I have one, and I'd say it's alright -- but I'm not convinced it really works well for emulators.
The Mac Mini does have a very small footprint, great for the TV shelf.
I have an older 500mhz CRT iMac updated to OSX. Runs NES, SNES, Sega and of course MAME just fine! Little trivia MAME started out as MacMame the king of Arcade EMUs. The mini will run circles around my older beloved iMac.
If you decide to build your own, then I recommend you get an ATi graphics card because they support audio over HDMI so you won't have to faff around in that regards. Just plug and play as far as A/V is concerned.
The HD5770 is currently the best bang for buck card available. If you get the cheapest HD5xxx series card you'll be pretty set for quite a lot of games, even a lot of PC games from a couple of years ago.
I'd advise against a mac (I'm a big mac user so this isn't fanboy bullshit) because emulators simply aren't as advanced as they are on PC. If you want to play PSX or N64, the windows emulators will enable you to use additional plugins and enhance the games more than the mac emulators will. Some of the better emulators on mac are shareware as well, compared to the vast majority of emulators on PC being free. Of course you can always put windows on it but you're better off saving money and building an HTPC if you're going to do that.
thanx guys u are being a lot of help...
but no one told me whats the cost range...
Many people are saying to build HTPC
but what is the difference between htpc and a regular computer?
they are both pc's, both play games, both run windows, and both can have video output.
please keep in mind that I am going to use this on a CRT, if this is going to be an issue please inform me now...
Home Theater PC are usually a bit more purpose built with audio and video in mind, but the main difference is usually using a case that's small and looks less like a PC. There are ones that look like a piece of stereo equipment or a DVD player so that they blend in with stuff hooked to the TV.
