09-16-2009, 08:42 AM
Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
[quote=guitarist]The Apple TV is much, much better.
Why?
Why is the Apple TV better at being at serving up movies to watch on TV? A short answer would be, because it's made by Apple instead of Dell. Does any more need to be said?
As they say, it's not rocket science. The reason it's better at displaying movies is because that's what the Apple TV is designed to do.
The Dell Mini (or any cheap-ass netbook with video out) can be jacked into the VGA port of a larger viewing display, and you can view movies from a folder of of movies on its hard drive (which won't get you far, since the Dell Mini's native hard drive has less storage than your average USB stick) or from free internet movie and TV sites like Hulu, or videos on YouTube, or from an externally-attached hard drive, or whatever you please. The only advantage is that you're able to view whatever "internet video" you like.
For some people, that's the only thing they care about. Watching movies on the internet for free. Anything that can't do that doesn't count. I don't care about that so much myself, I have a library of hundreds of DVDs stored on a hard drive, and enjoy collecting movies to watch on Apple TV.
A cheap laptop jacked into a flat screen display is an amusement, as a hobbyist, I enjoy it. But it's not in the same league as a multimedia appliance like an Apple TV. A Dell Mini's processor and graphics card are underpowered for the task of displaying high def movies. It struggles to adequately display standard definition movies. The image quality and frame suffer during fast motion scenes. I think a semi-new Mac Mini would make for a more robust media sever than an underpowered netbook.
Having said that, you can get some surprisingly good results with a cheap netbook, decent viewing, and have some fun. Compared to an appliance specifically designed for playing music and conveniently displaying movies (and instantly renting and buying movies, for those who wish to browse iTunes offerings) on a flat screen TV, a cheap netbook connected to a TV display isn't fair competition. The Apple TV's better processor, ease of use, and elegant interface make it a good value. Also, it's designed by Apple, not by Dell. Did I mention that?
