

Did Dell just outdesign Apple? - fromedome
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/dells-new-mini-pc-looks-good

======
jws
I don't know if Dell wins, but they are certainly in the game. I think the
biggest difference is that these Dells are designed to be seen where the minis
are designed to be invisible.

The Dells are quite a bit larger than a mini, about twice the volume. The Dell
has better specs, but the current mini is late in its product cycle, so that
is to be expected.

Bluray is a real win if you are the sort of person that uses physical media
and plans to use Bluray.

Windows is a win if you are the sort of person that uses Windows.

The hard drive size is a big win if you need disk space.

HDMI is nice, but that is more about supporting the DRM of the blue-ray drive
since the mini has the non-crippling DVI port (as does the Dell).

I wonder about the fan noise. On the back port picture you can see a lot of
heat sink behind the fan.

~~~
SwellJoe
_Bluray is a real win if you are the sort of person that uses physical media
and plans to use Bluray._

I want to not use physical media, but it's the only way to get most HD
content. We have a NetFlix account, and watch a lot of the instant content,
but even on fat cable broadband (36Mbits, I think) we get far less than HD
resolution. Hulu only serves up 480p in HD mode. I've been trying to make use
of Amazon Unbox, but the client is broken...and the one thing we did buy
wasn't HD. Likewise iTunes. I guess in another six months or a year, we'll be
able to stop getting movies via the mail.

------
herdrick
Not even close. The Dell has lots of venting, beveling, and recessing that
Apple's products don't. Also the way the pieces of plastic come together isn't
too neat. Also, the typography isn't good. Etc.

Here's a detailed pic:
[http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/corporate/imagebank/des...](http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/corporate/imagebank/desktops/studio_hybrid_ruby_vh_300.jpg)

------
SwellJoe
Not really, but they certainly outspecced them. It looks good, but not as good
as Apple designs...Apple has an almost magical approach to subtle design
(doesn't make up for the other negatives that come with Apple products, IMHO,
but they certainly do look pretty).

I checked out the Apple TV thing and the Mac Mini, and when I found they
couldn't drive my girlfriends 1080p TV at full resolution (the lack of a
BluRay drive was also a factor) I built a Windows Vista based box (cost a
couple hundred bucks more, admittedly, due to the BluRay drive). If this had
existed at the time, I would probably have bought from Dell, instead. It's a
solid effort, though I'm not actually sure if it'll play 1080p. It seems right
on the borderline with regard to graphics horsepower. But it certainly looks
nicer than the HTPC I built (it's in a nice case that looks like a high end
HiFi from the 70's, but it's kinda huge--quiet, though, which is the primary
concern). And as a bonus, it can play pretty much all of the latest PC games
at nice high resolutions (maybe not full 1080p, but pretty close to it).

~~~
hexley
I'm not sure where you got your information, but the TV and Mac Mini can both
display 1080p. And the mini can decode 1080p h264 video without breaking a
sweat - even a core duo 1.83 has no issues there.

------
compay
No, not really. But by comparison to Dell's usual Stalinist aesthetic it's
fairly nice.

------
joop
They look awesome!

