One thing the Mac Mini does really well is that it is a very quiet and small system for driving a TV. I have the PowerPC one attached to my DLP TV, and unless it is spinning a disc full speed when initially inserted, it is otherwise not noticeable. It's one big reason I gave up on the XBMC and also XBox 360 media solutions.

I do admit though, I haven't replaced my ReplayTV with it though. Automatic commercial skip is still a big feature for me, and the ReplayTV still does that well. The Mini is used for MP3s, DVDs, playback of internet videos, and lastly video podcasts.

The new unit interests me because it can have a Core Duo chip in it, meaning it should be able to do higher then 480p H.264 unlike the PowerPC Mini. It also has the 5.1 output built in, has gigabit ethernet, and Front Row without hacks. They are shipping a new version of Front Row on it that supports the iTunes sharing of music and videos, so storage locally is no longer a huge issue. I already run mt-daapd on my music server, and it should hopefully be a small change to have it also do video. Though currently Front Row works fine following a symlink in the Movies folder to a network share.

The graphics chip is kinda disappointing, but it seems to be an upgrade above the 9200 slightly. For the cost and size of the system, I guess it is a good choice. Memory upgrades now will be cheeper, since it's using 2 memory slots instead of just one.