[MAC] New Thunderbolt Mac Mini!

Just my two cents, if you want to mainly use it for HTPC purposes, better to go for the non-server single drive edition with the non-integrated video.

First, for HTPC media collection, especially if you`re using xbmc i`m guessing you`ll be playing alot of HD movies, and will have a collection. In that case, even 1 tb won`t cut it and you`ll sooner rather than later be upgrading to external storage (windows media server, single usb drives, or multi drive enclosures), so you`re better off just getting the basic 500 gb. For htpc use thats more than enough storage space, even if you`re using it as a home computer.

Second, as ifixit showed today, there is still space in the single drive version to install a second drive. you would just need the appropriate cable (they`ll find it sooner or later) and maybe a mounting mechanism. Prob. cheaper than getting it from apple. Also, the only case i could see in an htpc to need two internal drives is if you need one ssd, and second hdd. again in that case you`re better off getting the isngle drive version.

Lastly, i`m sure the new integrated cards are better than the intel integrated cards that came with the 2008 mac mini`s, which was my first mini. While it played 1080p, once in a while it would stutter, or not play a file properly, and it was bothersome enough that i would avoid 1080p movies as i didnt want to get into issues mid-movie in some scenes. I upgraded to the 2010 mac mini with nvidia 320m graphics, which are way better. Now even if the new integrated cards can play 1080p, you`re still better off with a 2.5 ghz and amd graphics as you are assured smooth playback, even on somewhat badly encoded material and don`t have to worry about running out of horsepower few years down the line with any potential new encoding methods.

So in conclusion, go for the single drive, 2.5 ghz, amd, which is cheaper as well, rather than the dual drive unless you really really have a case for needing two internal drives at the expense of a slower processor and integrated graphics.

dlmh Wrote:The hardware supports HD Audio bitstreaming, but will the AE branch support this on OSX?

How about true 24p on the new Mini's? (23.976Hz, instead of 24.00Hz)

nmirza Wrote:Just my two cents, if you want to mainly use it for HTPC purposes, better to go for the non-server single drive edition with the non-integrated video.

I'm interested in how this performs with XBMC and hardware acceleration on the AMD Radeon.

If anyone gets one of these please let us all know!

can you use apple remote to control mac mini? does it come with IR sensor?
what about optical out?

foxnews Wrote:can you use apple remote to control mac mini? does it come with IR sensor?
what about optical out?

ifixit.com did find an IR sensor when they did their teardown and Apple lists the remote as an accessory.

Optical audio out is still present.

People keep on telling me to build my own HTPC and not to get the Mac Mini as though it was some cardinal sin.

I really have no need for a disc reader. If I'm going to watch a blu-ray or DVD, I'll do it on my PS3. I'll be ripping all of my media on my vastly superior desktop to hard drives on a file server I have.

I don't really need a tuner/capture card since I don't have cable.

I wanted something with an IR Port included.

I'd like the option to bitstream (I'm awaiting to hear if this is supported in OSX or Windows, the hardware should support it).

I planned on using XBMC and possibly using MPC-HC as an external player if XBMC's picture quality was some how lacking. I'm not familiar with MPlayer OSX and if you can use things like MADVR or FFDShow. I know a lot of MPC-HC depends on Windows renderers. If Mac XBMC or MPlayer are lacking in quality, I'd just use Windows as a primary boot.

Either way I believe this is a very capable machine, far and away it should play every 1080p video out there.

By the way, I'm glad I got it confirmed that there is indeed an IR port in the Mac Mini, but I heard Remote support is broken right now in Lion. I hope this gets fixed with an update soon. Also I'm still trying to find out whether the Mac Mini's IR supports 3rd party remotes or if say a Harmony Remote is supported by the built in IR while using Windows.

I had purchased the 2010 macmini model with the nvidia 320m and it ran pretty damn good. It could play the infamous bird scene from planet earth without and dropped frames and with the CPU hovering around 50-60%. I exchanged it yesterday for the new 2011 base model (with intel 3000 gfx) and regret it now. I played the same scene from planet earth and it hit 160% CPU with constant frame drops. I even tried the latest nightly build of xbmc hoping it was a bug and it still performed poorly. So far its not looking good (at least for the base 2011 model with intel gfx). I will probably return it and go for the 2010.

With working hardware acceleration it should be nowhere near 50% CPU.

correction - it's pinned at 106% not 160 (typo) but its still way more than the old macmini2010 with nvidia GPU. Either it is not using hardware accel or the intel chip is nowhere near the nvidia.

Hmm, I've read a little more about the acceleration in os x and is it still slow as it was back when this was posted http://xbmc.org/davilla/2010/05/03/osx-g...leration/? I'm thinking about buying a new mini(intel) and use as an htpc but this makes me reconsider it.

Dimmuxx Wrote:Hmm, I've read a little more about the acceleration in os x and is it still slow as it was back when this was posted http://xbmc.org/davilla/2010/05/03/osx-g...leration/? I'm thinking about buying a new mini(intel) and use as an htpc but this makes me reconsider it.

Not quite sure what you are seeing, VDA is fast, very fast for h264.