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My Setup, will this work fine?

D

detz

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 29, 2007
1,051
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I currently have a Linux server that I use for storage and movie playback but I'm sick of the hassle so I'm switching over to a mac. My planned setup is

Have:
Sony 52" Bravia HDTV 1080p
Onkyo HT-S6100 7.1 Sound System

Going to Purchase:
Mac Mini
DVI->HDMI to receiver for HD
Digital Audio out to receiver for digital audio
Drobo with 4x1TB disks for storage.
Maybe wireless keyboard but I will probably use VPN most of the time.

Questions:
Mac Mini will work fine for playback correct? I've read some post and it seems to do the trick.
Any preference on which cables to get, Apple sells them for $20/each but online they are like $4 each.
The macmini is only FW-400 and the Drobo is FW800, will I notice a difference?
Those of you that have setups like this do you use a keyboard/mouse?

Thanks.
 
How soon are you going to purchase? There are rumblings that the Mac mini will be updated at MacWorld San Francisco, which takes place in January. Apple has said that the Mac mini is not dead, and they have also said that there will be no more updates this year...so that leaves MWSF as a likely update date. I'm not normally one to advise the delay in the purchase of equipment, but since it is "just" for home theater usage, perhaps waiting to see if they update it would be a good idea. I imagine the performance will jump considerably, since the Mac mini hasn't been updated in over a year.

As far as the cables go, find 'em cheaper online somewhere. I bought my DVI-HDMI cable on ebay or somewhere, and it works great. Heck of a lot cheaper than anything Apple would offer.
 
tobefirst said:
How soon are you going to purchase? There are rumblings that the Mac mini will be updated at MacWorld San Francisco, which takes place in January. Apple has said that the Mac mini is not dead, and they have also said that there will be no more updates this year...so that leaves MWSF as a likely update date. I'm not normally one to advise the delay in the purchase of equipment, but since it is "just" for home theater usage, perhaps waiting to see if they update it would be a good idea. I imagine the performance will jump considerably, since the Mac mini hasn't been updated in over a year.

As far as the cables go, find 'em cheaper online somewhere. I bought my DVI-HDMI cable on ebay or somewhere, and it works great. Heck of a lot cheaper than anything Apple would offer.
Click to expand...

I might be able to wait a month or so, I just started playing with Boxee on my Linux box and i love it so that got the ball rolling on switching over to a Mac(It took me two hours to get the stupid sound to work in Linux.:mad:) I'm going to get everything else working corrently using my macbook so the swtich to the mac mini should be pretty easy once I take the plunge.
 
Yes I would wait at least till the next Apple conference in Jan. to see if there's a mini update.

If you cannot wait, then I would look at the older version of the Drobo (not the newer one) as it is cheaper. The mini currently doesn't have firewire 800 like you said so there's no reason to pay for it- unless you dont mind spending the extra cash. you will have a more future proof Drobo then I guess.

Also use Plex! It's amazing!
 
marklight said:
Yes I would wait at least till the next Apple conference in Jan. to see if there's a mini update.

If you cannot wait, then I would look at the older version of the Drobo (not the newer one) as it is cheaper. The mini currently doesn't have firewire 800 like you said so there's no reason to pay for it- unless you dont mind spending the extra cash. you will have a more future proof Drobo then I guess.

Also use Plex! It's amazing!
Click to expand...

I've been testing Plex on my macbook and it seems much more stable then Boxee but we'll see. I'm actually leaning away from Drobo now, for the $500 it cost I can have four 1TB drives and some external fireware cases. I don't need everything backed up, mostly my music so I will probably instead mirror 1TB so everything I want backed up will go there and the other 2TB will be for stuff that I don't care if I loose.
 
detz said:
I've been testing Plex on my macbook and it seems much more stable then Boxee but we'll see. I'm actually leaning away from Drobo now, for the $500 it cost I can have four 1TB drives and some external fireware cases. I don't need everything backed up, mostly my music so I will probably instead mirror 1TB so everything I want backed up will go there and the other 2TB will be for stuff that I don't care if I loose.
Click to expand...


Check this out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111047
 
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