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Mac Mini Core Solo vs Duo

Mac Hammer Fan

Mac Hammer Fan

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 13, 2004
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Which Mac Mini 1 GB RAM would be a better choice? Core Solo 1.5 or Core Duo 1.66

The Mac Mini would be used for:
- Converting LPs to CD.
- Office 2004 especially Word (large documents with illustrations and formulas)
- Surfing the internet
- Making a website with Freeway Pro
- AppleWorks, Pages, Keynote, Graphic Converter, MathType
(no need of Photoshop and no games)

and would replace an older G3 beige with G4 ZIF 533 (768 MB RAM, Ultra ATA 66 7200 PRM hard disk and 64 MB VRAM Ati Radeon)
Hopefully I will notice a speed increase vs my old G4 Beige with Word 2004, because there this application is really slow.

And perhaps, another question: can we expect an update of the Mac mini in july (e.g. Solo 1,66 and Duo 1.83) or is this too soon?

TIA for any advice.
 
The singe core should be more than enough. I base this off my experiences with my PowerBook G4 1.5Ghz. It seems to be able to do a lot, and I only start to kill it when doing video work and doing other things (photoshop, etc).

If you are worried that you will wish you got the Duo, then I would suggest waiting a bit, and saving for the duo. You don't want to kick yourself even if the solo is going to meet your needs.

Kimo
 
Mac Hammer Fan said:
Which Mac Mini 1 GB RAM would be a better choice? Core Solo 1.5 or Core Duo 1.66

The Mac Mini would be used for:
- Converting LPs to CD.
- Office 2004 especially Word (large documents with illustrations and formulas)
- Surfing the internet
- Making a website with Freeway Pro
- AppleWorks, Pages, Keynote, Graphic Converter, MathType
(no need of Photoshop and no games)

and would replace an older G3 beige with G4 ZIF 533 (768 MB RAM, Ultra ATA 66 7200 PRM hard disk and 64 MB VRAM Ati Radeon)
Hopefully I will notice a speed increase vs my old G4 Beige with Word 2004, because there this application is really slow.

And perhaps, another question: can we expect an update of the Mac mini in july (e.g. Solo 1,66 and Duo 1.83) or is this too soon?

TIA for any advice.
Click to expand...

Core Duo, no question. The extra processor helps make up the gap in performance for Office:mac and with the type of documents you'll be working with you'd do well to get the fastest one you can.

I don't know how well AppleWorks will run (if at all) under Rosetta, it doesn't come with new Macs now and I think Apple are trying to kill it off.

Safari is much, much faster on the Intel machines.

Basically spend the extra $$ and get the best machine - you won't regret it.

Oh, and the Core Duo handles 1080p HD movies just fine whereas the Core Solo slows right down. Not that you need HD movie playback but it demonstrates the extra grunt in the Core Duo.
 
I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but you may be better off with a G4 mac mini.

I'm assuming that this isn't a long term computer for you. MS Office won't be universal until at least mid-2007 if not later, according to MS (remember that MS also said that the new version of Windows would come out in 2003 (not a typo)). AppleWorks will probably never be made universal. Why pay current retail price for a computer that will run your programs slower when you can probably get a good deal on a G4 mac mini (maybe $300-$400 on eBay).
 
w8ing4intelmacs said:
I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but you may be better off with a G4 mac mini.

I'm assuming that this isn't a long term computer for you. MS Office won't be universal until at least mid-2007 if not later, according to MS (remember that MS also said that the new version of Windows would come out in 2003 (not a typo)). AppleWorks will probably never be made universal. Why pay current retail price for a computer that will run your programs slower when you can probably get a good deal on a G4 mac mini (maybe $300-$400 on eBay).
Click to expand...

I am using a G4 500 Beige now. Even if Office is 10% slower under Rosetta than on a real G4 1.42 Ghz, I can live with that. Or is it that bad?

And an older Mac Mini doesn't have audio in, and doesn't have a dual layer DVD burner... And I assume that with Boot Camp, I can at least install a faster and more compatible Linux distro...
I live in Belgium, and I notice that the second hand Mac Mini G4's are still expensive here. It's useless for us to buy a Mac in the States because of the extremely high import duties in our country.
And as a teacher, I get 8% discount from the Apple Store...

I think that Rosetta at least will benefit from 1 GB RAM. I was not going to buy a Mac with only 512 MB RAM. (which is only 432 MB available RAM in case of the Intel Mac Mini)
 
I would go with the duo it's only 200 dollars more and your getting alot of extra bang for your buck. but if you are really strapped for cash i would go witht the core solo.
 
Mac Hammer Fan said:
- Making a website with Freeway Pro
Click to expand...

Latest universal version of freeway has some serious problems. pretty much most of the time it doesnt support dragging stuff directly from photoshop anymore.

