The hardware platform that could be the base for the development of the new Mac Mini seems to be nvidia’s Ion, the solution that the Californian manufacturer has proposed with the implementation of Atom processors.

According to a series of rumors that go around on the net, the next Mac Mini systems will feature an Nvidia 9400M integrated chipset (the same that is already featured in all Apple’s portable systems) and an Intel Atom 330 processor, a dual core solution that works at 1,66GHz and 533Mhz for the FSB.

According to the rumors, Apple has been working on this platform for a while now: in fact, they claim that the company has received prototypes before any of the other partners from nVidia that have expressed their interest in Ion.

The use of an Atom processor for a system such as the Mac Mini could also have a future reason: with the launch of the Mac OS X 1.06 “Snow Leopard” on the marketp, Apple will have all the needed technology in order to make use of the GPU hardware acceleration thanks to Open CL. This feature allows the company to compensate the Atom processor’s performance level and would give Apple a way to build an economic yet flexible system.

Apple’s interest on the Ion platform could, however, be completely different. The new nVidia platform’s features seem to be quite adequate for a device such as Apple TV, where the low energy costs and the low noise are key elements that should be paired with the ability to handle high-definition contents. And those are tasks that Ion is more than capable of.

Conclusion - Part 2

In case you already have movies in H.264 or MPEG4, or are able to purchase movies online, you’ll surely find the Apple TV a good device. If your video collection is in any other format and you cannot purchase movies online, maybe it’s more convenient to wait for a reviewed model

Besides what was previously mentioned, another consideration must be made about the Apple TV’s hard disk capacity. 40 GB are too little if you want to store a good number of movies. Apple should have offered a bigger hard disk, even if in built-to-order. Or even better, allow the USB2 port from the Apple TV to connect to external disks.

Apple TV is surely a good starting point and it seems that the price is adequate to what it offers. Maybe it will become a great product if it succeeds, in the future, to become what its first intention was: a full home entertainment system.

The road, however, seems a little long yet.

The movie trailer download from the Apple server is impressive. With a good internet connection, users can enjoy a high-definition trailer with a very small loading time.

Last but not least, the photo and music playing mirrors almost completely FrontRow’s (on Mac Intel). Once more, no problems at all.

Conclusion - Part 1

It’s really hard to give an opinion about this device. Apple TV does everything it promises to do, without many problems, except for a wireless connection that could be better, and the fact that it tends to heat very easily, since it doesn’t have any cooling fans. The main problems would be in countries that do not allow the online purchase of movies and TV series, and the limited compatible video formats.

The streaming playing needs a little bit of patience to wait for it to start; after that, it continues without problems. This, of course, if the user has a “n” wireless connection or normal ethernet connection.

When synchronizing movies and videos already previously found on the PC, users will face a real problem. Nowadays, the usual standard is DivX and Xvid, but Apple TV is only compatible with the mp4 and H.264 formats. In order to play DivX, avi and Xvid movies, users will have to go through a long and boring conversion process, which make it completely impossible to convert everything in case the user has many gigabytes in movies. Apart the conversion time, the movies that are converted in H.264 are played in a flawless manner by Apple TV.

In a similar mode to the iPod, the Apple TV doesn’t shut down. It remains in standby, ready to be activated by the Apple Remote command.

The main menu indicates the multimedia sources that can be chosen: Films, TV shows, Music, Podcast and Pictures. The contents are those in local playing that were previously synchronized on the Apple TV or streaming from a computer. In the first case, the contents can be played even with a turned off Mac, in the second, it’s possible to connect up to 5 Macs or PC’s.

There’s little to say about the local playing: the selection is simple, the preview is fast, and it starts without problems, even when dealing with high definition content.

When setting iTunes up, the sensation of configuring an iPod comes back to mind: the options and the interface are almost identical. You choose if and what to synchronize and press confirm. The synchronization, due to the “g” wireless connection on the Apple TV, is definitely slow, but it’s probably likely that even with the “n” standard, it would not become faster. It’s slow, but it works, and once it’s synchronized, the device can start working.

The Apple TV’s interface, which Apple calls BackRow, seems to be a combination of iPod and FrontRow. The navigation is easy and intuitive and the options aren’t hidden under three thousand sub-menus, so it makes them easy to reach without much trouble. The Apple Remote is perfect for this task, however, it’s not possible to set the volume with the Remote Control, which is a downside. It shouldn’t be a hard implementation to make: most Satellite TV’s remote controls are able to set the TV volume with no problems.

The only control device that comes with the Apple TV is the famous Apple Remote, the 5 key remote-control that is already compatible with the iPod, iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro. The product is presented in a very simple and elegant pack, true to Apple’s style.

Installing the Apple TV is very simple. Just connect the device to the electricity and TV and it’s done. At the first start, it feels more like a bigger iPod than a Mac, and it is a sensation that will linger. The wireless network detection is rather fast, although the reception isn’t the best (in an open environment, it cannot connect to devices further than 10m from the base). Once connected, Apple TV supplies a code which is necessary to connect it to iTunes.

The specifications aren’t really that enticing, but it must be considered the fact that we’re not looking at a new, full Mac, but at a media hub to be connected to the TV and with very reduced size. And although the size is really small, it’s still surprising: one would expect something as small as the Mac Mini or Airport Base Station, but the Apple TV is slightly bigger.

As for the connections, the offer is quite complete. Only the users with very old TV’s that only have a Scart or RGB connection would complain: the Apple TV cannot be connected to those devices unless by using expensive adapters. However, the maximum performance of the Apple TV is obtained with a HD-Ready or, better yet, Full-HD TV.

Apple TV was developed to be a union between the computer and the TV. Even Steve Jobs has declared many times that a close connection between the two devices wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do; in fact, keyboard and mouse aren’t realy comfortable to use when sitting on a couch. And in fact, in that sense, the Apple Remote is a little better.

In any case, let’s first review the technical specifications on this product.

• Processor: Intel Pentium M (Crofton) 1 Ghz, BUS 350 Mhz, 2 Mb Cache L2
• Graphics: NVIDIA G72M, 64MB di DDR2 RAM
• RAM: 256 Mb, 400MHz DDR2
• HDD: 40 Gb 2,5″
• Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n
• Connectors: USB2, Ethernet and HDMI, Component (YPbPr), optical audio and analogic stereo
• Power Supply: integrated 48W