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Mac Mini Performance Highly Disappointing

old-wiz said:
I think the store machines are just basic stock configurations.
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They often have extra RAM, so they look better than stock machines.

The spec/price cards beside the machines state 'display machines may have additional memory or features not included as standard'.
 
Mad Mac said:
The current Mini has a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo w/ a 25W TDP. You can get up to a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo and still be at 25W TDP per the specs on Intel's website.

Maybe get some facts before you jump down the OP's throat.
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Why exactly are you only talking about processors when he listed many different things he wants to throw in?
 
DannySmurf said:
@Gregintosh: If you're going to test a mini, make sure it is not the basic configuration, low-end model. That model comes with 1GB of RAM. That is, emphatically, not enough.

I bought my girlfriend a last-gen mini a while ago (which also came with 1GB of RAM), and when doing anything at all, the computer would start to sputter if you started a second task (if Time Machine was running, Calendar opening and populating took almost 5 minutes). This improved DRAMATICALLY once I upgraded the machine to 2GB of RAM.

Just something to keep in mind.
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wwwwoow that must of been a real LOW end mini. i haven't had any problems with mine and i'm running a 1.66CD
 
chrono1081 said:
Mac mini is for general use, word processing, internet, basic photo editing, etc.
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QFF (quoted for falsity!).

That's ridiculous. The tasks you describe would be a breeze for a dual processor G4. A 2 ghz core 2 duo with nvidea 9400m can do a hell of a lot more.
 
QCassidy352 said:
QFF (quoted for falsity!).

That's ridiculous. The tasks you describe would be a breeze for a dual processor G4. A 2 ghz core 2 duo with nvidea 9400m can do a hell of a lot more.
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Yes sir,

My comp that I have right now is OLD!!!!! The processor is a AMD Sempron Mobile, 1.88GHz and 1.5GB RAM.

And its fast, well not "new" fast but its still running pretty breezy. :eek:
 
QCassidy352 said:
Why are people giving the OP a hard time for this post? I find it helpful information, and I don't think his expectations were unrealistic.
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The forum archives here are chock full of people who had iMovie rendering problems until they upgraded their RAM. The label at the Apple Store next to the mac mini clearly states how much memory it contains. So I think giving a baseline mini an intensive movie rendering task and compounding that with a memory pig like Safari is pretty unrealistic. Sure, the mac minis by definition will always be slowest at rendering -- no surprise there. However, the OP's rather angry sounding charges of "Highly Disappointing" and non-responsive is more a function of configuration than Mac Mini architecture.
 
I'm using a mini now for editing and rendering and it performs fine. I upgraded my base model mini to 4GB ram and a 320GB 7200rpm drive. At least that makes a better comparison to a Mac Pro than the base model mini would.

But to expect a mini to perform like a Mac Pro is stupid! SERIOUSLY! How someone could expect a base model mini to perform like a Mac Pro is truly idiotic!

The base Mini has 2 cores/3MB L2 shared, 1GB ram and a 5400rmp hdd.

The base Mac Pro has 4 cores/8 threads/12MB L2 shared, 3GB ram and a 7200rpm hdd.

pooh_think.gif
 
You can't even compare a fully loaded Mac mini 2,26 GHz/4 GB/7200 rpm HDD to a stock iMac 2,66... the iMac will be faster (especially with 4 GB RAM). All the time.
 
NT1440 said:
Why exactly are you only talking about processors when he listed many different things he wants to throw in?
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He listed a 2.4GHz CPU, another gig of RAM and a 7200RPM drive.

The extra stick of RAM's heat is already accounted for (and it's negligible anyway). A 7200RPM drive adds next to nothing in heat as well. The only thing that can potentially add significant heat is the CPU. And like I said, up to a 2.66GHz CPU has the exact same TDP as what's in the Mini. So where's all this extra heat? Nowhere.

So what's your reasoning for telling the OP to use some logic?

Cave Man said:
I don't need to read a piece of paper. I have a MacBook Pro and I know all about the heat that is generated from a 2.4 gHz Penryn. The last thing I want is a computer that sounds like a wind turbine. :rolleyes:
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What does the heat from a MBP have to do with a Mini? A MBP has nothing to do with a Mini and its cooling system. Totally different layout and totally different enclosure.

