New Mac Mini Unboxing photos

Drooling! So clean, and look at the back - and the RAM access - makes me want to replace mine!
Click here for official link

New Mac Mini released - with HDMI!

from TUAW:

Mac Mini gets a sneaky update: spec bump, unibody enclosure, HDMI

by Chris Rawson (RSS feed) on Jun 15th 2010 at 4:40AM

Amidst all the excitement over iPhone 4 being available for pre-order, Apple also snuck an update to the Mac Mini under the radar -- and it's a pretty big update. The new Mac Mini comes in two flavors:

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
320 GB hard drive
$699

or the "server class" Mac Mini:

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
Dual 500 GB hard drive
$999

Both models of Mac Mini have been updated with NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, the same integrated GPU present in the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

The Mac Mini has received far more than a simple spec bump, however. The enclosure itself has been updated to a unibody aluminum construction similar to the MacBook Pro, and the "server" Mac Mini omits an optical drive entirely in favor of dual hard drives [this was the case for the previous server model –Ed.]. Perhaps more important than that, the Mac Mini is now the first Mac ever to include built-in HDMI. You read that right: the Mac Mini has HDMI. The Mac Mini also has an SD card slot in the back. [Ed: This is one sexy little machine!]

Apple has also addressed the well-known difficulty of upgrading the Mac Mini's RAM. There's now a removable twist-off panel on the Mac Mini's bottom that allows for easy access to the Mini's RAM slots. We're not sure yet if the hard drive will be as easy to upgrade, but at the very least, a RAM upgrade looks like it'll take less than a minute with this new model.

The Mac Mini is available now.

Apple releases new great products - and the mac mini server?

With today's announcements of the new iMac lineup (official Apple site here), the really, really cool looking magic mouse and other smaller items, they also announced new mac minis, including the new "mightier" mac mini server which comes bundled with OS X Server software for $999.

I think probably the regular mini is just fine for the HTPC, but, since this blog does focus on the mini, I figured it is good to put up the news related to it.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has put up a good article as to why you might be interested in this new mini server which you can read here.

You've heard of Lodgenet, right?

I know, I did the same thing: "Lodgenet....Lodgenet....how do I know that name?!" - ok, so think back to the last time you were in a hotel, and you turned on the TV - that's it - those wacky people which offer you all that amazing programing and games - that's lodgenet. Well, if you think the mac mini home theater is just for us cutting edge types - not anymore - Read this post from our friends over at 123macmini.com

LodgeNet today announced a new Mac mini-based IPTV+ system designed for the hotel industry. According to the company, this solution presents hoteliers with an entirely new set of capabilities to create compelling in-room interactive experiences, and provides an exceptional new opportunity to communicate brand messages to their guests, deliver a broad range of on-demand entertainment, present hotel information, and even support the sale of hotel products and services through in-room technology. The solution also supports the delivery of television and web-based entertainment, and provides a platform for the development of next-generation interactive applications.

The company said they designed this IPTV+ solution to leverage Apple's Core Animation Technology as well as the processing power of the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processer. This enables LodgeNet IPTV+ to provide compelling new user experiences including robust animated effects and extensive image and video layering features. Also, by choosing the new Mac mini as part of its solution, LodgeNet is offering its customers an environmentally friendly solution for in-room processing that meets the EPA's new Energy Start 5.0 specification, and which features an energy-saving function that consumes less than 13 watts in idle mode.

LodgeNet will be showcasing the product at HITEC 2009 in Anaheim, California from June 23rd to the 25th.

The 2009 Mac Mini

For quit a while now, I've been hearing and reading about people using the mac mini as a Home Theater set up. Most notably by Adam Christianson on The MacCast podcast (definitely worth listening to - lots of great Apple news , Q&A and interviews).

So, as you may or may not know, the mac mini was updated about a month ago and comes in a 2.0 or 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. You can choose 120GB or 320GB hard drive and up to 4GB of RAM.

Today I stopped by the new Apple store in Greensboro, NC (finally open) (which is really nice, and I've heard the largest in NC) and purchased the 2.0 with 120 GB hard drive an added 1GB of RAM (for a total of 2GB RAM) for $50 and left it with them to install. The MacCast actually just had a bit about installing RAM into the mac mini on your own and the general consensus seems to be that you run a high risk of voiding your apple care if you do this. Bottom line, for $50, I just can't see saving any significant money by doing it myself, and I've got better things to do than pry open a new mac mini with a putty knife lol. It should be ready in a couple of days.

