Mac Mini - media centre/server

[Billzz]

Hi all,

Well despite my slightly negative post yesterday about the refreshed Mac lineup, i've been thinking that the New Mac Mini with its low power usage (13w idle) would seem to make an ideal 24/7 media centre/server/download box. As it has Firewire 800 port some kind of external raided drive would seem ideal for shared storage with the other computers (imac and vista gaming rig) around the house.

I'd run the machine headless 24/7 but would use it with an HDMI TV for web browsing/watching movies/listening to music etc. How easy would it be to connect the machine to our tv with sound - obviously? Are minis happy to run headless for remote access (probably via apple remote access or logmein). Do you guys think upgrading the memory would be worth it or would 1gig be sufficient for what we need?

Thanks for any replies, just entered my head that this might be a good solution for our needs. What does everyone think? If anyone else has any other suggestions or if i'm way off the mark let me know, my credit card finger is twitching

 

[Deleted member 651465]

1GB is always going to struggle IMO. It would be alright for serving the content, but why take the risk when RAM is so cheap?

I can't see the machine having a problem without a monitor, providing you leave it running 24/7 / don't require to log in if it reboots.

Snow Leopard (10.6) supports TV resolutions i.e. 720P, 1080P etc so it would be fine with a HDTV via HDMI.

There are standard analog/digital connections for audio (think MacBook) so it would be easy to hook in to an existing setup.

 

[startrek2]

its just 13w at idle even web browsing increases this..

but still a power saving from before and better than most now