Mac Mini to replace an Apple TV (part 2)

I’ve had the Mac Mini for a week now so it’s time to share my opinion of it as a media centre replacement for the Apple TV, on the whole it’s all very positive but there are a aspects of it where the Apple TV wins over the Mini depending on the type of person you are. Because of this I’ll try to write this review from two points of view where necessary, that of someone who it familiar with computers and Macs and does’t mind things not being ultra simple. And that of someone just wanting the simplest way to watch downloaded movies/TV/music on their TV.

What’s in the box and cost

With the Apple TV you get the device itself, a power cable and an Apple remote, the only other thing you need is an HDMI cable. The device costs£223, plus £10 for a reasonably priced HDMI cable, total cost £233. Now bear in mind that on top of this you will need a computer close enough to the Apple TV that you can connect the two via an ethernet cable, or a wireless network, and I would highly recommend that it’s wireless N otherwise transferring media onto the device is painfully slow.

With the Mac Mini you get the device, power supply and a mini displayport to DVI adapter. On top of this you will also need a keyboard, mouse, DVI to DVI/HDMI cable and sound system. Some have said that with certain TV’s the mini displayport will carry audio through a HDMI cable to the TV but that wasn’t the case for my set up so I can’t comment on if it works or not, or which TV’s it works with. The cheapest Mac Mini costs £510, plus £55 for the wireless Magic Mouse, plus £56 for a wireless keyboard and £25 for a DVI to HDMI cable, you could also add £15 for an Apple Remote if you want one. Total cost £661. You will also need speakers and an amp on top of that but I won’t include it in the cost because you could use anything from a £10 pair of computer speakers up to a few thousand for a 5.1 sound system. If you need all the accessories and don’t already have a keyboard, mouse etc. the cost is nearly three times as much as the Apple TV, but bear in mind that this is a computer, so you won’t need an additional one.

Functionality

The Apple TV gets all it’s media by syncing with iTunes, just like an iPhone or iPod. This means that if iTunes won’t play it then neither will the Apple TV, unless you patch it with modified software, but this is unofficial and can be buggy so I’m not going to cover that here. So no viewing AVI, MPG, FLV etc. if you have already used iTunes you’ll already be aware of what it can and can’t play. For anyone that uses iTunes to organise all their media then this won’t be a problem and I was quite happy with the Apple TV for nearly a year. As well as media that is synced over from your computer you can also access YouTube from the built in application, purchase and download movies and TV shows and also rent movies, all this is accessed using just the Apple remote.

The Mac Mini on the other hand can play nearly anything you throw at it, if a Mac can play it then so can the mini. You arent restricted to just content that iTunes can play, it will play all video and audio formats plus you have the advantage of streaming from other services too, such as BBC iPlayer, Hulu if you are in the U.S. and the recently launched SeeSaw. And it’s not just for watching pre recorded content, plug in a TV card and you can also watch/record live TV. The Mac Mini is a much more versatile device compared to the Apple TV and this is the main reason that I bought one. Also you aren’t restricted by hard drive size. The Apple TV comes with a 160GB drive and that’s all you can have, unless you modify the software like I mentioned earlier. With the Mac Mini you can plug in as many external hard drives as you like. I currently have my iTunes library stored on a 1TB external drive, that’s storing all my movies and TV shows but not music as I don’t used iTunes for that. This brings up another point, I don’t have any music in my iTunes library any more because I listen all music via Spotify, this is another thing that the Apple TV can’t do but the Mini can.

Usability

Now this is where the Apple TV really shines. Navigation the interface with the Apple Remote is so easy or you could use the iPhone/iPod Touch remote app, sit back, relax and browse through your collection for something to watch, or pop onto the iTunes store and look for something new, maybe watch a few trailers and buy or rent a movie. It’s so easy and enjoyable, I could easily pass an hour just looking round the store and watching trailers, time slips away, it’s a very easy and pleasurable experience. Before I got the Apple TV I hardly ever bought downloadable content, now most of my movies are bought or rented this way. It even makes piracy a hassle, no sitting at your computer having to look for a decent source with a reasonable amount of seeds, reading through all the comments to see what people are saying about the quality and if there are no comments then just hoping that it will be of a decent quality. Then waiting for half an hour to a few hours for it to download. Instead you sit back, relax, browse through the iTunes store, choose a film, select rent or buy, then 30 seconds later you can start watching it. It’s so simple and time saving.

The Mac Mini on the other hand isn’t as simple because you don’t have just one remote and interface to control everything, well you could do it all from an iPhone or iPod Touch using the remote app and an app like TouchMouse by Logitech both of which are free, but it isn’t ideal. Most of the time you will be controlling it via keyboard and mouse. There are multiple different media centre apps for mac, Front Row which comes as part of the OS, Boxee and XBMC but neither of them is perfect, they all have their pros and cons so I’ve just settled with Front Row for now. For some people like myself this is not a problem and a small price to pay for having a much more capable and versatile media device. For others, especially those that don’t like or aren t too familiar with computers this could be a huge downside. The difference in usability between the Apple TV and the Mac Mini is like night and day.

Conclusion

I haven’t really got a final conclusion on which one is best, for me using the Mac Mini as an alternative to an Apple TV is a huge upgrade and one that I’m glad I made, I wish I had done it earlier. For others the simplicity of the Apple TV and the ability to get away from a computer interface maybe just what they need. Both are great media devices and if it wasn’t for the Apple TV I probably wouldn’t have the Mac Mini now, it completely changed the way I purchase, rent and watch Movies/TV Shows.