Apple TV costs $300. Everyone went crazy hacking it, with the coup de grace being the installation of OS X and the victory (incomplete, as not everything works) that this represents: The cheapest Apple Mac ever.
I asked you to imagine if Apple TV had never existed, and was instead released in near-identical form as the Mac Nano desktop computer. With a reasonable bump in price to cover the cost of a copy of OSX and basic peripherals — to a total of $400-$430 or so — would the resulting Pentium M-based, 256 MB, 40GB, Nvidia go7300-equipped machine be worth it?
You answered "No."
Only 25 percent of respondent to the mini-poll gave a clear yes. That goes up, however, to 45 percent if "basic peripherals" includes a mouse and keyboard.
As is, however, a full 75 percent turned the offer down. That drops to 55 percent with the extra peripherals.
It's an interesting result, I think: It seems there isn't a lot of demand for a low-end Mac Mini-type machine, able to offer the AppleTV's functionality while adding a full desktop OS into the mix. Disappointing: I'd love an Intel-based Nano sat on top of my TV, playing movies, serving files like a NAS, being a simple testing web server, and running MAME.
.png){kind=logo}
