2011-03-18, 18:00
wicky Wrote:well thats what i get for generalizing, I should have said my old socket 478 media center was able to draw 200w, long live the prescott 3.8F! Then again it also had a 9800 AIW and a couple 36gb raptors...a poor example and i apologize, but it is still the ATV2 is considerably lower power. But I stand by my boot and sleep times, my old box was painfully slow thanks to the various applications that had to load.Yup, the ATV2 is a great price considering it can run XBMC, the only drawback is that it will not display 1080p and that the remote only has like 5 buttons on it. I'm not sure if you can use a regular MCE remote though.
I'm a gadget freak the ATV2s integration with my other idevices is great, means when friends or family drop by and have something they "just have to show you", it's an easy process and I'm not even involved...just give them the password for airplay.
But the ATV2 is pretty well priced in particular, as all the other streaming devices from boxee, ruku, and what not are all in a similar range with similar features, the ATV2 is probably apple's only "product for the masses". I mainly use the ATV2 for the other rooms, so when I have to babysit my nephew or something like that, he has a very easy to use device that can access all my movies, tv shows, and netflix. My main HTPC will likely remain x86 exclusive for a while to come. Though...that new dual core A5 chip really makes me think the next apple TV is going to be 1080p smooth, and with dual 1ghz cortex A9 cores it'll handle most skins with ease.
My old PC is a P4 Northwood CPU. It is slow to boot, but resume/sleep only take a few seconds. I have an 8400gs and a single 5400rpm drive though.