iMac Aluminum 2007 vs Mac Mini base 2012

[stuff99]

Hi folks,

I have the following iMac from 2007:

"The iMac "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 20-Inch (Aluminum) features a 2.0 GHz Intel "Core 2 Duo" processor (T7300), with two independent processor "cores" on a single silicon chip, a 4 MB shared level 2 cache, an 800 MHz system bus, 1 GB of RAM (667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-5300), a 250 GB (7200 RPM) Serial ATA hard drive, a vertically-mounted slot-loading DVD+R DL "SuperDrive", ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics acceleration with 128 MB of GDDR3 memory, a built-in iSight video camera, and built-in stereo speakers underneath the 20" glossy TFT Active Matrix LCD (1680x1050 native) display designed to "bounce sound off the desk below"."

I upgraded this to 4gb of RAM and 1TB HDD.

And I am currently considering upgrading to the base Mac Mini Model:

2.5GHz Mac mini
Specifications

2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB memory
500GB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
OS X Mavericks

How much faster will this upgrade be? Will the graphic performance be better as I do light gaming on occasion.

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[blanka]

CPU about 3 times as fast
GPU 5-6 times as fast.
HD 10-20% slower (just get a Kingston SSD now for 60 bucks and make it a fusion for 5 times faster HD).

 

[jetblast]

I made the "upgrade" and for whatever reason the '07 iMac felt faster

Plus my magic mouse keeps losing BT connectivity with the mini. It's so frustrating.

 

[stuff99]

CPU about 3 times as fast
GPU 5-6 times as fast.
HD 10-20% slower (just get a Kingston SSD now for 60 bucks and make it a fusion for 5 times faster HD).

Oh you can upgrade it yourself?

 

[mvmanolov]

yep, easy peasy

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/11713

well perhaps not quite so easy but, with some patience (most important part…) and the right tools.

EDIT:
Just don't order the ifixit data doubler kit, the data cable has been giving some people some problems, the owc one seems to be better.

 

[breiti]

- Benchmark of your iMac CPU vs. the Mac Mini CPU
- your iMac VGA vs. Intel HD 4000 As you can see in the right list of VGAs... the Intel HD 4000 is rated much higher. So your games you can run at the moment will probably fly through the HD 4000.

I don't know how important your upgrade is, but the next iteration of the Mac Mini may get Iris or Iris Pro graphics which will be much better for light gaming.