Oldest mini I can get away with.

[pazreal]

What is the oldest mini (spec wise, i.e. G4, G5, CD, etc.) that I can get away with for the simple task of streaming music to an airtunes express and watching movies on a tv from drives (networked and local) as well as Netflix streaming?

I currently have a mid 2010 15" MBP that I use as my main computer but haven't found an easy way to hook it up to an analog tv.

I think I would basically use back to my mac to control that mini and stream everything from the network drives.

Thanks for any help.

 

[spinnerlys]

A G4 Mac mini will suffice for audio streaming and SD video playback, a G5 Mac mini never existed, a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo Mac mini is need for HD (720p, 1080i/p) playback.

 

[Intell]

With the need of Netflix you'll need an Intel based one. The early 2006 is the oldest one you can get away with. The base model has a 1.5Ghz Intel Core Solo. I found this barely has enough power to run Netflix. I'd suggest at least the 1.66 Ghz Intel Core Duo.

 

[pazreal]

What should I expect to pay for the Core Duo 1.6ghz? I'm seeing between 100-200 on ebay.

 

[Intell]

What should I expect to pay for the Core Duo 1.6ghz? I'm seeing between 100-200 on eBay.

To me that sounds a little low. However it has been a year since I bought my 1.5Ghz Intel Mini so things could have changed.

 

[keekl]

My 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo w/1GB RAM runs netflix fine at a paltry DSL 3.35Mbps connection 😀