Zoom Room Equipment

[edickson]

Hey Guys and Gals,

So I'm tasked with procuring equipment for our Zoom conference rooms and my company wants an Apple TV and a Mac Mini in each room. The main use cases are Zoom meetings and being able to AirPlay to the TV in the rooms but does having both seem redundant? Can the Mac Mini suffice and thus we don't need the Apple TV's in these rooms or is there something else to it? My manager wants the Mac Minis for more "computer" use in these rooms so those will probably need to happen over the Apple TV option.

Thanks all!

[kstrick · Accepted solution]

Zoom Room AIrplay

If you the only reason for the AppleTV is airplay, then you should be fine with the Mac Mini Zoom Room by itself.

[edickson]

@kstrick Thanks for the response and the link! Will help me convince management we don't need both. :)

[gachowski]

While I usually run screaming from the when teleconferencing and rooms come up.. I have always thought why do you need to have a zoom room? Wouldn't a better user experience be running the meeting from the computer of who set up the meeting and using Apple tv and HomePod for video and audio in the room?

I think that is cost-effective and simple for teleconferencing? Am I missing something?

C

[edickson]

@gachowski Interesting point, I guess old habits die hard and I'm in a place right now that also doesn't know about alternate ways of video conferencing. They also initially wanted an ATV and Mac Mini in all 6 Zoom rooms. I'm going to present the case that it's redundant and not cost effective. Maybe later I can convince them to get rid of Zoom in favor of a solution like yours.

[andrewburns]

We are using zoom rooms and you will find having the standalone device per room is great for a couple of reasons.

1. The person that created the meeting does not have to be there, you can simply launch the call from the Ipad.
2. Also has the room bookings on the screen at all time to make sure your room is not getting bumped,

Hope this helps.

[LamarW]

"Depends on your use case", i.e. if you have a mixed OS & device environment (including guests). But just the Mac Mini hosting Zoom should be sufficient.

Zoom will allow anyone Not using a Mac to get a meeting going, and even better no cabling in of a computer for A/V.