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dual-core i7 option - worth it?

B

brudy

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2008
46
7
Is it worth the cost for the i7 upgrade on the $799 model? If it were a quad-core I'd be in for that for sure, but not sure if it's worth it for the dual-core.

Otherwise I'm very psyched about this update. This is just about the mini I've been waiting for. Personally, I would have liked the optical drive to be kept, but I can live without it.
 
brudy said:
Is it worth the cost for the i7 upgrade on the $799 model? If it were a quad-core I'd be in for that for sure, but not sure if it's worth it for the dual-core.

Otherwise I'm very psyched about this update. This is just about the mini I've been waiting for. Personally, I would have liked the optical drive to be kept, but I can live without it.
Click to expand...

depends on what you do with the machine. it will be very good for a lot of users.

I think I will buy the 799 with the 2.7 i7 and the 750gb 7200 rpm hdd
 
philipma1957 said:
depends on what you do with the machine. it will be very good for a lot of users.

I think I will buy the 799 with the 2.7 i7 and the 750gb hdd
Click to expand...

I do web design and photography, and a little video. So a lot of CS, lightroom, final cut. I think I'm probably going to get the upgrade, any performance boost is probably worth it. I'm also debating the ssd/HD combo but somehow $1700 for a mini seems a little steep.
 
brudy said:
I do web design and photography, and a little video. So a lot of CS, lightroom, final cut. I think I'm probably going to get the upgrade, any performance boost is probably worth it. I'm also debating the ssd/HD combo but somehow $1700 for a mini seems a little steep.
Click to expand...

personally i think you would be a good candidate for the i7, hyper-threading and turboboost to 3.2 (i believe) will be very beneficial.
 
Compare.

A Mini with only the the 2.7 option costs $900.
The 27" iMac costs $1700

For $200 less than the cost of the 27" thunderbolt screen, you get two more REAL 2.7ghz CPU cores, drastically faster graphics power, keyboard, mouse, an extra thunderbolt port AND a 27" screen.

Get close to parity (KB, mouse, optical drive and 27" display) and you're PAYING $400 to lose two CPU cores, half the graphical power and a TB port!!!

Add the SSD+HD and the difference jumps to $550!

That configuration Mini costs $2,845.00
For only $50 more, you can get the 27" iMac with 3.4GHz quad core and 6970M with 2GB vRAM. A machine that would absolutely wipe the floor with the Mini in every possible aspect.

Where is the Mini's value? :confused:
 
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TA031 said:
Compare.

A Mini with only the the 2.7 option costs $900.
The 27" iMac costs $1700

For $200 less than the cost of the 27" thunderbolt screen, you get two more REAL 2.7ghz CPU cores, drastically faster graphics power, keyboard, mouse, an extra thunderbolt port AND a 27" screen.

Get close to parity (KB, mouse, optical drive and 27" display) and you're PAYING $400 to lose two CPU cores, half the graphical power and a TB port!!!

Add the SSD+HD and the difference jumps to $550!

Where is the Mini's value? :confused:
Click to expand...

I think most people buying the mini aren't dropping $1000 on a monitor.
 
TA031 said:
Compare.

A Mini with only the the 2.7 option costs $900.
The 27" iMac costs $1700

For $200 less than the cost of the 27" thunderbolt screen, you get two more REAL 2.7ghz CPU cores, drastically faster graphics power, keyboard, mouse, an extra thunderbolt port AND a 27" screen.

Get close to parity (KB, mouse, optical drive and 27" display) and you're PAYING $400 to lose two CPU cores, half the graphical power and a TB port!!!

Add the SSD+HD and the difference jumps to $550!

Where is the Mini's value? :confused:
Click to expand...

Try to put in your iMac into your TV rack as HTPC and you can understand the footprint what Mac Mini was designed for....
 
The value in the mini is for people who don't need everything you are including in your price value.

For plenty of users out there, the base specs of either the base or mid level models will be more than sufficient for the work that they would do on their computer.

There are also people who either already have all the peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc) or who would rather shop elsewhere for some of these. There are plenty of less expensive monitor options out there. A lot of people also don't want the monitor Apple makes. In addition to the gloss/matte issue, other monitors out there can be used for more than just a computer display. Personally, once I buy my new mini I'll be using the same monitor that I currently use for TV/video games.

