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2.5 i5 dual core or 2.7 i7 dual core???

G

Genesis Games

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 11, 2011
16
0
Hey everybody, I need help deciding what mac mini to buy. I know that i'm going to get the 750gb hard drive and I will upgrade to 8gb of ram myself. I just need help deciding between the 2.5 i5 dual core or the 2.7 i7 dual core. I will be using my mac mini for light gaming possibly, a tiny bit of photo editing, game creation on game salad, drawing, and web surfing. From these points do you think i'll need the i5 or i7 processor???

-Thanks in advance
 
Genesis Games said:
Hey everybody, I need help deciding what mac mini to buy. I know that i'm going to get the 750gb hard drive and I will upgrade to 8gb of ram myself. I just need help deciding between the 2.5 i5 dual core or the 2.7 i7 dual core. I will be using my mac mini for light gaming possibly, a tiny bit of photo editing, game creation on game salad, drawing, and web surfing. From these points do you think i'll need the i5 or i7 processor???

-Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

The 2.5 is what you want. It has dedicated graphics. The 2.7 is quad core, btw, but the graphics aren't as good (not dedicated).
 
Minicube said:
The 2.5 is what you want. It has dedicated graphics. The 2.7 is quad core, btw, but the graphics aren't as good (not dedicated).
Click to expand...

Not the quad core i7, the upgraded i5 to a dual core i7 processor. But do you still think I should get the i5??
 
Genesis Games said:
Hey everybody, I need help deciding what mac mini to buy. I know that i'm going to get the 750gb hard drive and I will upgrade to 8gb of ram myself. I just need help deciding between the 2.5 i5 dual core or the 2.7 i7 dual core. I will be using my mac mini for light gaming possibly, a tiny bit of photo editing, game creation on game salad, drawing, and web surfing. From these points do you think i'll need the i5 or i7 processor???

-Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I cannot quite make my mind up either. I want to do a fair bit of aperture/photoshop, web surfing and really no gaming. I am really leaning towards the quad core processor.

But for you, if gaming is important and the HD3000 is not good enough, then I would get the definitely get the dual core i7 with dedicated graphics.

For me its about price. For 899 I can get Dual core i7, 500gb 5400rpm drive and for $999 I get quad core i7 and two 500gb 7200rpm drives. Since I don't care much about gaming the decision seem pretty easy. My last thing I have an issue with is will aperture benefit from a dedicated GPU more than have a quad core processor. I am really leaning towards the server model.
 
The dedicated graphics card helps in a number of areas. I'd recomend that system for most users unless they have specific server needs.
 
DustinT said:
The dedicated graphics card helps in a number of areas. I'd recomend that system for most users unless they have specific server needs.
Click to expand...

I'm going to get the dedicated graphics card, I just need help deciding between the dual core i7 upgrade or stick with the dual core i5 processor?
 
Genesis Games said:
I'm going to get the dedicated graphics card, I just need help deciding between the dual core i7 upgrade or stick with the dual core i5 processor?
Click to expand...

Never seen so many users miss the point of the question. For what it is worth, I picked the dual core i7 with descrete graphics.
 
Looks like a lot of confusion for some between dual i7 and quad i7.

If the you use your computer for cpu intensive tasks, 100 bucks for the i7 isnt a bad choice. To be honest though, my 2.5 i5 has handled everything ive thrown at it so far.:cool:
 
Genesis Games said:
Hey everybody, I need help deciding what mac mini to buy. I know that i'm going to get the 750gb hard drive and I will upgrade to 8gb of ram myself. I just need help deciding between the 2.5 i5 dual core or the 2.7 i7 dual core. I will be using my mac mini for light gaming possibly, a tiny bit of photo editing, game creation on game salad, drawing, and web surfing. From these points do you think i'll need the i5 or i7 processor???

-Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I purchased all models of the new mini; I tested all of them:
the 2.3 base
the 2.5 with gpu
the 2.7 with gpu
the quad 2.0

the 2.7 is not worth 100 bucks more then the 2.5 price of 800 vs 900 is a price boost of 12.5 percent
 
Last edited:
philipma1957 said:
I purchased all models of the new mini; I tested all of them:
the 2.3 base
the 2.5 with gpu
the 2.7 with gpu
the quad 2.0

the 2.7 is not worth 100 bucks more then the 2.5 price of 800 vs 900 is a price boost of 12.5 percent
Click to expand...

Thank you and everyone else that contributed, I guess i'm just going to buy the 205 with gpu. :D
 
philipma1957 said:
I purchased all models of the new mini; I tested all of them:
the 2.3 base
the 2.5 with gpu
the 2.7 with gpu
the quad 2.0

the 2.7 is not worth 100 bucks more then the 2.5 price of 800 vs 900 is a price boost of 12.5 percent
Click to expand...

