view of it being a primary computer.
Quick summary: the mini duo with 1GB RAM functioned flawlessly in every way I asked it to perform for the past several days, and especially as a computer to be used in an entertainment room.
1920x1080 resolution worked perfectly. No issues with speed at all.
It played 1080p QT trailers perfectly. Really... no issues whatsoever.
It previewed movie trailers via FrontRow perfectly - minus some movie-server related twitches that weren't its fault. I know that movie trailer viewing isn't a big deal to most, but, using a remote to control my mini on a 37" screen was all new to me, and I thought it was quite cool.
WarCraft III played just fine. I'm sure other games suck terribly, and WCIII wasn't quite as spunky as on my iMac duo, but, really, I found it to be completely playable.
A few OS X games I bought a while back for my daughter play fine, but, then again, you'd sort of expect that.
I was able to wirelessly view movies (TV shows) I'd recorded via my Alchemy card in my PMG5... no issues.
Web surfing was surprisingly easy via BT, and the zoom function (⌥⌘= and ⌥⌘-) was very helpful at times. I checked my mail - no issues in seeing it from the couch. iLife works great.
All in all, I am very, very happy with the mini in this capacity. Anything I'd expect it to be able to do in a family room environment, it did. The small and attractive package blends perfectly with the TV, the cable box, and the DVD player. Wireless reception was good enough to view movies/programs coming off another Mac (as well as iTunes streaming - which was flawless). Heating did not seem to be an issue - it got fairly warm, but never all that hot (it had plenty of room around it) and the fans were never audible. The remote is more useful than you'd think.
I will leave it to others to run benchmarks and argue about the integrated graphics and debate the merits of the new mini vs the old mini vs cheap PCs vs PowerMacs.
If you are looking to attach a mini to an HDTV for use in a TV room, and if you're wondering if it is quiet, small, and powerful enough to handle anything you'd need it for in such a situation, then I can say, absolutely, that a mini duo with 1GB RAM works perfectly. I suspect that a mini solo with 512MB would work most of the time but I cannot verify that.
I have lots of video (home movies, TV shows I've recorded, etc.) on hard drives. Now I can see all of that on a "real" TV. I often want to check something quickly online while I'm playing with the kids in the family room - now I can, without a PowerBook near my 9-month-old. I can iChat (I hooked up an iSight, which works fine) and see the other end clearly - and even position the iSight in front of the TV screen so the people see us looking at them (as opposed to above or below the screen). I think it's all wonderful.
Again, if you have connected computers to 80" TVs or are used to giant monitors, none of this is new to you. To me, though, it is, and the mini has made the experience that much better.
I highly recommend the mini.
Also, for what it's worth, the Westinghouse LVM-37W1 is quite a nice TV for the price. You see a bit more backlighting in the corners, but it's not a big deal, and if, like me, you're used to small standard-def CRTs, you'd love this TV (esp. for the price). 1920x1080 for ~US$1500.
That changed this weekend.
On Wednesday, I bought a stock mini duo. Fearing that the RAM was insufficient, and not being all that eager to crack the case like a little white lobster, I returned the mini Friday for an "ultimate" package at my local Apple Store - 1GB RAM, 100GB HD. How this qualifies as "ultimate" I don't know, but the little green sticker on the box clearly says ULTIMATE, so who am I to argue?
Saturday, I purchased a Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" HDTV at Best Buy for $1534. I have no idea why it was $1534 - even the web showed it at $1804 (now $1699), but it was. 1920x1080 resolution (!!), decent quality, and all I needed for a reasonably small room where much of the TV viewing is family-oriented. I also bought a wall mount bracket. All of this was in New Hampshire, so no sales tax, and I get a corporate partner discount on the Macs (6% for consumer Macs). I already had a BT keyboard and mouse.
Total expenses: US$2531.
