mac mini It’s spring time in the household and hence, I’ve been thinking about cleaning things up and starting on new projects. One project I’ve been contemplating for some time has been the upgrade or update of my home theater PC (HTPC). After many months of thinking how I might go about this, I think I’ve actually come across a viable solution that’s both cost effective and sexy. Thanks to these blog postings here and here, I am contemplating turning my Apple Mac mini into a home theater PC running Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (or perhaps Premium). Yes, I could run Front Row as a media user interface but let’s face it – Windows Media Center’s UI rocks. It really does.

So the question to really ask is… why the Mac mini? It’s simple really. Here are some of the reasons why I want to use the Mac mini as my starting point for a new HTPC:

  • It’s beautiful. The Mac mini simply has a beautiful form factor. No questions about it.
  • It’s fairly inexpensive. The base model is $599 and gives you nearly everything you need to get things up and running
  • It’s quiet and cool running
  • You can easily add gigs of hard drive space via external drives that LOOK like the Mac mini
  • Bootcamp + Intel processor == Windows Vista support
  • USB ports allow me to add in USB TV tuners and external peripherals if need be

Another important reason for using Windows Vista’s Media Center application – the Xbox 360′s built-in Windows Media Center Extender support. I can place this Mac mini anywhere in the household and simply have Xbox 360 consoles connect to it over the network. Stream music, videos (albeit a limited set of videos), and television content straight to the 360.

Yes.. that’s the reasoning behind my upcoming project. Will I actually embark on this? Most likely.. I just need to figure out a good USB HDTV tuner and a good external hard drive unit.

Anyone out there embark on something similar? Let me know!

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