And you should be reading that "piece of paper" since it comes from the CPU's manufacturer and they tend to know about the products they make. And they say the max TDP is the same for a 2.66GHz chip as a 2.26GHz. There is no difference in heat outputted. Non-issue. End of story.
 
I always thought the Mac Mini was basically AppleTV-Pro-Edition. If all you're going to do is word processing and internet browsing you'd probably be better off spending slightly more to get a Apple laptop if you're dead set on having something from Apple. In any case, a lot of people seem to be buying up the Mini's as Mac-Media-Centers. It's a neat idea in principle and I recently gave it some thought but passed it up.

Instead I spent $400 (including retail OSX) and put together a 3.01GHz C2D, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, 8600GT system, installed OSX on it, stuck it in an empty cabnet in my TV stand, plugged a wireless KB/M combo, connected it to my HDTV via HDMI, and hooked it up to my 5.1 surround sound system with an optical cable. Couldn't be happier. :cool::apple:
 
Definitely not normal Mac Mini performance. I use a Mac Mini with:

1.8GHz dual-coreness
2GB RAM
60GB OCZ Solid SSD

Obviously with the SSD the thing goes bat-**** crazy fast, but the OP described CPU-related tasks so let's assume this is irrelevant. I can encode video while doing other tasks without noticing any hit in performance, no problems at all. I'm sure it wouldn't encode a video that takes a Mac Pro 45 seconds in the same amount of time, but it certainly doesn't lag while it's doing it. :)

Also, I'm guessing the newer Mac Mini that was tested sports the NVIDIA 9400M GPU, so in the future it could tap the features of Snow Leopard to dramatically accelerate such tasks anyway. I'd certainly keep that in mind for tasks like these.

So it sounds like something was amiss with that setup, for the performance to be so shoddy.
 
sneezymarble said:
I always thought the Mac Mini was basically AppleTV-Pro-Edition. If all you're going to do is word processing and internet browsing you'd probably be better off spending slightly more to get a Apple laptop if you're dead set on having something from Apple. In any case, a lot of people seem to be buying up the Mini's as Mac-Media-Centers. It's a neat idea in principle and I recently gave it some thought but passed it up.

Instead I spent $400 (including retail OSX) and put together a 3.01GHz C2D, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, 8600GT system, installed OSX on it, stuck it in an empty cabnet in my TV stand, plugged a wireless KB/M combo, connected it to my HDTV via HDMI, and hooked it up to my 5.1 surround sound system with an optical cable. Couldn't be happier. :cool::apple:
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How quiet is it? How much power does it use? How big is it?
 
TheReef said:
Slightly unrelated, would you or anyone recommend a good fan control program for the new 09 mini?
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I don't have a Mini, but I use SMCFanControl on my 08 MBP and it works great. I also have an 08 Mac Pro but I didn't see a need to control the fans on that since it seems to run cool with its stock fan programming. Why do you need it on a Mini? Is it running hot?
 
Mad Mac said:
I don't have a Mini, but I use SMCFanControl on my 08 MBP and it works great. I also have an 08 Mac Pro but I didn't see a need to control the fans on that since it seems to run cool with its stock fan programming. Why do you need it on a Mini? Is it running hot?
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I've been getting up to 60°C (140°F) under load.

I'm a bit worried about the ball solder joints on the CPU, have had bad experiences with Apple's laptops.
 
Keleko said:
How quiet is it? How much power does it use? How big is it?
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It's certainly not as quiet as a Mini but it's in a cabinet in my TV stand and thus, it's basically inaudible. It definitely uses more power than a Mini; it's using desktop parts as opposed to the mobile parts in the Mini so it's a given. But, using a Mini would hardly put a dent in our power bill so I'm not that worried about it. As to size, again, I'm using standard desktop parts and the components are in a medium sized ATX case so it's about standard desktop computer size. But, again, it's in a cabinet. The only thing you see is the external USB DVD drive sitting next to the HDTV.

Temperatures have been surprisingly cool. I was expecting higher temperatures with it inside a cabinet but even while running 1080p x264 Movies, it never goes above 40C and while idling its around 30C. That's with ambient temperatures around 25C which is a bit warm (haven't bothered turning on the AC yet this year).

Edit: Just ran CinebenchR10 to get an idea of my temps at full load. Never went higher than 53C at 100% load (both cores with full load).
 
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