Mini is 1.83 C2D with 3 GB RAM, was my main computer but has been replaced with a MBP. I have too many computers and need to get rid of something.
So it's either sell the Mini & monitor or sell my ATV2 and us the Mini as a HTPC.
I would prefer to keep the ATV and use plex but the jailbreak process is thoroughly annoying. Mini has it's benefits (storage, web content) but drawbacks too (computer interface, how to connect it to TV.)
Obviously the Mini would have higher resale value.
Would like to hear some opinions to help make my decision. What would you do and why.
I would ask first what kind of content you have to play and what other apps you want to run, and whether you need high WAF for you setup. On my Mini I run Plex and EyeTV and Hulu Desktop for mostly HD content/bluray rips (uncompressed at this point). I think with the 1.83 you are mostly fine but you might have some troubles with some uncompressed bluray rips (I think you have the GMA 950 GPU which is not ideal). I have the 2.26 with 9400M and it is no problem. With the Mini, especially if you want to switch between multiple apps cleanly at the press of a button and integrate it within your home theater (eg with Harmony remote) it will require a lot of upfront tweaking with applescript and remote buddy but once done it is pretty sweet and mandatory for any kind of WAF.
Having said that, I also use the ATV2 for Netflix mostly--I don't think this is ever going to come Plex-side in HD and honestly there are always recurring issues with plugins in Plex with Netflix/Hulu etc. The experience will always be better on a dedicated device. Also, I prefer to use the ATV for music and pictures, and airplay/remote app is pretty slick.
At the end of the day the Mini of course is more powerful/flexible (again though with yours it may be borderline with high bitrate stuff) but it is a computer that requires maintenance, applying updates, setting up and tweaking, rebooting/screensharing when there's trouble etc. that the ATV would not have. You'll have to balance what kind of content you want to play, other apps/services you must have, and whether you care about being able to watch your stuff only when the MBP is running (ATV) vs dedicated HTPC.