Mini or Air Connundrum - Remote Access

[stuartmeyers]

Hi All,
I have a challenge. Buy a mini or a second hand air. I have two needs. 1 - a media server for my AppleTV and 2 - to load xcode and learn swift. I am currently using macincloud and performance is not good enough. I also don't have a big budget.

So, do I setup a new macbook mini near my TV and use it as a media server and use remote desktop (VNC or similar over wifi) to connect to the mini from my windows notebook? Or do I buy a second hand air which means its better for xcode but worse as a media server?

My main concern is remote access from Windows to the mini and whether its good enough to learn coding. I have no other desire to do anything else on the mac as I have a windows notebook, an ipad and an iphone.

Any thoughts?

Cheers
Stuart

 

[vincenz]

Seems like the media server is important to you. I vote for the mini. What makes you say the air is better than the mini for Xcode?

 

[hallux]

Why do you feel the Air would be better for xcode? The Mini should handle both those tasks just fine, as long as you're not doing both at the same time.

 

[stuartmeyers]

What makes you say the air is better than the mini for Xcode?

Why do you feel the Air would be better for xcode?

Thanks for the replies.

If I am on the air, I have direct use of its monitor but it wont be setup and on all the time for media.
If I am on the mini I will RDP (VNC or teamviewer etc ) into it so screen usage will be worse but media server is 24/7.

In regards to doing both at the same time, if the apple tv draws movie in the background from itunes on the mini, then the display could be used for another app at the same time - I think....

At this stage - I am going with the mini....

 

[hallux]

Ah, didn't read that you planned to stream to an ATV (I often ignore signatures so I missed that you have one). Also, mentioning that it would be set up next to the TV, I (incorrectly) inferred that it was displaying directly to the TV.

Yes, you can stream through the ATV AND have a separate desktop through a remote connection as the ATV typically just pulls the data/media to display on the TV, unless you're using the ATV as an Airplay display.

 

[stuartmeyers]

Thanks Hallux. I bit the bullet and bought the mini. Got a kb and mouse from my old man and it all works well so far. Actually it is TV output via DisplayPort to VGA adapter - it's low res 1024 x 768 but that's ok, wont use it much there. And the remote desktop access works fine for now so will see how it goes. If all else fails will buy a real monitor. Thanks for your input.

 

[hallux]

Depending on your TV, the VGA may be the bottleneck on the resolution. If you have other inputs on the TV (HDMI mainly), that should get you better resolution. AirPlay to the Apple TV might also get you better resolution but it might be laggy.

 

[stuartmeyers]

Depending on your TV, the VGA may be the bottleneck on the resolution. If you have other inputs on the TV (HDMI mainly), that should get you better resolution. AirPlay to the Apple TV might also get you better resolution but it might be laggy.

Funny, when i tried airplay the keyboard and mouse didnt work... Will still mess with it to see if it was operator error. For the TV I have 3 HDMI slots but they are used for HiFi, DVD recorder and ATV. Maybe I should try it and see the difference. Will let the forum know what transpires...