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Intel Mac mini Q&A - Updated November 5, 2009
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Is the Intel Mac mini capable of H.264 HD playback?
For readers who may not be familiar with the term "H.264 High Definition", the Apple Quicktime website (no longer online) noted that:
H.264 uses the latest innovations in video compression technology to provide incredible video quality from the smallest amount of video data. This means you see crisp, clear video in much smaller files, saving you bandwidth and storage costs over previous generations of video codecs. H.264 delivers the same quality as MPEG-2 at a third to half the data rate and up to four times the frame size of MPEG-4 Part 2 at the same data rate.
H.264 achieves the best-ever compression efficiency for a broad range of applications, such as broadcast, DVD, video conferencing, video-on-demand, streaming and multimedia messaging. . . Whether you need high-quality video for your mobile phone, iChat, Internet, broadcast or satellite delivery, H.264 provides exceptional performance at impressively low data rates.
Apple states that the minimum supported MacOS X system for H.264 HD playback at "1280x720 (720p) video at 24-30 frames per second" is a Power Macintosh G5/1.8 or an Intel-based Mac with a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster processor, at least 256 MB of RAM, and at least a 64 MB video card.
For "1920x1080 (1080p) video at 24 frames per second" H.264 HD playback, Apple recommends a minimum MacOS X system of a Power Macintosh G5/2.0 DP or an Intel-based Mac with a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster processor, at least 512 MB of RAM, and at least a 128 MB video card.
Intel-based Mac mini models shipped with at least 512 MB of RAM, and have at least an "Intel GMA950 graphics processor with 64 MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory" or better.
This indicates that the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.83, with a 1.83 GHz Core Duo processor, officially supports 1280x720 (720p) video, but not 1920x1080 (1080p). On the other hand, the Mac mini "Core Solo" 1.5 and Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.66, with 1.5 GHz Core Solo and 1.66 GHz Core Duo processors, respectively, officially do not support H.264 HD playback at all.
However, some mentioned in ArsTechnica forum postings that Apple's stated requirements may be a bit pessimistic, and they have achieved acceptable H.264 HD playback on hardware that is slower than that officially supported. Based on these third party reports, on March 3, 2006, EveryMac.com noted that it seemed likely that the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.66 system unofficially is able to support H.264 HD playback of at least 1280x720 (720p) at 24 fps, but doubtful that the Mac mini "Core Solo" 1.5 system is able to support H.264 HD playback at the same resolution.
On March 9, 2006, MacWorld posted a review of the Intel-based Mac mini models that showed the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.66 was able to support better than 1280x720 (720p) playback, but was still not capable of supporting 1920x1080 (1080p). The author reported that "in our test of an HD movie trailer for IMAX's Deep Sea 3D (H.264 encoding at 1,440 by 1,080 pixels), the Core Duo 1.66 played the video back smoothly. The Core Solo model, however, dropped frames, leading to distracting, stuttering video--even after we upgraded it to 1 GB of RAM." Please note that "1440x1080" is substantially smaller than 1920x1080 (1080p), but still larger than 1280x720 (720p).
The "Mid-2007" Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" models -- the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 1.83 and the "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 -- more than surpass Apple's minimum requirements for 1280x720 (720p) -- but due to the integrated graphics with 64 MB of "shared" video memory -- still do not not formally support 1920x1080 (1080p).
The "Early 2009" Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" -- the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 (Early 2009/NVIDIA) -- with a 2.0 GHz "Core 2 Duo" processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics with 128 MB or 256 MB of "shared" video memory more than meets the requirements for both 720p and 1080p. Likewise, the "Late 2009" Mac mini models -- the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.26, "Core 2 Duo" 2.53, and "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 (Server) -- are fully capable of supporting 720p and 1080p as well.
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