It looks great, it's easy to use, and it executes the home-theatre PC concept better than perhaps any other vendor's product. The only problem with Apple's Mac Mini Core Duo is that we're not sure there's enough big-screen TV-worthy content available via iTunes to justify the expense.

If you lamented the absence of media centre features in Apple's first Mac Mini, lament no more. Announced yesterday, the AU$1,299 Apple Mac Mini Core Duo features not only the new dual-core, 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo processor, it also comes with Apple's Front Row media management software, Apple's remote control, and new network media-streaming capabilities. If it lives up to its promises, you'll be able to send iTunes media over your home network and to your television, via an attractive, low-profile piece of hardware.

Upside
Many devices have promised the ability to stream digital media content around your home, some delivering more successfully than others. Apple's new Mac Mini Core Duo stands out as a home-theatre PC for its promised ease of use, its form factor, and the ubiquity of iTunes. Its new capabilities will let you stream iTunes content directly from other computers on your home network and onto your television. A forthcoming upgrade to Apple's Bonjour networking software provides the streaming functions, and you control it all via Apple's intuitive Front Row media software and a bundled Apple Remote. We've looked long and hard for an easy-to-use, attractive PC that will fit in with a home-theatre set-up. Apple's new Mac Mini just might be the solution.

We also can't forget the fact that this new Mac Mini has an Intel Core Duo chip in it, which should deliver faster performance compared to the older Mac Mini's 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 CPU (the new Mac Mini is also available in a single-core configuration, the 1.5GHz Mac Mini Core Solo, for AU$999). That should be a major leap forward (although the 4X performance boost that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs claimed at the Mini's announcement remains to be tested). You also get four more USB 2.0 ports, S/PDIF audio output, and full Gigabit Ethernet, all improvements over the old model.

Downside
If you have high-resolution video content converted to iTunes-friendly video formats (H.246 and MPEG-4), then the Mac Mini Core Duo's new video-streaming capabilities will come in handy. Otherwise, we don't relish the idea of streaming that 320x240 resolution episode of Lost to a 32-inch digital TV. That is of course, provided you can get the new Mac Mini connected to your TV. We hoped that Apple's announcement would include a new output on the back of the Mac Mini, but we were disappointed to see that it comes with only the same DVI output of the original. This means you need either a TV with a DVI input, which is rare, or an adapter. The Mac Mini comes with a VGA adapter, which isn't exactly helpful for connecting to a TV. You can also buy Apple's DVI-to-video adapter for AU$35, which gives you S-Video and component connections. For a price that low, we're surprised that Apple didn't throw that adapter in to get as many people connected out of the box as possible, especially considering that the Mac Mini Core Duo costs nearly AU$1,300 to begin with. You can also find DVI-to-HDMI adapters, to accommodate a more modern television.

We also wonder about performance. Most of the video content you can download from the iTunes Store is of low resolution, so that we don't imagine the Mac Mini Core Duo will have too much trouble with it. Of course, that again begs the question, why would you want to play such low-res content on your television in the first place? But should HD content crop up, no Windows PC video-decoding hardware has proven itself the quality equivalent of a direct HD signal pumped into your TV. Unless Apple has some powerful decoding capabilities in the Mac Mini that we haven't heard about (which we doubt, given its anemic, memory-hogging Intel Graphics Media Accelerator integrated video chip), we have questions about whether it will be up to such a demanding task.

Outlook
If nothing else, the Apple Mac Mini Core Duo demonstrates the potential for PC and TV convergence when it's executed by a smart company. Apple's track record has earned it the benefit of the doubt as far as ease of use, especially since we've seen most of the pieces already. The little Mac Mini box is also attractive enough that no one should cringe if it's on display in the living room. Our major reservations have to do with performance. There simply isn't an easy way to get big screen-worthy content into iTunes. Unless that situation changes, and providing the hardware is up to the task of making it look right, the Mac Mini Core Duo might appeal only to dabblers who want to show off the home-theatre PC concept. That's not the audience that will help this device -- let alone the great concept -- take off.

Apple Mac Mini Core Duo (1.67GHz)
Company: Apple
Price: AU$1,299