So why add the extra RAM and not upgrade the hard drive and the processor? Well, on the RAM - (and I'm not an expert and please feel free to correct me if I speak out of turn here) - from what I've read, it seems that with the new setup with the Nvidia graphics, the RAM gets split between the processor and the graphics card and with the 2GB of RAM the video will jump from 128MB to 256MB. (Also, people report the most you can get to the graphics is 256MB, so there doesn't seem to be a need to go above 2GB for this purpose, at least. Of course, if I'm wrong on this, just let me know.

The processor and the HD: Again, just based on other people's reports, some people claimed to have good luck with 1.8GHz and 1080p and others said that it was a little studdery (is that a word?) but that 2.0 GHz was definitely working well especially with the new Nvidia graphics card.

As for the hard drive space of 120GB versus 320GB, for me, at least, I have a TON of hard drive space , both internal and external, on the Mac Pro. What I am doing now is pointing the external drives which house the movies and TV shows to the public shared folder so the mac mini (and laptop) can access files from the Mac Pro desktop (which I'll talk about in a future post). A big part is to keep the cost down. I only really plan on using the mac mini as a video hub. Maybe some light internet surfing, but that would be about it. So really, there is no need for excessive hard drive space on the mini.

So lets take a look at some pics of the new model, and if you want to see and read more, click here for all the official specs and pics.









So that kinda covers the mac mini and what I'm getting and why. I think next is going to be all about the software. After that hooking up the mac mini to the Samsung TV and Onkyo.

This is how it starts

My good friend John was in town this week, and we were talking about our respective Home Theater setups. I already knew he did a lot of torrents and was using a server (Vista based) to transfer over his TV shows to an MVIX , which then played on his TV. What I didn't know about, was that he had this system automated. I had wrongfully assumed that he was manually searching and downloading these torrents and I was being very slick with my Tivo setup. Clearly, I was wrong lol.

Basically, he has Mico set up as his torrent client and he has it setup with RSS feeds of tv shows he gets from TVRSS and he has it set to auto download new episodes. The more we talked the more I started thinking this was the way to go, and that my Apple TV isn't going to cut it.

My current set up is:

Samsung 46" 720 DLP
Tivo Series 3 HD
Onkyo Surround Amp with 4 HDMI inputs.
Apple TV
Sony BlueRay (ver 2.0)
Mac Pro desktop in a different room
Airport Wireless N router
Netgear XAV101 plug in ethernet adaptors (for making an internet hardline connection out of a wall plug)

For movies, my system was to take the DVDs and use MactheRipper (which is excellent) to rip into Video TS folders and save them onto an external drive as backup. Then I would use handbrake to convert them to Apple TV format and insert them into iTunes. After that, I would do a quick grab of the cover art, and copy paste the movie info into the meta for movie in iTunes and I could access the movies remotely from iTunes via the Apple TV and be good to go.

It was nice because now you can scan a ton of movies, see the cover art and read about it and decide if you want to watch or whatever - people loved it. But, it was a bit of work and one that you might miss is that you just have the movie and not the actual DVD - which means no subtitle access, or extra features.

So the Tivo is pretty obvious, and works great. And now they have Watch it Now for Netflix, which is is nice so you don't need a Roku box or Xbox.

So why am I changing? A few reasons.

1. The Apple TV system is not perfect. Its good, but could be better. To many steps to get the DVDs formatted properly, missing all of the DVD, etc..

2. The money - I am paying $80/month for Digital Cable and the basic HD package which has the major networks and a few other things like HDNet. Plus, $13/mo for Tivo. Which works out to $93/month or $1,116 per year. Over $1,000 a year for TV?!?! DAMN! Yes, that's crazy when you look at it like that. Especially when you consider I pretty much never watch TV unless it has been Tivo'd. I don't like to, nor have time to, just sit around and surf channels for no reason, plus I have grown to HATE commercials and like everyone already knows, there is never anything on TV anyway. So why am I paying $1,000 a year to watch Lost, 24, BSG, Top Chef and a few other shows? Especially when you can watch any of them for FREE the next day on Hulu or the network web sites.

I'll tell you why - because no one wants to huddle around a computer monitor with a bunch of friends. Although I have a nice 24 inch HD monitor, the 46 inch DLP is still nicer and with better sound.

Yeah, from time to time my GF and I have hooked up her macbook to the TV and it works great, but still, yo uhave to go through the process.

Which leaves me at the 2009 mac mini - and which is where I'll pick up next time :)