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 September 2012 Afternoon Learners SIG: Apple TV, continued

By Neil Ferguson

We had a very good attendance, with 18 present, all primed to learn about Apple TV. We fired up our Apple TV third generation, connected it to our big screen TV and there it was, Apple TV on the big screen.

We asked if anyone present had a late model computer. No one present had one of the newer computers. However one member did have a late model iPad that he let us use to connect to the Apple TV and it did work. In fact it worked so well that the owner hurriedly reclaimed his iPad as it was showing some of his pictures that were rather personal.

There were many questions and answers that were fielded. As a group, we learned that Apple TV needs the computing power of the newer computers and iPads as mirroring graphics and video is computation intensive, even when using the new H.264 video standard. The newer Macs have a Graphics Processing Unit chip that older Macs do not have. AirPlay mirroring requires a second-generation Apple TV or later and supports the following Mac models:

The Apple TV will work with older Macs but only with iTunes' content and no mirroring. So now we know all about Apple TV.