Mac Mini destined to be your Media Center?

January 11th, 2005 · 7 Comments · apple, gadgets and technology

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Mac Mini since seeing it pop up today through the MacWorld Keynote IRC feeds and finally reviewing the specs on the Apple site and store. While it certainly would make a great Mac if you are a developer looking for a small footprint machine or a second mac at home (actually even as a first mac), I think the real application this box wants is a media server.

People are already using their macs as media servers through various other tools like an Eyehome or a Squeezebox, but this is a standalone super capable device that could easily be used (perhaps in conjunction with an EyeTV for DVR functions) as a full media center Mac. The only thing that seems to be missing in the box is a digital audio out option.

What’s really needed now though more than anything is a simple application or User Interface for the bigger screen that would enable dare I say the 10 foot experience you’ve heard quite a bit about from Microsoft. If I was Slim Devices, or El Gato or probably quite a few others who have been playing in this space, I would be all over the opportunity to customize the Mac Mini into a media center. I actually just noticed that El Gato is about to release something called eyeconnect, which looks quite promising! Perhaps a great start to the Mac Media center foundation…

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7 responses so far ↓

1 atmaspheric | endeavors // Jan 12, 2005 at 2:34 pm

Mac Mini - Obsessive HTPC thinking

I can’t get the Mac Mini out of my head and some quick browsing today has led me to all but pre-order it immediately. All elements that might seem to be missing from the ideal HTPC configuration can easily be solved with the help of third part produc…
2 Bianco // Jun 4, 2005 at 12:54 pm

For a Mac media center user interface, check out CenterStage:

http://www.centerstageproject.com/
3 Obvious Diversion - The Mac Mini: Friendly Flexible Power and My Dreams of a Soho Pro Version // Dec 25, 2005 at 3:49 am

[...] The more interesting thing to me about the Mac Mini is it’s secondary market here made up by more adventurous consumers. The Mac Mini is a clean slate of power in a consumer-friendly form-factor unencumbered by even a mouse and keyboard. Buy it and make it what you want it to be. What will you use it for? Scanning the reactions via RSS, the list shows quite a wide variety of uses from the obvious first Mac purchase to be pared with an old PC monitor, a Tivo replacement, a music server to replace a car stereo, a home media server, a second computer for the home. I’m thinking of one as a test Apache/MySQL/PHP staging server for my web-based applications. This product opens up the mac world to the type of use exploration that been exercised with cheap, near-disposable PCs for years and years. [...]
4 CenterStage Discussion Forum - Powered by XMB // Apr 6, 2007 at 8:17 am

[...] while remaining powerful. See this post, which sets out a similar thinking better than I could do: atmasphere Also, I read that there is already a mythtv frontend working on OSX. This could be a good starting [...]
5 eHomeUpgrade | Mac Mini - Obsessive HTPC Thinking // May 14, 2007 at 4:34 pm

[...] capture and digital audio out, I�d be able to have a standard media center UI which is something I mentioned yesterday that I thought was definitely missing to make this whole thing easy to use without a keyboard and [...]
6 Links - MacminiCenter.com // Aug 9, 2007 at 4:18 am

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7 Comments on: Mac Mini destined to be your Media Center? // Oct 27, 2007 at 6:26 am

[...] of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myselfPublished: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 11:26:47 +0000 By: Links - MacminiCenter.comThu, 09 Aug 2007 09:18:15 +0000[...] Than Just A Computer? (2005.01.14) Mac Mini: Computer, or [...]