older Mini that can handle 1080p

[mknabster]

I'm looking to buy an older Mini with a DVD burner that has enough graphics power to handle 720p and 1080p video over my file server via ethernet. I currently have a Pentium 4 Dell with a 256MB Radeon PCI card, and despite it saying it can do 1920x1080 resolutions, the max i was able to get it to work at was 1680. With that fact, it drops some frames in 720p, and 1080p very much so; luckily 480p is fine. So i'm looking for a smaller computer that can handle the video i have. What should i be looking for, and how much should i be spending, hopefully not too much, like $300 is my limit. I'll be going to a computer auction in 2 weeks, so i'm trying to do research on computers they might have, because they generally have a decent selection of minis.

 

[philipma1957]

I'm looking to buy an older Mini with a DVD burner that has enough graphics power to handle 720p and 1080p video over my file server via ethernet. I currently have a Pentium 4 Dell with a 256MB Radeon PCI card, and despite it saying it can do 1920x1080 resolutions, the max i was able to get it to work at was 1680. With that fact, it drops some frames in 720p, and 1080p very much so; luckily 480p is fine. So i'm looking for a smaller computer that can handle the video i have. What should i be looking for, and how much should i be spending, hopefully not too much, like $300 is my limit. I'll be going to a computer auction in 2 weeks, so i'm trying to do research on computers they might have, because they generally have a decent selection of minis.

a 2010 should do the trick. the base model 2.4 it has a discrete graphics card. just jack the ram up to at least 4gb.

300 dollars no maybe 385

 

[reebzor]

I have a 2.0Ghz 2009 Mini with 4GB of ram that does 1080p just fine. I wouldn't go any lower than that because the 2009 at least has the 9400, rather than the GMA950

 

[mknabster]

how much VRAM does your model have reebzor?

 

[dhussey111]

i have the same model before with same configuration but my pc was really low..

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I'm looking to buy an older Mini with a DVD burner that has enough graphics power to handle 720p and 1080p video over my file server via ethernet.

Anything with a NVIDIA 9400M or Intel HD 3000 can decode at least one H.264 1080p data stream in realtime, if you use Mac OS X 10.6.3 and QuickTime Player X. I did not test VLC v2.x.x (supports also hardware acceleration).

 

[mgartner0622]

To answer your question, I have a 2.0GHz Early 2009 Mini as well, and it has 256MB of integrated VRAM.

 

[grouch]

my 2009 mac mini with 2gb system memory plays 1080p videos just fine. i have one of the 2011 nvidia mac minis on my desk and the fan starts to go ******* when i try to play the same file.

as far as mkv bluray rips go, it starts to stutter at a ~10-12 gig file for a 90 minute movie (over the network). i've been using this for a few years and i don't really have a reason to upgrade for a few more. it's been fantastic.