Mac Mini and the use thereof

Rendon

So I am thinking of purchasing a Mac Mini to use as a living room type computer and hooking it up to my TV. I want to use it to do light video editing of "the kid" type videos, then use the machine to burn DVD's to send them out the grandparents. So here are my questions...

1.) Is the mac Mini up to this task in general?
2.) Is there a better solution for my living room type computer idea? Keep in mind, I don't want to put it together, or build it... I don't mind paying for easy. (and no, not a laptop, i want to use a large screen so the wife can look at it and comment while making the videos)
3.) I am thinking to upgrade the basic Mini that has the superdrive to 2 gigs of ram, would it be cheaper to add this ram once I get the machine, or do I really need that second gig?
4.) My wife doesn't like the mac style keyboard/mice so the apple wireless keyboard/mouse is a no go, any other wireless recommendations?


Thanks.

OremLK

You really do need the extra RAM for things like video editing, I think. And yeah, it would be a lot cheaper to do it yourself, but be prepared to Google step-by-step instructions, because it's a bit tricky getting into the Mini, from what I hear.

Edit: The Mac Mini's processor (even the 2GHz) is a bit slow for video editing too. It'd get the job done, but if you want to get a little more spendy and technical, here's an article on how to replace the CPU with something a bit faster.

Nimble Cat

Everyone is expecting them to update the Mini line sometime this year, so you may want to wait a little bit and see what Apple ends up doing with that.

Natheo

I don't think a core 2 duo and two gigs of memory would have a problem accomplishing what your looking to do.

An alternative to the mini is the dell studio hybrid. It can offer a slightly faster processor and more memory at a slightly higher cost. The advantage with that is the hdmi port it offers, which might work better with your setup. But if you find the mac mini sufficient, I'd go with that. It's more compact, and reasonably priced.

Ronen

I'm running a Core Duo (read: NOT Core 2 Duo) Mini with 2GB of RAM hooked up to my HDTV running at 720p and the thing is a multimedia powerhouse. Before I relegated it to my living room it was my main computer and I'm pretty sure it can handle a little video editing no problem.

That said, if you can hold out, wait for the rumored Nvidia based one. As much as I love my Mini, the difference between the Intel chipsets and the onboard Nvidia ones are night and day.

OremLK

Natheo wrote: »

I don't think a core 2 duo and two gigs of memory would have a problem accomplishing what your looking to do.

An alternative to the mini is the dell studio hybrid. It can offer a slightly faster processor and more memory at a slightly higher cost. The advantage with that is the hdmi port it offers, which might work better with your setup. But if you find the mac mini sufficient, I'd go with that. It's more compact, and reasonably priced.

I think a lot of the attraction of getting a Mac in this case is to have a decent, easy-to-use setup for editing home videos right out of the box; that's software, but it's not irrelevant.

wunderbar

Do not buy a mac mini. They literally have not updated them, at all, in almost 2 years.

Natheo

OremLK wrote: »

I think a lot of the attraction of getting a Mac in this case is to have a decent, easy-to-use setup for editing home videos right out of the box; that's software, but it's not irrelevant.

See, this is the problem with you kids. It's always something. I reinforce the suggestion, of a mac mini, offer and alternative, then reinforce the mac again, and you still have something to say.

Windows Movie Maker is more then sufficient for "light editing of kid videos" I assure you.

But as I said about the Mac Mini, I find the price to be competitive, and the form factor to be superior.

Try being unbiased for the OP's sake.

OremLK

Hey, I'm not even a Mac fan. I don't even particularly like Apple. I just understand that iLife and its individual products are pretty nice for casual multimedia editing, and probably a large part of the reason the OP was looking at a Mac. I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong.

In any case, I am biased, but it's not in favor of Apple.

I'm a PC.

Natheo

Sorry, I get a little bit of a trigger finger around here.

Rendon

I looked at the Dell, those things really are nice looking... and honestly I might just be succumbing to ads but I want the mac for ease of use. I don't want to fight spyware, adware and other bullshit. I just want to set the thing up to the tv once and just have it work. It is hard to admit that my days playing with the computer for fun are well.. no longer fun.

I still had to ask because I am so far out of date on what specs are needed to do stuff.

Natheo

While it's not quite spyware or adware on there, it's definitely other bullshit. There are some easy ways to get rid of it without formatting the system. If you do decide to format the system, in my experience the trial software and whatnot are not on the actual installation disc. That was with my laptop though.

Like somebody above said though, the mac mini may update to those specs.

Obs

Wait till WWDC before getting a Mac Mini.

Natheo

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/rumored-mac-mini-refresh-confirmed-to-be-ion-based/

OremLK

If the article linked there is actually true though, then the next Mac Mini will be using an Atom processor, which should be less powerful than the one in the current generation. That kind of doesn't make sense to me, but we'll see.

Obs

Maybe it will be really really small.

Natheo

Could be for apple tv!