[mythtv-users] Re: New Mac Mini

[Craig Partin]

I think the mini would make a nice kitchen machine.  Hook it up to an
LCD monitor and install myth.  It could be a frontend for media use,
so you could play along with cooking shows etc., but also be a regular
desktop as well.  I think the $500 would only be justified if it was a
dual use machine.  It is too much money to be just a frontend.


On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 12:16:14 -0600, John Thomas <jwt9478 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 14:55:03 +1100, Hamish Moffatt <hamish at cloud.net.au> wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 06:42:04PM -0500, Magnus Meinfretr wrote:
> > > On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 16:28:30 -0500, Mike Frisch <mfrisch at isurfer.ca> wrote:
> > >
> > > > At 1.25GHz or 1.42GHz, my guess is that it does *not* have enough
> > > > horsepower to decode HDTV.
> > >
> > > What you forget is this is a 1.25GHz PowerPC G4.  This is not a
> > > Pentium 4 or an Athlon.  Don't fall into the mental trap of thinking
> > > the GHz ratings even compare.
> >
> > But don't believe your Mac-loving friends that an X GHz PPC is better
> > than a 2X or 3X GHz P4. It isn't true, or at least depends on your
> > application.
> >
> > I did some benchmarking for a particular application earlier this year
> > and found that a G3-class PPC (specifically an IBM 750FX, as used in
> > some of the iBooks) was roughly equal to a Pentium III for a given
> > MHz, or possibly slightly SLOWER. That was for integer networking work,
> > which is clearly different to video processing.
> >
> > > This is probably (conservatively) at least as fast as a 2GHz Pentium 4
> > > for all intents and purposes.  Any code that makes good use of the
> > > Altivec instructions could very well be beyond current x86 performance
> > > potential.
> >
> > But is Altivec better than MMX + SSE + SSE2 + 3DNow?
> >
> > Hamish
> > --
> > Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <hamish at debian.org> <hamish at cloud.net.au>
> >
> > 
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> >
> >
> 
> When I first read about the Mac mini, I was not convinced that it was
> something that I could use to benefit my MythTV system at home.  I've
> read the thread and it has been discussed that the Mini is not the
> most powerful system out there.  True, it is a sexy looking device,
> but I can't find the justification for paying that much money for
> something that looks cool and will have limited functionality for my
> purposes.
> 
> I can see where a Mini-ITX Shuttle 64-bit system can blow this this
> thing out of the water when it comes to purely hardware specs.  Plus
> it's less than half the price.  Here's an example:
> http://techbargains.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=3758934#description
> 
> So if we are stricly talking about MythTV frontends, then maybe the
> Mac Mini is not the way to go.  Maybe people are justifying the +$500
> pricetag purely for the ability to have a system that integrates
> MythTV and the MacOS (including the cool software).  Is that the
> consensus here?
> 
> I need some convincing. :-)
> 
> 
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> 
>