Nice cherry picking the newegg comments and leaving out the caveats that went with each sentence (ie: playback is slow..<yoursnip>...because of silverlight is crap) or the pros that go with them. Saving money is worth every penny to me and I enjoy working problems out of tech. You buy one of these things because you want to build your own computer and want something customized with your own parts and own design and not having a silver/white box like everyone else. Of course it's not for the average person or for someone whom this is not a hobby and thinks their time is worth more than what they will put into it. I build these things because it's fun, not because I actually desperately want a home theatre/media computer as something I will use often. I don't even watch TV. If that's what you want, by all means, go Mac Mini and Apple TV.
sclitheroe, I always thought you were one of the most knowledgeable IT and tech guys here. I'm disappointed in you, I expected more objectivity. Of course if you only post the cons from the pros and cons reviews of a low end, low volume, niche product you will get a similar list, but you even cut out certain qualifiers for those cons although I understand where you are coming from in that something with apparent flaws like this is not worth your time.
This is the whole problem with all of this, FanIn80 is always defending himself by saying he's only posting about stuff that he thinks is cool but once something pops up that is different the flaming comes in. I only posted it because I think the ITX format is really cool. This is a tightly packed budget system with it's pitfalls. Those are almost always accepted things with this market segment. There are definetely ways to build much more perfected and cheaper systems.
I realize you Apple guys are sick of the de facto criticism of Apple being overpriced but I've never said there's anything wrong with paying for something you think is worth it. I just always refuse to buy things that everyone else is buying and I always go for the alternatives, even if it consumes time and money for me, that's where I take my enjoyment.
You guys are a real piece of work. It's Apple everything. Once someone posts something you feel is hostile you go out of your way to burn it down. Someone posts that they like flash, you go and post how much it sucks on other systems. Someone posts a security flaw that is basically AT&T's fault and not Apples, you go out of your way to counter that by not discussing the flaw but by making an ad hominem attack on the "hacker" who turns out to not be a very savoury guy but how is that relevant? Someone posts an alternative to an Apple product (PC based home theatre system, Android based tablet, etc.) and that gets attacked right away too. You can drop the victim label because Apple guys are the bullies now. And goddamnit, I am still typing on a Apple keyboard! :P I don't hate Apple because of what they make. I have several Apple products in the house right now. I hate Apple because of their critical mass of users pushing their way around.
-edit, oh wow I think I get how FanIn80 feels now when people slag stuff he thinks is cool. The difference is I think I'm not going to post things I think are cool here anymore. It's just the wrong userbase. Rename the place the Apple forums and get it over with.
