Streaming television is a growing market that features industry giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Sony vying for a place right in your living room. But all the hype has left you stumped: the Apple TV has come out and you're wondering if you should change plans on purchasing a brand new Mac Mini with a cheaper, more dedicated Apple TV.

Well, it's really about what you think is right for you. Cost aside, the Apple TV and the Mac Mini are not in the same product category. The Apple TV is an appliance, while the Mac Mini is a compact computer. The compact and sleek Apple TV box shovels video from your computer to your television, while the slightly larger Mac Mini can run a full instance of Mac OS X, allowing you to view movie content encoded in DivX, XviD and VIDEO_TS.

The Apple TV can play anything an iPod can, though it does not fully support 5.1 surround sound. A Mac Mini has 20 GB more of hard drive space, 256 MB more of system memory, three more USB ports, a Firewire port, and room for a decent DVD-writer. The Apple TV does have NVidia-powered video compared to the Mini's Intel integrated feature, and does sport the 802.11n wireless connectivity, making streaming large files smoother.

Aside from all the technical specifications, you might also want to consider that the Apple TV is pretty easy to use. A user-friendly GUI menu and intuitive interface can get you streaming television in no-time. But some people have discovered that the HD capability of the Apple TV is slightly so-so, having problems keeping up the proper frame rate while streaming HD TV in some cases. The Mac Mini, being a computer, requires maintenance, though it is more useful in other things such as serving as a backup file storage.

An Apple TV or a Mac Mini? It's a tough one, but you could probably do with either. On a personal note, you couldn't go wrong with a Mac Mini, if you can afford it.