FOLLOW US Get Thesis!
Luca Filigheddu Simpson AvatarNow Enjoying

Apple TV vs Mac Mini

by Luca Filigheddu on January 17, 2007



Apple TV vs Mac Mini

Yesterday TheAppleBlog posted a comprehensive comparison between the new Apple TV just announced during the latest MacWorld and the Apple Mac Mini.

Product-Product
Apple TV

Product-Product
Mac Mini

I’ve read it carefully and I think it’s really well written and really useful for who is going to make a choice. I highly recommend to read it.

In the meantime, I’ve already made a choice: Apple TV. Now I’ll tell you why.

In terms of functionalities, I do believe Mac Mini is absolutely the right choice for anyone who don’t own a portable Mac (I wanted to buy one before getting my MacBook). But, why do I need a Mac Mini under my plasma TV if I could easily connect (whenever I want) my MacBook to it by a mini-DVI – DVI cable then the optical audio out to my home theater? My MacBook is provided with FrontRow and with a remote, so it can easily do what a Mac Mini does. It’s something I usually do to see photos and to play music.

That’s the reason why I don’t need another computer just below my TV.

Instead, speaking about the Apple TV, it’s a cheap choice (in Italy, the entry-level Mac-Mini costs 619€, against 299€ of the Apple TV) to have my contents always available from my TV and hi-fi, always connected.

All this said, I’m looking forward to receiving it. According to the email I’ve received from the Apple Store, it should be shipped on February 28th (late, late…). I’ll keep you posted ;-)


Whichever Television you prefer, it is available online. Visit a Price Comparison site to find out your options. With Affordable TVs in pretty much every price range you can find a TV in your budget.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,


Why I run my blog on Thesis Wordpress Theme

Get Thesis

Thesis gives my blog a very professional look with very clean, easy-to-read layout and SEO friendly design. Take a look at my post explaining why I chose Thesis for my blog. Get your Thesis Theme today!


Why I host my blog on Media Temple

Mediatemple Hosting

Media Temple Grid-Service is a hosting solution which guarantees speed and reliability to my blog. Unlike other shared hosting plans, Mediatemple Grid-Service eliminates the “bad neighbor effect” by distributing the load over several servers instead of confining it to one machine. This redundancy means more stability and virtually no downtime. Get Media Temple Hosting services now!


  • Luca Filigheddu
    "Works" mean that must be accepted in Itunes and you should correctly view it on iTunes. Anyway, there are a lot of applications which can easily convert your videos into AppleTV / Itunes format.
  • jaybeat
    Whatever video "works" with iTunes...can you define "works"? ;-)


    The hot controversy seems to be, will aTV play any content that *can be made to play* in iTunes (that is, by using a pointer), or will it only play content that it has codecs for?



    In other words, if I have DiVX, Xvid, or Windoz Media content that I can "trick" iTunes into playing (through QuickTime, extended with the appropriate third-party codecs), will my aTV also play that content, or not?



    If you actually have access to one, you are ahead of all the rest of us speculators!
  • Luca Filigheddu
    Not really. I can play whatever video works with iTunes. Like my MPEG2 or MPEG4 personal videos, for instance.
  • Anonymous
    this AppleTV is okay if you only want H.264 and protected H.264 content (i.e. what Apple sells through the ITMS), but if you want to put anything else up you might be better off with Mac Mini (or ideally something even more open which does not restrict the format of your content).
  • Anonymous
    If ALL you are going to do is connect to your TV, laptop & Apple TV sounds great.


    But if your objective is to integrate a Mac into a full home theater system, with the necessary external storage devices, EyeTV video recorder, and a midi workstation for Garage Band, a dedicated machine such as the Mini, I think, is best. I certainly would not want to have to plug and unplug a video, audio, USB and Firewire cables everytime.



    I think that the Apple TV is best utilized in a household with one media PC/Mac and multiple TV's.
  • Average Betty
    Luca!
    I will be eagerly awaiting your review of AppleTV next month...Please check out some video podcasts and rate the video and audio quality for us podcasters:) Feel free to use my homegrown video podcast on iTunes as a guinea pig!
  • Ryan
    I like your argument, and agree that if you already have a laptop with frontrow and can connect via DVI to your TV, the aTV is the right choice. Thanks!


    ~Ryan H.

    myilife.com
blog comments powered by Disqus