Mac Mini vs NUC vs ChromeBook vs iPad? For TV content?

jyl · jyl's Garage

I'm sorry about repeatedly coming back to this, but I have fading, aging pre-geezer brain and this new fangled tech stuff confuses me.

The goal is a cheap machine to connect to my Apple Airport via WiFI or Ethernet, access streaming video, and send it via HDMI to display on my TV.

For various reasons, I've ruled out the Rasberry Pi. Because I get the streaming video via apps that I think would be complicated to get on Linux. Sling TV application, coming apps for other online content (all the networks are trying this), VPNs/tunnels to geo-restricted European online streaming sports sites, Bit Torrent sites (cyclingtorrents.nl), pirate video sites, YouTube, etc. Just to keep my thinning hair, I think I need something that runs Windows or MacOS or (maybe) ChromeOS. The pirate sites are infested with malware, so an OS somewhat resistant to that would be nice. I don't want an HDMI cable from device to TV.

The choices I'm coming up with, and my thinking about the pros and cons, are:

1. A MacMini/MacOS for $500 + $30 (generic) or $130 (Apple) wireless keyboard/trackpad.
Pros - Easy to use, can be repurposed to a general purpose computer, Macs seem to last a long time, everything supports MacOS
Cons - Expensive

2. A NUC/Windows OS for $350-450 + $30 (generic) wireless keyboard/trackpad
Pros - Cheap, everything supports WindowsOS
Cons - Letting Windows back in the house

3. A ChromeBook/ChromeOS for $250 + $35 Chromecast (for mirroring)
Pros - Cheap
Cons - Low-grade specs (4GB RAM, Celeron). Sling TV might not support ChromeOS yet, I'm not positive.

4. An iPad for $300 + $100 AppleTV (for mirroring)
Pros - Most everything supports iOS
Cons - Kids will steal it, I already have a Roku, don't like the onscreen keyboard

What would your choice be?

stomachmonkey · 03-06-2015, 08:40 AM

1. The Mini.

Con: Most expensive option

Pro: Functionality and flexibility more than justifies the additional cost.

IMHO best bang for the buck.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Do I buy one of the current minis with the dual-core CPU and soldered-on DRAM.

Or reach into eBay for a late 2012 quad-core model? Those are running $700-1000 with 16GB RAM 1TB HDD, kind of overkill for my application, and no-one seems to be selling lower-spec'd ones.

BlueSkyJaunte · 03-06-2015, 08:53 AM

We have a couple AppleTV boxes at home (one per TV).

We watch Netflix using them.
We watch anything in our iTunes library (which is sitting on an iMac in the bedroom - probably 200 DVDs' worth).
We occasionally watch YouTube videos on them.
The kids love them for the PBSKids stuff.

It disappoints me that I can't watch Amazon Prime content on them, but I suppose we can live with it.

The only really annoying thing is that with every update Apple seems to add more "channels" to the main screen and I have to hide them. Like the Tennis Channel. Seriously - if I have the ESPN channel hidden, doesn't it follow that I have no interest in watching tennis?

The fact that it's $99 helps. You could try one and throw it away if you don't like it.