Is the Mac mini finally ready to be a high-def media centre?

Most people would probably laugh at such a question - either because they're an Apple-lover who thinks it's long been ready, or they're an Apple-hater who never wants Cupertino to get a stranglehold on their lounge room. I fall somewhere in between - I'm a keen Apple user but I don't actually worship the products or their maker.

Blu-ray aside, the Mac mini's Achilles' Heel is the lack of MPEG-2 hardware acceleration, forcing it to decode high-def TV broadcasts in software rather than leveraging the GPU for hardware acceleration. Don't blame the hardware, or TV tuning software such as elgato's EyeTV. Blame MacOS for not making this feature available to third-party apps. Steve Jobs would prefer you buy all your content from the iTunes store, content which does get the benefit of hardware acceleration. If you're happy to play by those rules, you should probably save your money and just buy an Apple TV.

I've tested the last few Mac minis, paying close attention to how they handle high-def MPEG-2 TV broadcasts when plugged into my 46-inch 1080p Sony Bravia. With each processor speed bump the HDTV picture has improved, but always looked a little soft and pixelated compared to the picture from my TiVo and my Windows 7 Media Centre, which leverages MPEG-2 hardware acceleration.

The latest Mac mini sports a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, accompanied by 2GB of 1067MHz DDR3 RAM. I took the Little Mac that Could for a spin on one of my Sydney Morning Herald blogs this week, and was quite pleased with the results. It offers the best HDTV picture I've seen from a Mac mini yet. Even high-def sport such as AFL looks very good, but if you've an eye for detail you'll still pick that it's coming from a computer rather than a dedicated AV device.

Videophiles will never be completely happy with the Mac mini's lack of MPEG-2 hardware acceleration. Yet for most people I think Apple's little Mac mini is finally up to the job, especially if your television comes in at under 37 inches.