Yesterday's launch of Apple's Intel-powered Mac mini brings to market a truly tiny media-centre computer that makes many PCs based on Windows Media Center Edition look exactly what they are - too big, too noisy, too expensive and too badly thought out.
Update - please see the update at the foot of this page
However, the Mac mini isn't the outright MCE-killer it might have been and that possibly explains why it didn't turn up at MacWorld Expo in early January, as some pundits predicted, to give Microsoft a black eye the week after the software giant dominated the Vegas Consumer Electronics Show.
The most obvious problem is that the mini lacks a TV tuner and with it the personal video recorder functionality that makes MCE PCs so appealing. Apple may well argue that there is a number of third-party Mac-compatible USB TV tuners available but that's not the point - and does mean extra expense. The mini is also compromised to an extent by having to share main system RAM with the graphics processor - a less-than-state-of-the-art Intel GMA950.
That might not be such a big deal with the more expensive of the two Mac minis, since that can, we'd assume, offload some of the graphics work onto the CPU without necessarily reducing the perceived performance - thanks to being fitted with dual-core CPU, an Intel 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo. However, the headline-grabbing low price-point that Apple wants people to notice - just £449 including VAT and delivery - only buys a machine with a single-core CPU, a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo, that we suspect is not going to perform anything like as smoothly as its dual-core sibling.
And, to get dual-core, of course, means paying out more, another £150 (£599 in total), though that does also get you two bits of enhanced hardware - a multi-format DVD burner (rather than a combined CD-writer/DVD-ROM drive) and a bigger (but far from massive) serial ATA hard disk - 80GB, rather than 60GB.
Note, too, that neither machine comes with a monitor, mouse or keyboard - and they'll likely be unavoidable purchases for many of the people Apple is targeting, bumping up the final price.
But in many areas, Apple's new offering does define the sort of feature-set that makers of Windows MCE machines now need to match or better. In most regards - on paper at least - the Mac Mini appears to be ideally suited as a living-room PC. For a start, it measures just 165(w)x50(h)x165(d)mm - that's two inches tall and 6.5in square - and is claimed to be "whisper-quiet", though we've been unable to find anywhere concrete noise figures.
And, of course, it has a media-centre front-end to its OS X operating system - Front Row - controlled by a supplied remote handset so you can watch from the comfort of a settee. Connectivity is crucial in a media-centre PC and the mini is pretty generously equipped, irrespective of processor.
Each model has Gigabit Ethernet for wired networking and two sorts of wireless system - 802.11g 54Mbps WiFi networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). There are also four USB 2.0 ports and a single six-pin FireWire port. A DVI output is standard (and so, too, is a VGA-out adapter) and there are composite video and S-video outputs along with two types of audio in/out - analogue, as with the previous-generation mini, plus digital. There's no HDMI socket for use with HDTV but, in the USA, at least, Apple will happily sell an HDMI-to-DVI cable to any mini user willing to pay $120 - one fifth the price of a single-core mini.
We are, naturally, keen to get hands on with the new Mac mini and tell you how it compares with Windows MCE PCs. But don't hold your breath. Getting review kit out of Apple is tougher than extracting an elephant's back teeth and we now work on the principle that, if at first (second and third) you don't succeed, go ask someone who does want you to review their kit. Nonetheless, email No.1 is already winging its way Applewards.
To find out more about the Mac minis, check out Apple's release, then let us hear you views in the HEXUS.community about the feature set and how the minis look to compare with MCE PCs you've used.
Update March 3
There is now a very active HEXUS.community forum thread relating to this article. However, it seems to us, that the arguments are a little one-sided. What's needed is a bit more input from Mac users, especially those with hands-on experience of the Front Row front end. This isn't intended to be an invitation to participate in a Mac v Windows slagging contest, merely to improve the information that is being imparted in that thread.
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