But it also means you don't need to make it cooperate with a cable or satellite set-top box, many of which include their own digital video recorders you can just plug it into a TV's video input. That means you can't use the Mac mini to replace a TiVo or other digital video recorder (unless you plug in a tuner kit, such as one of Elgato's eyeTV models). The company built this machine to bring the computer to the TV, not the other way around. The biggest difference between the mini and Media Center is that Apple doesn't include any way to tune into or record TV programs. But it also shows its relative youth with some needless oversights and, in the two models I tried, one crippling flaw. The Mac mini, sold in $599 and $799 configurations, is a little cheaper than most Media Center PCs and a lot simpler and smaller than all of them. The idea is to make the computer at home in the living room, not just the office, by giving it an interface and a remote control that invite people to play their music, view their photos and watch their videos from the couch.
This tiny white box of a machine represents Apple's first serious stab at a goal Microsoft began pursuing in 2002 with its Media Center Edition of Windows XP.