In short, if you are going to purchase everything that an iMac comes with, it only makes sense that you are getting a better deal when you get it bundled in the all-in-one. The mini is, at least in my opinion, targeting those of us who don't need/want everything that comes in the all-in-one bundle.

Just my two cents.
 
Just upgraded the home server from an (upgraded) Core Solo Mini to the new quad. Woohoo! :)
 
WindRider said:
.
. In addition to the gloss/matte issue, other monitors out there can be used for more than just a computer display.
Click to expand...

This is my issue. I already have a matte apple monitor that I like (as well as keyboard and mouse), and I don't have the space for the 27 right now, let alone a dual monitor setup if I went the imac route. I know the imac will kill the mini, but there are other considerations. Right now I'm leaning i7 upgrade with the 7200 drive. That's a reasonable <$1100 machine that will kill my aged G5.
 
brudy said:
Is it worth the cost for the i7 upgrade on the $799 model? If it were a quad-core I'd be in for that for sure, but not sure if it's worth it for the dual-core.

Otherwise I'm very psyched about this update. This is just about the mini I've been waiting for. Personally, I would have liked the optical drive to be kept, but I can live without it.
Click to expand...
I think these are all the CPUs: http://ark.intel.com/compare/53463,52231,52229,52224

Doesn't look like a difference between the 2.5 and 2.7 other than clock and L3, depends if 200mhz and 1MB L3 is worth the $100. (and "Intel Insider" but I doubt that'll matter for anything)
www.KPR.nu said:
Quad???
Click to expand...
Server model...which you can't get the Radeon with.
 
japtor said:
I think these are all the CPUs: http://ark.intel.com/compare/53463,52231,52229,52224

Doesn't look like a difference between the 2.5 and 2.7 other than clock and L3, depends if 200mhz and 1MB L3 is worth the $100. (and "Intel Insider" but I doubt that'll matter for anything)
Click to expand...

Geez.. they seem pretty much identical besides those points you mentioned. Really wonder if its worth it for $100. I wonder if they were both marketed as i5 and just described by a clock difference of 200mhz whether people would choose this upgrade as much.
 
profets said:
Geez.. they seem pretty much identical besides those points you mentioned. Really wonder if its worth it for $100. I wonder if they were both marketed as i5 and just described by a clock difference of 200mhz whether people would choose this upgrade as much.
Click to expand...

the clock is not much but the cache is 33 percent bigger that is a big improvement percent wise
 
profets said:
Geez.. they seem pretty much identical besides those points you mentioned. Really wonder if its worth it for $100. I wonder if they were both marketed as i5 and just described by a clock difference of 200mhz whether people would choose this upgrade as much.
Click to expand...

Actually, comparing the suggested retail price of the processors, upgrading to the i7 through Apple is cheaper than buying the CPU outright (at least according to the link posted in the quote you quoted). Performance-wise, however, I don't think the average user (especially average Mac Mini user) would notice the difference between the i5 and i7.

That being said, I'll likely just upgrade to the i7 because I'd rather have the better chip, especially at this price. My budget would allow for it, and it's not that costly in comparison to the SSD upgrade (not sure if I'll do just the SSD or SSD+HDD option).
 
philipma1957 said:
depends on what you do with the machine. it will be very good for a lot of users.

I think I will buy the 799 with the 2.7 i7 and the 750gb 7200 rpm hdd
Click to expand...

Really I can not justify paying Apple the diff between a 500GB 540RPM drive and 750GB 7200 RPM Drive as it is $150.00

Not sure if there will be a noticable diff in the CPU though? but I prefer the model with the ATI rather than the stinky Intel GPU
 
philipma1957 said:
the clock is not much but the cache is 33 percent bigger that is a big improvement percent wise
Click to expand...

Nice, the more reason the better to choose this option lol.

What I really want to do is an SSD, but gotta wait and see how it'll be to install afterwards..
 
TA031 said:
Do you even know what the :apple:TV does?
Click to expand...

Yup, doesn't play 1080p...:rolleyes:

I've got a 135" Cinema in my house...720P doesn't cut it, and Netflix and iTunes don't have everything I want to watch when I want to watch them. I'd rather run a Mac Mini attached to my 16TB array so I can have my full 1080P HD library available to me at all times, not to mention Hulu and other streaming sites not offered default by the AppleTV...thanks for your most valuable input though.

Also, don't falsely quote me to imply I don't know what I'm talking about...I worked for Apple...
 
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