It includes four USB 3 ports for plugging in additional storage devices and media peripherals. Unlike most of today’s Macs it still retains a FireWire 800 port (though it also has a Thunderbolt port). It includes an SDXC card slot for directly accessing the pictures stored on a camera’s memory card. It sports an HDMI port, which allows you to jack the computer directly into your TV or HDMI-compatible AV receiver.
Today’s Mac mini offers other advantages as a media server. I chose to save that $200 because the base-model’s processor is fast enough for a media server, and because, while storage is important for this kind of use, an external hard drive offers more space for less money. For another $200 you can purchase a Mac mini with a i7 processor and a 1TB hard drive. That mini includes a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset built into the motherboard. I chose the $599 base-model Mac mini for my media experiment, largely based on its price and performance. But is it the perfect solution for those anxious to cut the media cord? I spent a month with one to find out. Small, not obscenely expensive, and capable of accessing media locally as well as online, the Mac mini has a lot going for it.
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