About a week ago in this space I snuffled publicly into my hanky as I bewailed the shortcomings of the Apple TV and the aggravations those shortcomings had imposed on a straightforward process, which is to play video and audio media using a computer connected to a TV set and/or home stereo. I was frustrated by the Apple TV’s sodden performance, flummoxed by its propensity to freeze periodically for unnecessary housekeeping activities, and flabbergasted that a company as tech-classy as Apple could ever introduce a product with such glaring inadequacies.
But introduce it they did and bought it I did, so after a full year of nail-biting and hair-pulling I decided to banish the Apple TV to appliance heaven (i.e., Craigslist or a suitable buyer) and replace its mediocre little self with a real computer—a third Macintosh to join Herbie, my home-office Mac Pro, and Hank, the sexpot MacBook Pro that accompanies me to SFCM, UC Berkeley, and onstage at Davies Symphony Hall for my pre-concert lectures. I ordered a custom Mac Mini, opting for the smallest hard drive but an extra helping of RAM. It arrived last week, together with the appropriate cables and a snazzy wireless keyboard/mouse combo.
It is glaringly obvious that an all-purpose computer (Henry, the new Mini) utterly trumps a single-purpose device, especially one as poorly executed as the Apple TV. Apple’s "Front Row" program provides Henry with a readable-across-the-room interface that can be controlled from a couch potato’s remote, but because Henry is a fully-equipped personal computer (albeit compact), those interminable synching delays and memory-starved heavings of the Apple TV are a thing of the past.
Furthermore, replacing the wimpy Apple TV with the comparatively buff Henry has necessitated very little associated bother. Even the "Apple TV" settings on the universal remote worked without any retraining.
Here are a few thoughts about the advantages of the Mini over the Apple TV:
- The Mini can use external hard drives for storage; the Apple TV cannot.
- The Mini, with a USB TV tuner attached, can function like a TiVo; the Apple TV cannot.
- The Mini works with a keyboard and a mouse, and can run any software that runs on any Mac; the Apple TV cannot.
- The Mini can be outfitted with enough memory to ensure smooth performance; the Apple TV cannot.
- The Mini does not generate the cookstove heat characteristic of the Apple TV.
- The Mini could conceivably run other operating systems or media center interfaces without requiring special hacking skills; the Apple TV cannot.
- The Mini is not enslaved to a host computer and thus there are no bothersome synchronizings between iTunes and the Mini.
- The Mini can access the iTunes Store just as well as the Apple TV, although you use iTunes proper on the Mini, rather than the limited, and rather confusing, customized iTunes Store interface on the Apple TV.
The Mini imposes precisely one disadvantage that I can ascertain over the Apple TV: it lacks an HDMI output. However, the latest models feature a Mini DisplayPort in addition to a mini-DVI port, and DisplayPort-to-HDMI cables, as well as DVI-to-HDMI cables, are available. I could not ascertain any difference in picture quality from the Apple TV to the Mini; if anything, the Mini seems to be a bit sharper.
I discovered fairly quickly that the TV must be turned on before waking the Mini from sleep; otherwise, at least with my particular combination of cables and Samsung television, I get nothing but a black screen. But that’s easy enough to ensure happening by setting the univeral remote to turn the TV on first.
Other than that, wonderfully, happily, breezily smooth sailing. The Mini makes a splendid, emininently capable media machine, qualitatively out of the ballpark in comparison to the promising, but as yet disappointing, Apple TV. It’s considerably more expensive, but as usual you get what you pay for.
Three cheers for Henry, the Mac Mini (Photo: Apple)