troymess Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Hello everyone, I've fallen in love with PLEX. It's a media center software application like XMBC or Boxee, but I feel it's much more incredible. I'm a Mac user so it fits my tastes perfectly. My question it: I would like to buy a stand alone computer just for my media that will hook up to my tv. The only option I can think of would be a Mini Mac...any other advice or suggestions besides a Mini Mac? I just need something that would be good with a OS X. I would also an need HDMI out on the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidamnesiac Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I run a MacBook Pro right next to my TV for media. It works remarkably well and has the added bonus of being useful as a laptop. But a Mac Mini is probably ideal for your purposes, to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troymess Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 Thanks, I have a MacBook Pro already, but I travel with it so much, I'd really prefer to have something that's stationary by my TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
controlthebleeding Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 mac mini for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex13 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 would a mac clone be cheaper than a mac mini? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchwarmer Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 yea, right now I just hook up my laptop to my tv whenever I want to watch something. kind of a pain, but until I get a mac mini, it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 A Mac-Mini is your cheapest option if you want to run PLEX. However, you can just buy a cheap ION based nettop and run XBMC. PLEX is a fork of XBMC and for the most part they're the same thing. This is exactly what I did. I bought a Zotac Mag for $250, put XBMC Live on it, sat back and lived the good life. Here is my blog post on my setup: http://kirbypuckett.tumblr.com/post/902842296/xbmc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 would a mac clone be cheaper than a mac mini? I can't speak for the performance of PLEX on a Hackintosh, but if you were going to go that route, my solution above would be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchwarmer Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 OR Plex is beginning to be incorporated into LG tvs and blu ray players. you might want to wait it out and see how those perform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Yeah, totally forgot about that. That'd be a good thing to wait for if you can hold off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troymess Posted December 21, 2010 Author Share Posted December 21, 2010 A Mac-Mini is your cheapest option if you want to run PLEX. However, you can just buy a cheap ION based nettop and run XBMC.PLEX is a fork of XBMC and for the most part they're the same thing. This is exactly what I did. I bought a Zotac Mag for $250, put XBMC Live on it, sat back and lived the good life. Here is my blog post on my setup: http://kirbypuckett.tumblr.com/post/902842296/xbmc Thanks for the link dude. Your setup is fantastic and I'm leaning towards doing the same but as you can tell, I'm really at a crossroads. I do prefer PLEX over XMBC but only because I heard connecting to network hard drives is easier. Don't know how true that claim is because I haven't tried it myself yet. ORPlex is beginning to be incorporated into LG tvs and blu ray players. you might want to wait it out and see how those perform. This does sound like a great option however, I already own an LG HDTV and a Vizio HDTV and a Samsung Blu-ray. I have an HDTV in the living room and in the bed room. If the LGs incorporate Plex well enough, I may sell the blu-ray I have now and try the LG blu-ray with Plex. Thanks so much for the suggestions guys. It's helping me figure out where to put my $$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchwarmer Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 I'm in the same boat. I've been milling over a decision for a long time. waiting to really see what it's like incorporated into the LG's since that was the model I was looking at. it's great software, I just wish it was easier to use netflix instant on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 I just read on the XBMC forums that some guys are working on getting Netflix working on it, so there's hope... If anyone wants to give XBMC a go, I'd like to sell my original hacked XBOX with XBMC loaded on it as well as a ton of emulators and ROMs. Cheap. Let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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