2010 13" as a HTPC?

[DWBurke811]

I'm looking to get a computer(I know I should get an apple tv, but I want a full fledged Mac) to have hooked up full time to the new TV in our bedroom, a 51" 1080p plasma(replacing a 37" 1080p LCD which I'm working on convincing my gf to let me mount in our bathroom). Right now, I just hook up a MacBook(the one I'm asking about using is a 7,1; 2.4 C2D, 320M) whenever we want to watch a BluRay or play some music through the surround, but it's a pain in the Mac.

I was thinking either a refurb 27" iMac, which I could put on a desk that is ~10 feet from the TV, or a Mac mini(the one with the "good" graphics card) which would go with the other TV stuff(cable box and the like). I really like the idea of having a computer on our desk in addition to having it hooked to the TV, but that got me thinking a little. I could keep my current 13" on the desk full time, hooked up to the TV and surround and everything, and for around the same price as the 27" get a refurb 13" i7. But then I don't have a huge iMac as the computer, it's a little 13" laptop; I get a new laptop, but there's nothing I do that really taxes my current one, so there's not even a real reason to upgrade?

Anyway, I'm just looking to see what some people here would do. Thanks a lot

 

[Darklandman]

Refurb Mini

Prehaps it would be better to get a refurb 2010 mini and put a bluray drive in it. Mac mini's make the perfect home theatre pc's and the 2010 has a built in dvd drive.

 

[Prodo123]

Prehaps it would be better to get a refurb 2010 mini and put a bluray drive in it. Mac mini's make the perfect home theatre pc's and the 2010 has a built in dvd drive.

Blu-rays cannot be played on a Mac, only written on.

 

[DWBurke811]

I should have been more specific when I said BluRay, I have .mkv BluRay rips(~10+GB each) on NAS.

 

[njsa04playa]

I'm looking to get a computer(I know I should get an apple tv, but I want a full fledged Mac) to have hooked up full time to the new TV in our bedroom, a 51" 1080p plasma(replacing a 37" 1080p LCD which I'm working on convincing my gf to let me mount in our bathroom). Right now, I just hook up a MacBook(the one I'm asking about using is a 7,1; 2.4 C2D, 320M) whenever we want to watch a BluRay or play some music through the surround, but it's a pain in the Mac.

I was thinking either a refurb 27" iMac, which I could put on a desk that is ~10 feet from the TV, or a Mac mini(the one with the "good" graphics card) which would go with the other TV stuff(cable box and the like). I really like the idea of having a computer on our desk in addition to having it hooked to the TV, but that got me thinking a little. I could keep my current 13" on the desk full time, hooked up to the TV and surround and everything, and for around the same price as the 27" get a refurb 13" i7. But then I don't have a huge iMac as the computer, it's a little 13" laptop; I get a new laptop, but there's nothing I do that really taxes my current one, so there's not even a real reason to upgrade?

Anyway, I'm just looking to see what some people here would do. Thanks a lot

this is an extremely confusing question haha, why not jus get the mac mini? thats what it is designed for

 

[DWBurke811]

Yeah it's complicated lol, but here's the way I'm looking at it

Mini: only hooked up to TV, not much "computer" use

Refurb 27" iMac: hooked up to TV, have a real computer at the desk with a huge, great screen. Plus would look nice in our room. I can route the HDMI/audio cables through the wall so that isn't really an issue.

2010 13"(my current laptop, which I would be replacing with a 2011 13" iX): hooked up to TV, have a computer at the desk, but since it would have the same size screen as my laptop, not really any benefits to have it. I could just use my current laptop at the desk whenever I wanted.

I think it will be worth spending a little extra on the iMac, and since I won't be installing a ton of stuff on it and all my media is on NAS, I could get away with a single, small SSD for cheap (120GB Vertex3 is under $200).

 

[blueroom]

I convert my media using Handbrake (ATV2 setting). My 51" Samsung & ATV2 (even though 720p) looks excellent in my eyes. I dish it out from a NAS wirelessly via iTunes running on a 2010 MBP 13"

The ATV2 is just a really nice little media player as long as you supply it with .m4v videos

 

[DWBurke811]

Well, my new computer is on hold for a little. My girlfriend's dog(full AKC Maltese, she just turned a year old and weighs a few ounces under 4 pounds) got "sick," turned out her blood sugar just got a little low(since she's so small she can get hypoglycemic really quickly, thank god this is the 1st time it's happened to her) while she already had a little bit of a cold/cough. We told the vet do whatever he had to do, she got iv fluids, meds, tests, blah blah; anyway, now we get to wait and see how much of the multiple thousand we will be getting back from puppy insurance. Looking back at it we jumped the gun a little, but we saw her having a seizure(and she had been eating normally so we didn't think it could be hypo, and didn't want the vet to wait to start other tests/treatment while he was waiting to see if it was hypo) and money was the last thing we were thinking about. So because of this I took a decent amount out of my "nerd fund" and moved it over into the "puppy war chest," even though we should be getting a lot of this back, I want to have it ready incase something bad actually does happen.