Rob Griffiths (of Macosxhints fame) has posted the second part of his first week with the new Intel Mac Mini online. Not so much a review as a walkthrough of all the things he imagines folks might want to do with it. Yesterday, Rob covered his initial set-up and some application testing but today he tests the part I’ve been waiting for, HD video performance.
Now, I’ve never felt that Intel based Windows machines were faster than Macs. Most things I’ve ever wanted to do with a computer (photo editing, email, web browsing and page creation, etc), my Mac was able to handle easily and it felt fast. That is until you try throwing 720p or 1080i HD video at it. My dual 1.25 Ghz G4 just chokes on 720p and don’t get me started on 1080i. My $500 2.8 Ghz Dell had no problems at all with HD…sigh.
Why do I want HD video on my computer? Surely I’m not sitting in front of my computer watching tv? Nope, but I do like recording it and watching it on the 42″ plasma.
Bottom line on the new Intel Mini – it has no problem with HD video whatsoever. Rob even had it playing in the background while doing other stuff. They’ve also upgraded FrontRow to pull audio and video in over the iTunes sharing feature.
Not the “never-gonna-happen-cuz-it-won’t-sell-more-videos” MacPVR, but count me in anyway.