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Mac mini vs MacBook Pro (Unexpected comparison)

N

nyc4lifedt

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 19, 2009
49
0
I have 2010 MacBook Pro (2.4 i5, 4GB RAM). And then bought the new Mac mini (2.3 i3, 2GB RAM) base model. Mac mini was suppose to go underneath the TV as my home theater PC. Hooked it up to an existing Cinema Display to set up away from TV first and was ready to move.

Then I noticed something. New Mac mini was running faster and "snappier" than MacBook Pro. Couldn't believe it. Even though MBP is little over a year old, it still has a better spec than Mac mini.

Figured it's because of the junk on the hard drive, so decided to do a clean install on MacBook Pro. Same! Mac mini still snappier and faster.

Something with Lion? RAM 1067MHz vs 1333MHz?

I'm using less and less of power applications. Mostly web surfing, iTunes, iPhoto, Pages. I do have some Final Cut video editing projects coming up, but starting to think Mac mini might be able to pull it off just as well as my current MacBook Pro. I'd just throw in more RAM and use existing LED Cinema Display.

Having the mobility of MacBook Pro is nice, but I've been able to do cover it with an iPad.

I've enjoyed the dual screen setup, but with multiple desktop on Lion, I found myself using it less.

I'm very close in deciding, but what do you guys think? Help me choose. I have a friend that wants to buy my MacBook Pro if I decide to sell it. I'd just buy another Mac mini for work use and already bought Mac mini for home theater use.
 
Honestly is there really that much of a difference for you to go through all that. To sell your MacBook Pro and setup a another new Mac Mini?

While I get the speed thing, cause I just recently sent back and i5 2.5 Mini in favor of the i7 quad-core server. I just wonder if its really worth the effort.
 
You are comparing the previous intel CPU generation with this year's latest sandy bridge CPUs. You cannot compare on clock speed alone so there is nothing surprising in your findings.
 
theSeb said:
You are comparing the previous intel CPU generation with this year's latest sandy bridge CPUs. You cannot compare on clock speed alone so there is nothing surprising in your findings.
Click to expand...

Exactly, it appears the OP doesn't know what is inside his computers. The 2010 MBP uses core 2 duo chips, while the 2011 Mac Mini uses i5 chips.

It's no surprise really ... Honestly I think people should at least do some due diligence and educate themselves on the products they own before making decisions involving thousands of dollars.

Notwithstanding though, if you believe you do not need the portability of a laptop then go ahead and sell it.
 
Adamantoise said:
Exactly, it appears the OP doesn't know what is inside his computers. The 2010 MBP uses core 2 duo chips, while the 2011 Mac Mini uses i5 chips.

It's no surprise really ... Honestly I think people should at least do some due diligence and educate themselves on the products they own before making decisions involving thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

Actually the 2010 MBP's use core i5 and i7 chips, but they used Arrandale chips and the new Mac Mini's use Sandy Bridge chips which are slightly faster, around 20% I believe.
 
ml.sail1 said:
Actually the 2010 MBP's use core i5 and i7 chips, but they used Arrandale chips and the new Mac Mini's use Sandy Bridge chips which are slightly faster, around 20% I believe.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I think people misread (as did I) because the 13" 2010 MBP has a 2.4GHz C2D.
 
Last edited:
so may fails in this thread.
nyc4lifedt said:
bought the new Mac mini (2.3 i3, 2GB RAM) base model.
Click to expand...
actually it's an i5, not i3.
nyc4lifedt said:
Even though MBP is little over a year old, it still has a better spec than Mac mini.
Click to expand...
the mini has a faster cpu and system bus. the 2.3ghz 2nd gen i5 is 20-30% faster than your mbp's 2.4ghz first gen i5. the one area where the mbp outperforms the mini is the nvidia gt 330m graphics card, but as an htpc it won't matter.
Adamantoise said:
The 2010 MBP uses core 2 duo chips
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the OP said he has the i5, which means he most likely has the 15" MBP.
 
Adamantoise said:
Exactly, it appears the OP doesn't know what is inside his computers. The 2010 MBP uses core 2 duo chips, while the 2011 Mac Mini uses i5 chips.

It's no surprise really ... Honestly I think people should at least do some due diligence and educate themselves on the products they own before making decisions involving thousands of dollars.

Notwithstanding though, if you believe you do not need the portability of a laptop then go ahead and sell it.
Click to expand...


Wow I know this is an old post I just came across ... but what a nasty response you made!
 
Digitalclips said:
Wow I know this is an old post I just came across ... but what a nasty response you made!
Click to expand...

I am not the person that what you quoted, but I don't see anything nasty about this:

It's no surprise really ... Honestly I think people should at least do some due diligence and educate themselves on the products they own before making decisions involving thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

It looks like pretty solid and straight forward advice, frankly.
 
LOL, except he was WRONG in stating what chips were in what, so he should have taken his own advice...
 
If your objective is to experience a better overall computer experience my recommendation is get a SSD, irregardless of which computer you choose to use having an SSD for the boot drive will make a huge difference, much more then those two processors will for your purposes.
 
OP clearly stated he had a 2010 i5 Macbook pro, and the other guy arrogantly claimed he was wrong, knew nothing, and should educate himself before buying a computer.

Clearly a jerk response, from a guy who didn't read the post or doesn't understand what he is talking about. All in all, fairly unhelpful, but often endemic of the attitude on tech boards like this.


paulrbeers said:
Except he may have been right. The 2.4ghz Macbook pro could have been a 13" Macbook Pro and the 2010 13" Macbook Pros used Core2duo processors. It was only the 15" and up in 2010 that used the Core i Series...

Here's some help for you....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Book_Pro
Click to expand...
 
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