March 9, 2006 Mini Is Solid Addition To Home Media Center Despite Some Caveats
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG This is a review of an interesting new entertainment-center component that happens to also be a personal computer -- a computer fully capable of, say, creating a spreadsheet, but one you might never use that way. This new product also happens to be a new Macintosh model from Apple Computer, but, in its entertainment-system role, it works perfectly with Windows computers. The new gadget is the latest version of Apple's tiny Mac Mini desktop computer -- a petite silver and white box that's just 6.5 inches square and stands just two inches tall, small enough to tuck away on a shelf near a TV. This Mini costs $599 and doesn't include a monitor, keyboard or mouse. The most important thing about the new Mac Mini is that it comes with Front Row, Apple's handsome software for controlling a computer from across a room, and with the tiny, simple remote control Apple designed to work with Front Row. You can just plug it into your TV and home audio system, fire up Front Row, and watch any videos stored on its hard disk, listen to any songs it holds, or view any photos it contains. It also plays DVDs. Even better, this new Mini can automatically find -- and stream to your home entertainment system -- all music and videos stored on any other computer on your home network, whether Windows or Mac. All that's required is that the other computers be running Apple's free iTunes software. The Mini can't stream photos from a Windows PC, but it can do so from another Mac. In my tests, all of this worked fine, and I can recommend the new Mini with Front Row for anyone who wants to play back, on a home entertainment system, media stored on a computer or multiple computers. But there are a few caveats. ... http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060309.html Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
