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The Final Dakar · Nov 12, 2009, 02:23 PM

Anybody curious about this? I know virtually zero about it, but from what I can tell, it appears to be a poor man's Mac mini, and considering you can pick one up for as low as $230 (Apple TV price) I'm looking into it as a possible HTPC. Hell, you could even get the blu-ray drive and watch Blu-Ray movies in Boot Camp until OS X (maybe) gets support. The mac mini is a bit expensive for my tastes, and seems like overkill for how often I think I'll be using my HTPC.

I'm also curious whether you could install the Apple TV OS onto it (in a partition). I know that sounds backwards, but I like the idea of an OS that I can sync to my main library.

Thoughts? I realize it might be too early to tell.

Laminar · Nov 12, 2009, 02:32 PM

I'm unfamiliar with AMD's processors, but system requirements for online flash video are substantial since, from what I understand, flash video relies solely on the processor. Intel's Atom can't do Hulu, even non-HD Hulu.

The Final Dakar · Nov 12, 2009, 02:36 PM

I'm not too concerned with Hulu, especially since they're saying they want to go to some kind of pay model next year (I also haven't really used it since late winter). But I would be concerned if it couldn't do Silverlight/Netflix Streaming.

I do think I'd automatically up the processor to a dual core.

Edit: Can OS X even run on AMD? If not, we're done here.

Big Mac · Nov 12, 2009, 02:49 PM

It does with a hacked kernel. It's not as smooth but people get it working.

The Final Dakar · Nov 12, 2009, 02:51 PM

If it's that much trouble, that probably throws the Apple TV OS right out the window, which is part of the allure.

shifuimam · Nov 12, 2009, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

I'm unfamiliar with AMD's processors, but system requirements for online flash video are substantial since, from what I understand, flash video relies solely on the processor. Intel's Atom can't do Hulu, even non-HD Hulu.

Um, since when?

I've been able to watch HD and non-HD Hulu flawlessly on my Atom-based and Celeron-based netbooks.

shifuimam · Nov 12, 2009, 03:12 PM

I don't know how streaming video specifically would behave, but I can say that the whole hackintoshing thing is exceedingly easy at this point. Find a distro, burn it, and there are built-in patches for AMD CPUs, along with a variety of hardware.

I'd try it, at least. Otherwise, why not just map over the network to the drive where all your music and stuff is stored, or configure iTunes to use that location as the library?

The Final Dakar · Nov 12, 2009, 03:15 PM

Because I've found the second instance of iTunes will not always properly update the library xml file while the original instance of iTunes is still open.

Edit: That's not entirely correct. The second instance of iTunes does update the XML file, but whatever changes it makes are overwritten when the original instance shuts down as there is no "live updating" in iTunes as far as I know.

shifuimam · Nov 12, 2009, 03:20 PM

Ouch. That sucks. Can Front Row work without an iTunes library file for streaming your stuff? What about something like BoxEE?

FWIW, Windows Media Center is pretty rockin, too...

The Final Dakar · Nov 12, 2009, 03:24 PM

It's worthless to me without the play count and last played updates. Hence, my preference for the Apple TV OS, and it's iPod like abilities. Honestly, I'd probably have bit the bullet and bought one even if its overpriced, but with rumors of a hardware revision looming from two months ago, I don't know.

Laminar · Nov 12, 2009, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

Um, since when?

I've been able to watch HD and non-HD Hulu flawlessly on my Atom-based and Celeron-based netbooks.

Internal or external display? On my (wife's) Samsung NC10 Atom single core 1.6 and a gig of RAM, OS X stutters on Hulu SD when outputting to a 22" monitor at 1680x1050. My homebuilt PC running an Intel Atom board and two gigs of RAM does the same under XP to the same monitor.

mduell · Nov 12, 2009, 07:09 PM

CPU looks to be comparable to a Pentium M, which has no problem with most 720p content in Windows.

If I didn't already have a bigger HTPC for games, I'd definitely get one.

Originally Posted by Laminar

I'm unfamiliar with AMD's processors, but system requirements for online flash video are substantial since, from what I understand, flash video relies solely on the processor. Intel's Atom can't do Hulu, even non-HD Hulu.

Less of an issue if you run Windows, since Flash performs so well on Windows compared to OS X/others.

Laminar · Nov 12, 2009, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Less of an issue if you run Windows, since Flash performs so well on Windows compared to OS X/others.

Which is why I was surprised that my Windows box with twice as much RAM still couldn't pull it off.

mattyb · Nov 13, 2009, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Anybody curious about this?

I'm very interested, hadn't heard of it before.

Took a while for it to come up on the French Dell site. Not sure if its good value or not (been a while since I looked at PC prices) 830€ for : AMD X2 6850E at 1,8 GHz, Windows® 7 Family Edition 64 Bit, ATI Radeon™ HD 4330 512 Mo, 6G RAM (800 MHz), disk 1 T (7200 tr/min), Blu-ray read only.

The 'problem' is the Blue Ray. If you could write to it, this little box would have been ordered.

BTW 830€ is over $1200

The cheapest Zino (non HD) is 280€ - over $400

shifuimam · Nov 13, 2009, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Internal or external display? On my (wife's) Samsung NC10 Atom single core 1.6 and a gig of RAM, OS X stutters on Hulu SD when outputting to a 22" monitor at 1680x1050. My homebuilt PC running an Intel Atom board and two gigs of RAM does the same under XP to the same monitor.

User error?

eeePC 701 with XP Pro, Acer Aspire One with both XP Pro and 7 Home Premium, HP Mini 1000 with XP Pro - they all handle Hulu fine on the laptop's display.

The Final Dakar · Nov 13, 2009, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

User error?

HAHAHAAAA

What, did he click the play button wrong?

shifuimam · Nov 13, 2009, 12:14 PM

Hey, it's the answer I'm usually given when I have an issue with OS X.

At any rate, I just tried to play some stuff, and it seems like something has changed with Hulu. I used to be able to watch HD videos in full screen even on my eeePC 701 without any issues. The framerate drops a bit in full sreen now. Oh well.

Art Vandelay · Nov 13, 2009, 12:48 PM

Displaying Flash content on a 1080p display is more taxing than displaying it on a lower resolution display due to the upscaling. What plays smoothly on a smaller display will stutter on a larger one.

gperks · Nov 13, 2009, 01:18 PM

The Zino looks really nice as a small-CPU mini. But then according to Something wicked this way comes…the Dell Inspiron Zino HD � AMD at Home, at idle it uses 29W!! The mini uses far less than that, less than half at 13W: Mac mini: Power consumption and thermal output (BTU) information

Hmm. I know it's not going to make a big difference in heat & power bills, however I am surprised given that the CPU in the mini is far faster.

Laminar · Nov 13, 2009, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

Hey, it's the answer I'm usually given when I have an issue with OS X.

At any rate, I just tried to play some stuff, and it seems like something has changed with Hulu. I used to be able to watch HD videos in full screen even on my eeePC 701 without any issues. The framerate drops a bit in full sreen now. Oh well.

But were all of those on the internal display?

Laminar · Nov 16, 2009, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

Hey, it's the answer I'm usually given when I have an issue with OS X.

But the difference is I know what I'm doing in both OS X and XP. I didn't just use OS X for IRC and Safari for a week and declare myself a power user.