[eduedu]

So, I was thinking of getting this AD12 ZBOX to replace my old, very XBOX, but now I have the chance to buy an old 2010 Mac Mini, 2.4 GHz with 8G RAM. Is an old Mac Mini powerful enough?

Forgot to add: Mac Mini owner is asking 350.

[cwide]

What are your needs?

[calev]

Mac Mini for sure

[eduedu]

What are your needs?

Don't care much for great sound, but want to play 1080p/720 MKVs

[Dougie Fresh]

For the same price as the AD12, I'd pick the ZBOX ID61: http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Celeron-Memo...B0085KAGJM. The CPU is more powerful and the integrated GPU is better support on Linux/OpenELEC.

Though, in general, I would not choose a ZBOX. I don't like plastic .

[cwide]

I don't have any experience with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856119083

But it looks good and cheap with more options than a NUC. I would also go with this over a NUC if you wanted integrated stereo out.

I would go Celeron NUC if it was just a streaming device and you don't need to really connect anything except input devices.

Of course these are recommendations for an Openelec machine. This means you will need to get a USB drive (or SSD) and 2 GB ram.

If you are looking for more of a desktop than a Openelec client then I would still go with one of those (Ubuntu), but maybe bump up RAM and definitely get an SSD.

[Dougie Fresh]

Yeah, it's hard to compete with that little Foxconn 847 system. It leave plenty of money for an SSD and RAM. IMHO, the Celeron 847 is the sweet spot for OpenELEC for the price and the power.

[aptalca]

I believe the celeron 847 needs hardware acceleration to play higher bitrate material. Does the Intel GPU still suffer from macro blocking issues with hardware accel? On my Intel laptop (sandy bridge i5) I get really bad macro blocking with ha turned on. But it is plenty powerful to play everything in software decode

Thanks