Mac mini help

That's either late 2006 or early 2007 Mini. The problem with those is that they have Intel 950 graphics. You could probably get by with such a machine, but if I were you I'd try to find a 2009 Mini.

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And if you want at some point to watch 1080p HD videos, aim at the fastest possible CPU.

OK, look for 2009 Mac Mini, 2.0 or 2.26 Mhz Core 2 Duo. Unfortunately for you Minis really seem to hold their value. I found one on Craig's List in the Bay Area for $425. Spend some time on eBay to get an idea of what's available. The price for the machine you asked about is pretty good, but I'm afraid you'll find it underpowered. Good luck!

The aTV is tied to your iTunes home sharing account, so it can play whatever media is in your iTunes library. Doesn't matter where the media resides, it can be on an external hard drive connected to your computer, but the key is that Mac or PC is on and iTunes open. The aTV can wake a sleeping Mac when it needs to. It also does a very nice job with Netflix instant watch.

Though it seems limited when compared to devices that it is not trying to compete with, what it does it does elegantly and well for the price. And if you have any iOS devices, AirPlay is fantastic. In fact, the Apple TV is worth it as an AirPlay accessory even if you don't have any media in iTunes.

Yes. You didn't mention the price, so I can't comment on its value, but that machine should do just fine.

Check the Apple refurb site on apple.com. They've had awesome deals on the 2010 Mini.

What audio inputs does your TV have? Let us know and we can help you get connected.

With the 2009 mini neither mini-DVI nor mini-DP carry audio, so for you that means mini-jack out (optical or analog) or USB--and is the reason why a whole bunch of kludgy adapters were developed which combined video (either mini-DVI or mini-DP) and audio (either optical or USB) into a single HDMI output. The users here at AVS who seemed the happiest with the 2009 mini avoided those adapters and ran optical to an AVR and then video directly to their HDTV.


You may have over-paid, even though that 2009 2.53 originally sold for $799.

Apple eventually corrected its poor first implementation of mini-DP on that 2009 mini: the 2010 models were even more expensive but at least they added some very nice things, including support for audio over both mini-DP and HDMI. Then Apple did something uncharacteristic with the current 2011 mini, they lowered the price by $100 which means the base model with Thunderbolt can now be had from Amazon for $568 new with warranty...it also means most of the 2009 and 2010 mini refurbs will still seem relatively expensive since Apple calculates its percentage off from original prices.

The cheapest way is to run analog audio from the mini to the tv, using the input on the tv that is to be used with the HDMI/DVI video port on the tv.

You can also buy a box that uses a usb port for power, and combines the optical audio from the mini with the mini display port on the min, giving an HDMI output to go to the tv, which includes both audio and video. These boxes run about $40 but they do work well.

I'm trying to figure out if the Mac Mini transmits surround sound (5.1 or 7.1) via the HDMI connection.

I want to hook the Mac Mini into an AV Amplifier and then hook the Amp into a Plasma.