Phillip, did you get the 7200 hard drive upgrade in any of those? Was that worth the $150?

I can put in extra memory, but I'm not capable of doing hard drive stuff.
 
class77 said:
Phillip, did you get the 7200 hard drive upgrade in any of those? Was that worth the $150?

I can put in extra memory, but I'm not capable of doing hard drive stuff.
Click to expand...

I put the hdds in myself.
I used 750gb 7200 rpm
I used 256gb ssd
I used 1tb 5400rpm . All of them are better then the stock 5400rpm.

But if you don't mind the idea of t-bolt eternal from lacie that would be a better improvement. Of course it is not out yet.
 
What exactly is the read/write speed of the stock mini HDD? I thought I saw at some point it was around 50-60.

I'm struggling with the decision of the 500gb momentus XT hybrid or the 1tb samsung spinpoint.
 
xheathen said:
What exactly is the read/write speed of the stock mini HDD? I thought I saw at some point it was around 50-60.

I'm struggling with the decision of the 500gb momentus XT hybrid or the 1tb samsung spinpoint.
Click to expand...

I think someone said it was around 65 / 65 MBs (See Thread)

I got the 7200 RPM upgrade and back magic reports about 120MBs / 120 MBs
 
indg said:
i would love to see some proof of this as most 2.5" 7200rpm drives top out around 80-90 MB/s in real-world tests.
Click to expand...

These are obviously synthetic scores but i have no reason to lie. I have seen it burst up to 129mps but like the image shows ~120 is average for Blackmagic in my setup. dual Core i7 /w 7200 RPM upgrade

screenshot20110812at428.png
 
That does seem a little high, unless it's somehow a SATA III?

Just looking at say the differences between the WD Scorpio Black 500gb 7200, Samsung Spinpoint 1tb 5400, and the Momentus XT 500gb 7200 from all the benchmarks I've seen and the reviews at Storagereview seem to say all 3 drives top out at 110/100.

The Scorpio seems to have slightly better speeds, but the difference is pretty low. The momentus seems to have slightly better power consumption while still utilizing that SSD component.

I'm not sure the speed boosts will be worth the extra 500gb of space with less heat, power and noise. For boot times and commonly used programs, that SSD component sure does fly though. Tough call :/
 
the mini is using a wd scorpio black for the 750gb 7200 rpm hdd. it is about the fastest one out there around 105 to 110 max when the drive is mostly empty. after all the minis i tested and modded. I decided the server with 2 apple 750gb 7200 rom hdds was the best fit for me. my wife works for usfed gov. so i got it for 979 optional 750gb 7200rpm scorpio blacks were 90. so 1069. plus 38 for ram 1107 total. ii seems to be the best for me. i don't game but down the road maybe a t-bolt gpu and a t-bolt ssd along with a dvd player. that works for me. the op a 2.5 8gb ram for sure. maybe a local guy can drop in a better hdd for him.
 
ok, so 550gb partition of a 750gb wd scorpio black and only 17% full, i suppose it's not entirely inconceivable to hit 120MB/s. good on apple for not skimping on the upgrade hdd.

@philipma1957, did you raid stripe your 2x750? based on vermifuge's test, it could hit 240MB/s, which is creeping into ssd speeds.

if someone put a gun to my head and i had to choose between spending $100 for i7 upgrade and $150 for 750gb scorpio black, i'd probably go with the hdd upgrade.
 
indg said:
ok, so 550gb partition of a 750gb wd scorpio black and only 17% full, i suppose it's not entirely inconceivable to hit 120MB/s. good on apple for not skimping on the upgrade hdd.

@philipma1957, did you raid stripe your 2x750? based on vermifuge's test, it could hit 240MB/s, which is creeping into ssd speeds.

if someone put a gun to my head and i had to choose between spending $100 for i7 upgrade and $150 for 750gb scorpio black, i'd probably go with the hdd upgrade.
Click to expand...

Glad i didn't have to choose. With these numbers and a GeekBench score of nearly 8300 My system more than doubles the performance of my 2010 mini server. As far as synthetic numbers are concerned. I'm not a heavy gamer but i like that I can still play EVE without compromising al to of settings.

Over all a great system for the price. (I did get it at discount thanks to a business partner of mine)
 
Vermifuge said:
Glad i didn't have to choose. With these numbers and a GeekBench score of nearly 8300 My system more than doubles the performance of my 2010 mini server. As far as synthetic numbers are concerned. I'm not a heavy gamer but i like that I can still play EVE without compromising al to of settings.

Over all a great system for the price. (I did get it at discount thanks to a business partner of mine)
Click to expand...

Yah, I agree...the mac mini is a great system for the price
 
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