Benchmark Mini vs. older Mac Pro

[thereur]

I'm trying to make some buying decisions; New Mini vs. a used Mac Pro.

I'm using the machine for simple Photoshop and Aperature. I think a Mini will be adequate for this task. My interest in a Mac Pro is because I can easily add HD space. I'm trying to understand where the performance of the existing Mini matches that of a used Mac Pro. That will give me an idea of what premium the expandability would cost me.

 

[Tallest Skil]

The new Mini won't even be on par with the first Mac Pro.

 

[thereur]

The new Mini won't even be on par with the first Mac Pro.

Sorry, "Mac Pro" was too specific. I'm including G5 Towers. For example, let's say a particular G5 tower is roughly equivalent in performance to the 2.0 Ghz Mini, and the used tower costs $500 more than the Mini. Then I can decide if I want to pay $500 to easily add HD space.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Sorry, "Mac Pro" was too specific. I'm including G5 Towers. For example, let's say a particular G5 tower is roughly equivalent in performance to the 2.0 Ghz Mini, and the used tower costs $500 more than the Mini. Then I can decide if I want to pay $500 to easily add HD space.

Oh!

Processor-wise, the Mini is better, graphically, the new Mini will be better.

 

[kermit4161]

Sorry, "Mac Pro" was too specific. I'm including G5 Towers. For example, let's say a particular G5 tower is roughly equivalent in performance to the 2.0 Ghz Mini, and the used tower costs $500 more than the Mini. Then I can decide if I want to pay $500 to easily add HD space.

Do a search on the forum. There was a thread last year about this very topic. The conclusion was basically the mini would outperform the PowerMac G5 (1.8).

The topic was posted by me because a newspaper I consult for wanted to get a G5 or a Mini for a production computer. As it turned out, they got the Mini (2.0Ghz) and LOVE it.

You can always use external drives for storage (I'm using a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+). I'm using my Mini more for a home theater computer... but I've put two in production positions at small newspapers and they do great.

Cheers!

 

[thereur]

Thanks! That's the info I was looking for. Guess that puts me in the "waiting for the new Mini camp".

 

[NoNameBrand]

I use a Mini at work for light photoshop/desktop publishing work (in addition to lots of programming) and it works just as well as my home G5. Until the Mini runs out of memory. 2GB isn't quite enough sometimes. Closing programs does the trick.

The G5 blows it away on anything that involves significant disk IO.