Over the past couple of weeks, the components for my ultimate Mac Mini home theatre have slowly arrived. The main component - the Mac Mini - came first. It's the latest model (released March 2009) with the following specs:
 
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB of RAM
120GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor
 
Got a great deal on eBay. About $600 for a barely used one plus the guy threw in a Western Digital 320GB external hard drive he used for Time Machine back ups. This exact same configuration through the Apple Store would have been $749 plus tax and that's without the external hard drive.
 
Since storage was going to be an issue, I also picked up a brand new Drobo for $335 (retails for $429). I had a spare 1TB hard drive lying around so I popped that in. I'll be adding more drives over the next few months - probably the eco-friendly Western Digital Caviar Green SATA drives. They come in 2TB, 1.5TB, and 1TB models and I'll pick whichever one I can get the best deal on. Great thing about the Drobo is that the drives don't have to all be the same size or model.
 
I first hooked up the Mac Mini to my 42" Panasonic Plasma (TH-C42FD18) via a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. Then connected the audio via a 3.5mm to RCA cable (will do TOSLink when I have a better sound system). Flipped over to the second HDMI input on my TV and BAM! Got the Mac OS desktop. I'll do another post later on video quality, codecs, and the pros/cons of Front Row.

I wrote something about this earlier on my Twitter page but thought it deserved a little more space here.  My partner, Ike, will be writing a regular column in the Huffington Post regarding consumer credit.  Obviously, it's very timely given what's going on in the world.  Couldn't have gotten a more qualified person to write the column given Ike's background as one of the pioneers in online consumer credit.  Check it out here.

On a totally unrelated note, I've finally caught up to the world by getting a plasma TV.  Got a great deal on eBay for a used Panasonic (take advantage of that Microsoft 30% CashBack!).  Now that BlueRay is the rage, I'll wait another 5 years for the players to go sub-$100.  I'm all about the value!