New Macintosh Home

[furaliable]

My wife and I have just bought a new apartment, and we're moving in a few months. Having both been student nomads in different rented apartments for many years we're now pretty tired of half-good computer/media solutions, and my plan is now to gradually set up a Mac home system which will satisfy our every computer related need. I have thought about this for some time now, but I want to be sure I got it all right, so I don't have to pull cables across the living room and drill holes in three walls to get it to work. At first I was thinking about building it around a MacMini, but now I am leaning towards an AirPort/ATV3-solution.

For NAS/home server/cloud I have for the time being landed on the AirPort Time Capsule 2TB. It's pricey and it's annoying that one can't stream different media form it at the same time (as you can with Sonos), but my guess is that Apple will open up for this in near future. Being just two users I think we'll manage with the AirPort for now. It's also important for us to have access to a home server/home cloud while being outside the house, since we both use MacAir (mid 2011) as our personal computers. Is this possible with an AirPort?

Streaming movies on the TV is of course a necessity, but my wife isn't too keen on cables and cords across the living room. She mostly watches movies and series through Netflix and HBO, but I want to be able to stream all media through the AirPort and to the TV. I've come to understand that this is possible with an Apple TV and the BeamerApp. Is this correct?

As both our computers are outdated in a year or two, and we are both kinda annoyed with ourselves for mostly using them for procrastination on the couch, I have considered investing in an iMac instead. As mentioned above I was planning on building this around a MacMini, but it just seem more convenient to have a separate computer to do some work, pay the bills and check our emails. As I have understood it I can't wirelessly use an Apple Screen with a MacMini, which would be cheaper solution all in all.

This seems like a good place to start, but feel free to tip me about other things I can use a home system for. Speakers will be bought as we can afford them, and unfortunately we can't use the Phillips Hue-system as our new apartment mostly have spotlights which Hue doesn't support. Any other tips for having a futuristic home are most welcome

 

[ColdCase]

Unless I missed something in your question, the AppleTv connects directly (via your wireless access point and ISP) to Netfix and HBO (and a number of other providers). There no need to stream through another device.

It will also stream from a local mac running iTunes. And there is airplay, which sends your MBAir screen/audio directly to the AppleTV. I don't think there is a need for a beamer app. There may be an iOS app needed if you were using an iPad or iPhone to air play video files stored on the time capsule.

 

[mmomega]

My home solution is somewhat built around a Mac Mini, in a way.

My Mac Mini handles all of my Time Machine needs for 7 Macs and at least a dozen iOS devices.

I will tell you from experience as well as others here.... if you want the best experience you will want to run ethernet to everything you can.

I have 100 Mb/s Internet with (3) 802.11ac Airport Extremes to make sure I have the best coverage possible anywhere in my house and around the backyard and I can say nothing beats good ol cheap ethernet.
Sure it's a chore when you 1st install it but I can assure you it is so worth it in plain out speed and the save in troubleshooting years to come. If you want to do it right, hardwire what you can.

 

[glenthompson]

I agree with the Ethernet cable suggestion. I have almost every fixed device in my house connected by cable and you can't see a single cable except where it plugs into the device. No worries about wifi interference and throughput. Only devices connected via wifi are our iPads and iPhones.