Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HP MediaSmart Servers Gain Mac Compatibility
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Of course it is.
Personally, I use my computers too much and too often to use them as media centers (unplug, plug, unplug...)
So basically, this would serve as a computer that I don't use! Except for storing and distributing medias, of course!
Nothing new, of course, but since I don't have Apple TV nor an Airdisk...
Yeah but you could use any computer to do what this thing does.
It's just a crippled PC. You'd be much better off with an actual PC or a Mac Mini or...anything.
If it was $200 then maybe it would be worth it but for this price you can get a non-crippled PC.
This product has no business being on the front page of this site but whatever.
Boot Camp is officially not supported? Boot Camp is a normal Windows PC. Therefore, HP support is officially clueless
I laughed at that too considering that's how I setup my HP MediaSmart EX470 server.
I guess HP support doesn't want to walk users through using Boot Camp.
Well, theres the Raid ability, hot swappable drives, bittorent server, afp support, https support, cifs support, Windows Media Server so that your PS3 and some TV's can support it natively.
The Windows license probably costs them that.
Actually the drives alone probably cost them about $150 let alone the enclosure, CPU, power supply, etc.
It's not that bad of a deal for the base model and buy your own disks to fill it.
That idea is actually a pretty horrible way to mimic the HP device.
You would be better off just buying a four drive enclosure instead of using a USB hub to connect four different external drives.
But then again, using the USB hub and different drives would be the average consumer way of thinking.
Have a look here.
No, it isn't.
Windows Home Server is more than just a file server, it offers data redundancy, centralized backup, remote file access, media streaming, user profiles, and a ton of other features.
What happens if you store all your family photos on a USB drive attached to an overpriced wifi router, and the drive dies on you. Ooops, all of your photos are gone. You've got no redundancy.
The NetGear ReadyNAS Duo, which costs just as much as a box from HP, doesn't do nearly as much, nor is it as easy to use.
Easy there... I didn't say I connected 4 drives this way. I am only connecting a single 1TB drive. Regardless, you can connect any USB drive enclosure you want. I'm just pointing out that you can get equivalent and, in some cases, better functionality for a fraction of the cost with hardware you MAY already own.
A Time Capsule also has all of these things if you use it as I describe earlier in this thread.
Not true. I have a second drive attached to the Time Capsule and I use the Time Capsule disk archive feature or automator to backup my Time Capsule disk daily.
I know. I was talking to the other poster that you quoted. There is no way that a single four drive enclosure should be passed up for a AEBS with hub and four USB drives connected externally. All with their own power supplies needing to be hooked up and so forth.
The Wiebetech stuff is pretty much just bare enclosures that you add your own drives to and such, and even NewEgg has others like it that are cheaper, and you can costs even more by picking up one that doesn't support all levels of RAID.
It's okay but...
It has a few issues: 1. It runs Windows. 2. It's not 100% compatible. 3. It's overpriced.
There are many other solutions on the market that are less expensive, more powerful, and more reliable, or a combination of the 3. Windows is this HP machine's biggest downfall. The headaches from when Windoze coughs up a lung and you loose all your data are just not worth it.
Simple solutions like NAS boxes or TimeCapsule are easier and cheaper. My solution is a Mac mini with an External 1TB FW HD - about the same price, but far more powerful, reliable, and 100% compatible with all platforms.
It has a few issues: 1. It runs Windows. 2. It's not 100% compatible. 3. It's overpriced.
There are many other solutions on the market that are less expensive, more powerful, and more reliable, or a combination of the 3. Windows is this HP machine's biggest downfall. The headaches from when Windoze coughs up a lung and you loose all your data are just not worth it.
Simple solutions like NAS boxes or TimeCapsule are easier and cheaper. My solution is a Mac mini with an External 1TB FW HD - about the same price, but far more powerful, reliable, and 100% compatible with all platforms.
I hope you understand that you are on a Macintosh users forum after saying this.
This is the primary argument Windows users give us 100% of the time when talking about Macs. And would be hypocritical of us to say the same about any other product.
But then again, we are Mac users.
Also, your setup doesn't have four internal hot swappable HDD bays, so your other solutions aren't as effective.
Apple actually tends to leave the pro users out in the cold longer and put out more consumer oriented products.
You are absolutely right. I can't count on one hand all the multi-touch phones I had before the iPhone. And sure, the UI/OS is just a small insignificant piece of the puzzle like whether to offer brown or orange Zunes. It's not like the integration of contacts, sms, calls, emails, and mapping all work seamlessly together rather than the useless menus etc in all the Nokias, Samsungs, and Sony Ericssons.
As far as whether Apple will innovate in this arena. I think they will do it and do it right. All the signs are pointing that direction. MacBook Air, new MacBooks, more people going portable, and yet our libraries are growing too large. Do we want a desktop always turned on at home and how to access that from a laptop. A media server doesn't hurt the Apple TV, it enhances it by allowing the laptop, desktop or windows box to be off or not even be present.
HPs lack of video support makes this thing a total DUD.
The ones that keep offering Time Capsule and Airdisk as an alternative may not.
Seriously speaking.
BootCamp not support doesn't mean it won't work
I know but to put that out there that BootCamp isn't supported. They should say they do not support any hardware then except HP hardware. Suppose I have some PC built in China with everything non standard and running Linux with WINE. They should say that isn't supported.
My point is the BootCamp comment doesn't need to be said. Just say you need Windows but your vendor may not be supported if it isn't HP.
Why do we need all these separate boxes though? Is it unrealistic to expect something that merges TimeCapsule andTV and all sorts of server features in one box?
It is if it doesn't have an Apple logo.
When the time comes for me to decide, I will pick the one thing that does the most of what I need to do at the best price and in the least amount of parts.
This HP box so far is at the top of the list.