So why a Mac? Why now?

What you are about to read is actually the second iteration of the first post. The original version went into a long and involved back history of my computing experience, which really isn't all that interesting now that I've written it. So here's the quick and dirty: I was an Apple user a long time ago, then I became a power PC user because that's what all the companies I worked for use, and now I'm back in the fold having just ordered a new 13" MacBook. Be grateful, I just saved you from reading five pages of rambling to get to this point.

As the title asks: So why a Mac? Why now?

I currently have a Dell Inspiron XPS (1st Generation) notebook serving as my HTPC. I originally bought it as a mobile gaming platform, but over the years, that has become its secondary role by a large margin. It has a utility called the Dell Media Center, which works well for a majority of the files I want to watch, and it has an add-on remote control, which I can use to launch the application and navigate. With my relatively recent switch to HDTV, the XPS is having issues. Here they are in no particular order:

1) It's loud. I mean really loud. It's no surprise, really, considering it's running a desktop 3.4GHz Pentium-4 with HyperThreading as well as an ATI Radeon Pro 9800 Mobility. This means lots of heat load and lots of cooling required. Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the best idea in the world. Oh well.

2) Even with the remote control set to be able to wake the XPS and put it to sleep, the XPS never seems to fully go to sleep. The fans will still run, which makes me not really bother to put it to sleep since they'll run anyway. And even when I try to wake it up, it doesn't always do so, and when it does, I never see the screen anyway.

3) My TV only has HDMI inputs, which I didn't think would be a problem since it's the same standard as DVI only with a different connector and HDCP. Well for some reason (I suspect a shoddy DVI standard re: EDID and peripheral handshaking), the computer will randomly forget that the TV's there if I change the TV's input or power it off. This kind of ruins the whole integrated home theater experience. It works, but it's not a simple matter of turning everything on. Had I known this, I probably would have gotten a TV with a VGA and/or DVI input, since my previous TV had no problems over VGA.

4) This really isn't an XPS-specific issue, but it's one of the things kind of driving this change. Dell Media Center cannot handle Matroska video containers, which is a favorite container not only for high-definition video, but for videos with embedded subtitles. A lot of anime fan-subbers like to use the Matroska container, so it would be nice if I could view those files using only the remote rather than having to pull out the mouse and keyboard.

5) The XPS is now five years old, which is ancient in computer years. It would be nice to have something that might be able to handle some current games, realizing that it won't need to be a hard core gaming rig.

With these thoughts in mind, a good friend of mine recommended the Mac Mini -- small form factor, whisper quiet, DVD drive, and 2.0GHz Core2Duo processor. The only drawback was the craptacular Intel GMA950 integrated graphics, which was questionable even just for regular video use. Then Apple released the aluminum MacBooks with the nVidia 9400m chipset. I immediately thought that if they upgraded the Mini with that chipset, I would have my ideal hardware setup. Unfortunately, MacWorld Expo came and went without such an announcement, so I started looking at what would be involved with building a small form factor PC.

There were all sorts of options, including AMD's excellent 790GX chipset with the integrated Radeon HD300 graphics and Intel's G45 chipset with its integrated X4500HD graphics. Unfortunately, the cost of parts for what I wanted usually ended up around $600-700 before taxes and shipping, and that doesn't include an OS or a remote control. I just couldn't see going down this path, when there was evidence in Mac's Leopard OS that indicated the Mini would be receiving the nVidia chipset at some point in the future.

Imagine my surprise when I saw an article stating that Apple had updated the White MacBook with the same nVidia 9400m chipset that its aluminum sibling received last year, and its price would remain the same. So here's the MacBook with virtually identical specs to the Mac Mini I was eyeballing, only it had that key ingredient for which I was waiting. Sure, the MSRP is $200 more, but it has a screen and keyboard, and it's portable. Well worth the cost differential. Sure, the footprint is a bit larger (6.5"x6.5" vs 12.75"x8.92") but it's still smaller than the XPS and quite a bit shorter. Most importantly, it's also very quiet. Plus, it has provisions for Apple's Remote, so the IR port is integrated and not an extra dongle, and the OS is designed to work with it.

Now that the hardware issues were addressed, I turned to the software side of the equation. One of the more popular media viewers (after QuickTime, of course) for the Mac seems to be VideoLAN's VLC Media Player. This app seems to be the best Mac counterpart to Windows Media Player Classic. The best part is that VLC actually now supports the Apple Remote. For a more integrated solution, there's also the XBMC Project (XBox Media Center) which provides a media center interface for the Mac based on the XBox. I even found a site which details how to set up a Harmony 880 universal programmable remote to control it using Remote Buddy and logical Apple Remotes. The sheer customizability available through a combination of the OS and third party apps is amazing. I'm fairly confident at this point that I can configure the MacBook to be fully controllable as I need it using only the Harmony 880 remote.

As for the the video handshaking issue, even if the MacBook also forgets that the TV is there, the Apple Remote can fully put the MacBook to sleep (powered off) and wake it. This means I only need to set up the Harmony 880 to turn on the TV first before waking the MacBook, which should then re-initiate the handshake when it wakes up. Worst case scenario, it behaves the same as the XPS, but with all the other features, it's still an overall improvement.

And that, my friends, is how I came back to Apple.

Knowing that I was considering this purchase, one of my online gaming buddies said I should ping one of our other gaming cohorts, as she is an Apple employee. So on Monday, I talked to her, and she graciously allowed me to take advantage of her Friends and Family Employee Purchase discount on a brand new White MacBook. The only upgrades I made were a 250GB drive, which I thought was a good $/GB compromise, a mini-DVI to DVI adapter, the Apple Remote, and iWork '09 because it was $30 off.

I plan to update this blog with my experience as a Windows Power User in Apple Land, so if this wall-o'-text hasn't scared you off, please come back and join in the journey.