Tonight begins our newest experiment in home computing & entertainment integration.

Yes, I’m proud to welcome a Mac Mini to our household.  This is the first full-fledged computer that we’ve purchased for primarily an entertainment purpose.  While we’ve loved our 160GB AppleTV (and believe me, when your 2-year old makes AppleTV one of their first words, that’s love), the limitations on storage and software have been, well, limiting.

So thus begins the Mac Mini experiment.  Upgraded with a 500GB external USB 2.0 drive, this computer will be plugged into our new Vizio LCD, via HDMI, for full 1080P resolution.   Apple Remote, Wireless Keyboard, Wireless Mouse.  The new FrontRow 2.0 has everything we love about AppleTV, plus we’ll now have ample storage for ripping all of our DVDs to MP4.  In addition, now that Jacob is 3, we’ll be able to start using the machine as a computer as well, using it for kiddie software and educational games.  We can even use it as a DVD player in a pinch.

I’ll have to say, the Mac OS X Leopard start-up sequence for registration is just stunning at 42″ at 1080P, with full stereo sound.  Really awe-inspiring.

We’ll see how it goes.  I don’t know why, but even after setting up literally dozens of Macs in my life, setting a new one is still such a rush.   Literally, it’s like I drank a six-pack of sugar-free Red Bull or something.