On Tuesday I made my first ever visit to an Apple Store. It was the Apple Store located in the Arndale Centre, Manchester. I was on my way back to Bolton from Blackpool and had a bit of time to kill so decided it would be a good time to go and get a DVI to HDMI Cable, Apple Remote and MiniDisplayPort to DVI adapter. It was my first ever visit to the Arndale Centre too so it was a real treat.

I don’t know why Apple don’t do a MiniDisplayPort to HDMI cable or adapter to be honest. Maybe it’s a way for them to make more money by selling more products? Who knows.

The Television I bought ages and ages ago is perfect for being in the halls of residence here in Bolton as it has a huge amount of connection possibilities.There are two scart sockets; one HDMI; one VGA; one set of composite inputes and the old fashioned aerial socket. More than enough for me. (It doesn’t pick up any TV (digital or otherwise) though which is a shame). I’m really impressed with the picture quality that appears when connected via the HDMI port too. It’s super crisp and sharp. If you have the option to upgrade to HDMI, then I recommend that you do, sooner rather than later too.

The Apple Remote works as you’d expect a remote to work. It’s white and about 3 to 3.5 inches long. Being an Apple product means that it has the minimum amount of buttons on it. To be fair, it doesn’t need any more. It has Forward, Reverse, +, -, play/pause and a Menu. Pressing the Menu button opens up Front Row. This little feature is worth the £15 I paid for it alone. It means that I can turn my MacBook into a sort of Apple TV box without having to buy the actual Apple TV. A nifty little feature that I new nothing about until last week.

All in all my visit to the Manchest Apple store was a great experience and I’ll definitely be visiting it again soon. Although, I did find Manchester to be a bit daunting.