Thinking of a mini for permanent hookup to HDTV

[fort-red-border]

I'm contemplating getting myself a mini in the future at some point, mainly for the purpose of keeping it connected to my TV. I stream a lot of sports and play movies/TV through my MBP quite regularly. I also do some gaming (Diablo 3 only) that I'd like to experience through something larger than a 15" screen.

Seeing as it would mainly be used for streaming sports and movies, I'd really prefer to get a refurb and not spend $600 on a brand new one.

What's the skinny?

 

[Tilpots]

This site has a great forum for reseraching that very topic. It's the Apple TV and Home Theater Forum. Check it out.

I have a Late 2009 Mac Mini hooked up to my HDTV and it's awesome!

 

[cynics]

Thats an excellent use for a Mac Mini. It will add comfort to the room you put it in too as you won't have to set up your MBP to stream things every time. Being permanent fixture makes it easier to hook up to amplifiers and such too.

Do you have any questions about it though?

I'm going to be doing the same thing. I finishing off my guest bedroom and plan on moving my living room tv in there with AppleTV. Then buying a 55"+ TV and Mac Mini for the living room. I am waiting for a newer mini to be released though in case it offers something I could utilize or if nothing else reduces the cost of the current units available. I have all the time in the world to wait.

 

[paulrbeers]

I'm contemplating getting myself a mini in the future at some point, mainly for the purpose of keeping it connected to my TV. I stream a lot of sports and play movies/TV through my MBP quite regularly. I also do some gaming (Diablo 3 only) that I'd like to experience through something larger than a 15" screen.

Seeing as it would mainly be used for streaming sports and movies, I'd really prefer to get a refurb and not spend $600 on a brand new one.

What's the skinny?

What year is your MBP? I regularly watch sports streams by using the "secondary" monitor option to my AppleTV. This way my main screen is still used for surfing/work and the "secondary" screen is used for the game being airplay mirrored to my appletv. All of this over wifi. And total cost refurb would only be $75.

You couldn't really game this way, as there is a slight lag, but it does work for streaming internet content.

 

[GreyMatta]

I'm contemplating getting myself a mini in the future at some point, mainly for the purpose of keeping it connected to my TV. I stream a lot of sports and play movies/TV through my MBP quite regularly. I also do some gaming (Diablo 3 only) that I'd like to experience through something larger than a 15" screen.

Seeing as it would mainly be used for streaming sports and movies, I'd really prefer to get a refurb and not spend $600 on a brand new one.

What's the skinny?

I have had a mini connected to a TV in my living room for years it is great to load it full of movies etc and just pick which one you want then watch it instantly.

it's also used as a family / friends Minecraft server at the same time. And is used for the odd download. At the moment I have the C2Duo 2010 version but I'm looking to get the next model if or when it comes out.

 

[Neodym]

I also do some gaming (Diablo 3 only) that I'd like to experience through something larger than a 15" screen.

You probably wouldn't have much fun playing even slightly demanding games (like Diablo III) on a current mini with its HD4000.

 

[Ray2]

I've been using a mini for a media server for 6 years now. Always a pleasure to use and maintain. I run Plex, whole house music, video and photos.

The only adverse comments I would make is I have mine running Snow Leopard. I had nothing but power management and remote management issues with it running ML. No idea if Apple got this sorted out, both were known issues.

I offload batch rendering of video to it. Slow but ok unless its streaming different videos to different clients. Fans will kick on under these conditions. If you don't like noise, best to keep alternate processing off it.

If I had to replace mine, I would buy the cheapest mini I could find, even used, as video does not out much load on the mini. Or, throw a small ssd in it and move my 7tb (without backups) of video to the other side of the house (Ethernet throughout) to get rid of all noise.

 

[drogba]

Not to hijack the thread but I don't want to clog the page up with a new thread, but I also run games and movies on my MBP > TV and I've noticed that when mirroring and fullscreening, it automatically downscales my picture on the HDTV. Not drastically, but there's probably a half-inch of black space on all sides. Does my MBP just not output that high a resolution? If so, does mac mini?