You go to preview and a lot of time it will crash

You go to upload to .mac and it will hang

It quites unexpectantly a hell of a lot now?

I had to go back to the previos revison under Rosetta and it works so so much better? What the hell did softpress do to destroy my favourite web programme on intel?

Just be aware.
 
i'd say Core Duo as well, as it'll be a good boost over your current setup, even though it'll cost a bit more upfront, in the long run i think it'll work out better, and compared to your current setup, the programs running under Rosetta should be equal at the very least, if not faster than they currently run at.
 
Chundles said:
I don't know how well AppleWorks will run (if at all) under Rosetta, it doesn't come with new Macs now and I think Apple are trying to kill it off..
Click to expand...

I installed it on a 2Ghz MPB with 2GB RAM, and it runs perfectly. I love Appleworks, even though Apple have for a long time given up updating it. If I need a more powerful word processor, I use Pages. I hate MS Office (just like I hate anything else spawn out of microsoft..).
 
Solo vs Duo

I would suggest that you buy what you NEED when you NEED it, which sounds to me like it's the Duo.
Don't worry about updates. If you keep waiting on the NEXT update, you'll wait forever, because there will always be another update.
Buy the DUO, MAX out the RAM and be HAPPY !:) :D :) :)
 
I'm going to suggest the Duo as well. Mine is an absolute workhorse and I believe it to be worth every penny. There are a couple of things you mention for which the extra processing power, not to mention the whole concept of having two processors, will help a lot.
 
I have decided to wait another two months before buying.
I read that Word starts in 20 seconds under Rosetta on a Mac Mini Duo with 2 GB RAM and that there are still a lot of problems with the current universal version of Freeway Pro.

It also seems that 2 GB RAM will be necessary for Rosetta and more applications running together (Word, MathType, Canvas)
I also expect a firmwire update or a Rosetta update that will improve the speed of applications which are not universal yet.

If I am lucky, a revision 2 upgrade with a faster processor comes out in july. However, I can't wait more than 10 weeks...

I wish to thank everyone for all the advice. I am convinced that the Core Duo will be the best choice for me now.
 
I'd say go for the Core Solo and spend the extra money to bump up the RAM. If you ever decide that you need a duo processor, you can always buy one and pop it in.
 
Mac Hammer Fan said:
I have decided to wait another two months before buying.
I read that Word starts in 20 seconds under Rosetta on a Mac Mini Duo with 2 GB RAM and that there are still a lot of problems with the current universal version of Freeway Pro.

It also seems that 2 GB RAM will be necessary for Rosetta and more applications running together (Word, MathType, Canvas)
I also expect a firmwire update or a Rosetta update that will improve the speed of applications which are not universal yet.

If I am lucky, a revision 2 upgrade with a faster processor comes out in july. However, I can't wait more than 10 weeks...

I wish to thank everyone for all the advice. I am convinced that the Core Duo will be the best choice for me now.
Click to expand...

Within two months, the new Conroe/Merom/Woodcrest processors should be out, so hopefully there will be updated iMacs, Mac Minis, and MBPs by then. Not to mention the yet to be released intel based Macs. :)
 
miniConvert said:
Four seconds on mine. I wrote 2,000 words in Word under Rosetta tonight and honestly can't fault it.
Click to expand...

4 seconds. Was this with the first launch of Word? (after starting up your Mac)
It seems that once you have launched an application it loads faster the next time because it is in the cache.
Perhaps the person who told that in a review/forum had other applications open. Do you have 1GB or 2 GB RAM?

Text docs are a always a lot faster than large docs with illustrations and formulas.
 
Certian types of emulation get better the more you use them.

The Emulator (EG Rosetta) gets to know the emulated program better, and therefore you get better perfromance.

I don't know if Rosetta works this way however.
 
PS:
I have found a scrolling test of a 500 pages Word doc on an Imac
G5 Imac : approx 1 min
Intel Imac Rosetta: approx 2 min
(my G4 Beige 5 min (text only) 5 min)

Microsoft Word Scroll: Scroll
dual core 2 Ghz 1:58
dual core 2:05
Imac G5 2.1 Ghz 0:57

Although it's not from a Mac Mini, it gives us an idea how much Rosetta slows down...
 
ignore the two options gives you for processors. you can buy the cheaper single core which will last you fine for a while. in a few years tho, you might want a boost so go and buy a core duo chip off of newegg.com. you can get a 2.16 dual core chip and replace that 1.5 no problem
 
dmw007 said:
Within two months, the new Conroe/Merom/Woodcrest processors should be out, so hopefully there will be updated iMacs, Mac Minis, and MBPs by then. Not to mention the yet to be released intel based Macs. :)
Click to expand...

Oh yes, and Apple will put all these new chips in the MacMini. Conroe and Woodcrest won't work because they produce too much heat, and I am sure that Apple marketing will be very happy if people buy MacMinis instead of dual processor towers.
 
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