Mac mini duo/1GB/100GB............... US$ 892
Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" HDTV....... US$1534
Wall-mount bracket for HTV........... US$ 105
Total................................ US$2531
I first set the TV on the island in the kitchen and connected it to the mini. Understand: the largest monitor I've ever owned was 20". The largest TV I've ever owned was 27". Booting a Mac onto a 37" 1920x1080 monitor was like staring at the face of God. I know there are those of you with 80" screens and/or dual 30" LCD monitors. Not me. So, right away, I was thrilled.
The next thing I did - my 5-year-old was there - was wirelessly stream "Kim Possible" off of the iMac in the other room via iTunes/FrontRow. Awesome.
I then mounted the TV and found the mini a spot (temporary, until I build a new cabinet for the cable box, DVD player, mini, and UPS to mount on the wall under the TV). Saturday evening and yesterday, I played with FrontRow - mainly the movie trailer previews, which I love, even though I think the rest of FrontRow is mediocre at best, browsed MR (of course) (and faked my Oscar results), and watched some 1080p QuickTime trailers.
Today I swapped my cable box for an HD one, and the setup - minus the cabinet I have to build - is complete.
I mention all of this setup info because my review is centered around how well the mini functions in a family room/home theater room. Others can review it from the point of view of it being a primary computer.
Quick summary: the mini duo with 1GB RAM functioned flawlessly in every way I asked it to perform for the past several days, and especially as a computer to be used in an entertainment room.
1920x1080 resolution worked perfectly. No issues with speed at all.
It played 1080p QT trailers perfectly. Really... no issues whatsoever.
It previewed movie trailers via FrontRow perfectly - minus some movie-server related twitches that weren't its fault. I know that movie trailer viewing isn't a big deal to most, but, using a remote to control my mini on a 37" screen was all new to me, and I thought it was quite cool.
WarCraft III played just fine. I'm sure other games suck terribly, and WCIII wasn't quite as spunky as on my iMac duo, but, really, I found it to be completely playable.
A few OS X games I bought a while back for my daughter play fine, but, then again, you'd sort of expect that.
I was able to wirelessly view movies (TV shows) I'd recorded via my Alchemy card in my PMG5... no issues.
Web surfing was surprisingly easy via BT, and the zoom function (⌥⌘= and ⌥⌘-) was very helpful at times. I checked my mail - no issues in seeing it from the couch. iLife works great.
All in all, I am very, very happy with the mini in this capacity. Anything I'd expect it to be able to do in a family room environment, it did. The small and attractive package blends perfectly with the TV, the cable box, and the DVD player. Wireless reception was good enough to view movies/programs coming off another Mac (as well as iTunes streaming - which was flawless). Heating did not seem to be an issue - it got fairly warm, but never all that hot (it had plenty of room around it) and the fans were never audible. The remote is more useful than you'd think.
I will leave it to others to run benchmarks and argue about the integrated graphics and debate the merits of the new mini vs the old mini vs cheap PCs vs PowerMacs.
If you are looking to attach a mini to an HDTV for use in a TV room, and if you're wondering if it is quiet, small, and powerful enough to handle anything you'd need it for in such a situation, then I can say, absolutely, that a mini duo with 1GB RAM works perfectly. I suspect that a mini solo with 512MB would work most of the time but I cannot verify that.
I have lots of video (home movies, TV shows I've recorded, etc.) on hard drives. Now I can see all of that on a "real" TV. I often want to check something quickly online while I'm playing with the kids in the family room - now I can, without a PowerBook near my 9-month-old. I can iChat (I hooked up an iSight, which works fine) and see the other end clearly - and even position the iSight in front of the TV screen so the people see us looking at them (as opposed to above or below the screen). I think it's all wonderful.
Again, if you have connected computers to 80" TVs or are used to giant monitors, none of this is new to you. To me, though, it is, and the mini has made the experience that much better.
I highly recommend the mini.
Also, for what it's worth, the Westinghouse LVM-37W1 is quite a nice TV for the price. You see a bit more backlighting in the corners, but it's not a big deal, and if, like me, you're used to small standard-def CRTs, you'd love this TV (esp. for the price). 1920x1080 for ~US$1500.
