Mac Mini TV Wrangling Reminds Me How UI Matters More While Specs Matter Less
January 15th, 2010
Over the past few weeks I’ve been wrestling with a Mac Mini hooked up to the television. While I’ve largely bent it to my will (and streamlined it so the spouse largely approves) – it still feels funny.
The most telling thing: I haven’t yet unplugged our Apple TV or Roku Box. Despite how the Mac Mini is capable of duplicating their functions.
The conclusive reason: UI. The Apple TV and Roku Box were designed for the television. The type is big, the menus don’t go very deep, their remotes have a minimum of buttons, they have limited functionality. This results in devices that perform a few functions well with a minimum of fuss.
The Mac Mini wasn’t designed to be used with a huge display and a small remote. Yes, I’ve tried a wireless keyboard and mouse. It feels best when within full-screen programs like Hulu Desktop and Plex, but each time I switch between the two, spend any time in the Finder, or encounter a stray dialog box, the whole set-up feels like what it is: trying to fit a round hole into a square peg.
UI is important in this situation, and I believe its importance will only rise in the future. Current hardware is overkill for the average consumer, yet as easy-to-measure specs like processing power and hard drive space continue to improve, I can’t say computers are getting drastically easier to use. It’s harder to measure usability, but we certainly aren’t having Moore’s Law increases in interface design.
I recently bought a cheap stand-alone Blu-Ray player which has Netflix streaming. Within a few minutes of fiddling, it won’t replace the Roku box. Again, the reason is the UI. Movies look great, but the menus surrounding them reflect the player leave a lot to be desired.
The failing of others in UI bodes well for Apple. As it becomes more difficult to squeeze profit out of cheaper hardware, Apple can continue differentiating themselves with design. Their tablet will be better than others because of this. As the Apple TV was designed for a large screen television, an Apple Tablet will surely sport a UI perfectly suited for the device – not merely shoe-horning the iPod or Mac OS X proper into a different form factor, and saying that’s good enough – like hooking up a Mac Mini to a television.
Oh, and it would be nice to get an Apple TV update soon.
Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!
Posted In: Apple
Related Posts:
Apple Vs. Google: I'll Stick With Apple On Apple Suing HTC: Can Google Resist Being Evil? On Not Preordering an iPad
Previous Post: Movie Notes: Kicking And Screaming
Next Post: iPhone App: NOVA: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
I tried Flex with the mini myself, but it only took a week or so to go back to my AppleTV. Just getting all my content into Flex properly would have been such a massive undertaking, it simply wasn't worth it.
I completely agree that it's all about the UI. My girlfriend's mother figured out how to rent a movie on my AppleTV in minutes. She still doesn't know how to watch an episode of the Daily Show I taped last night on my EyeTV on the mini.
I continue to believe that the only thing AppleTV is missing is content. If you could rent or buy any movie you want, not just Apple's limited selection, and you could pay some sort of fair monthly subscription for the five or so TV shows you actually want to watch, Netflix and Blockbuster, Comcast and all the other cable companies would all be doomed.
Which is why that hasn't happened, I suppose.
Yeah. Plex sure looks cool, but I still haven't figured out how to get it to stream content from the desktop pc. Meanwhile, the Apple TV + iTunes streaming solution works just fine.
Yet another situation came up just last night – we were watching Hulu on the Mac Mini and a dialog box popped up regarding a software update, right in the middle of the screen. This meant taking out the iPhone to try to get the box to go away, and then the wireless keyboard to type a password to do the update. Definitely annoying in terms of trying to just relax and watch a show.
Yes, totally agreed the Apple TV needs content – it's the free Hulu stuff that's most appealing. I hold out hope that Apple has that content subscription concept in the works (say a monthly fee for access to certain channels) – but on the other hand, with the cable companies and studios starting to flex their muscles about restricting their content (WB and Netflix, Disney negotiation with Starz / Netflix, Comcast owning part of NBC)… it's a pretty safe bet content wars will get more intense in the near future.
I too tried the cheap blu-ray player route and my wife went nuts over the UI. Junked it and bought the mid priced Roku player – what a difference. Happy wife – happy life
Yeah… got a whole post in the works about the failings of this cheap blu-ray player.