Comparing a late 2009 3.06 iMac to a modern Mac Mini

[ozziegn]

Okay, I have a late 2009 27" 3.06 iMac that's been good to me since day one. I recently had an itch to buy a new Mac Mini and install a Samsung SSD. So I'm wondering if I would notice a big difference in speed between my 5 year old iMac and a new, modern day Mac Mini with an SSD drive.

Should I make the trade or keep what I already have?

 

[Yvan256]

Okay, I have a late 2009 27" 3.06 iMac that's been good to me since day one. I recently had an itch to buy a new Mac Mini and install a Samsung SSD. So I'm wondering if I would notice a big difference in speed between my 5 year old iMac and a new, modern day Mac Mini with an SSD drive.

Should I make the trade or keep what I already have?

A new, updated Mac mini is "coming soon". If anything, it's way overdue for an upgrade, so I wouldn't buy one right now.

I'd look into upgrading your iMac with an SSD drive instead.

 

[ozziegn]

A new, updated Mac mini is "coming soon". If anything, it's way overdue for an upgrade, so I wouldn't buy one right now.

I'd look into upgrading your iMac with an SSD drive instead.

I already have an SSD in my iMac and it runs good. I'm just wondering if spending the $$$ on a Mini would be worth it.

 

[fa8362]

I already have an SSD in my iMac and it runs good. I'm just wondering if spending the $$$ on a Mini would be worth it.

If your current computer runs well for what you use it for, then buying another is definitely not worth it. Wait for that iMac to fail or to become so slow you don't want to use it.

 

[blanka]

If you get the 2.6 quad, it is roughly 4 times as fast. GPU will be equal or a hint better, and it has more modern shaders.

 

[Drharrington]

Throw a SSD in it. Easy. Did to mine - it rocks.

 

[Dameatball]

You're going to get a performance improvement even from the i5 mini from 2011+. There are a number of improvements in the intel architecture from the 'core duo'. As mentioned, if you get a i7 mini (quad core) it's going to be night/day. But if your iMac is serving you well, doesn't sound like there's much need,

 

[Zellio]

You have a 3.06 core 2 duo e7600 and a mobility radeon 4670.

The Radeon 4670 scores a 475:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Mobility+Radeon+HD+4670&id=505

Iris non pro 754:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Intel+Iris+5100&id=2692

The pro is a much better video card, at 1,126 passmark:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Intel+Iris+Pro+5200&id=2562

Just covering all tracks depending on what Apple sells.

If they were to release soon, the top of the line would probably have a quad core i7 4980hq, but it's hard to find benches for it right now..