Need Advice Mac Mini Purchase.

[NyMetsFan08]

Hey Mac Fans!!!

I was thinking about purchasing an older Mac Mini either the one with the Nvidia's 9400m GPU or the Nvidia's 320m GPU they both have the superdrive in them.

Which one would be more energy efficient??? What I mean by this is which one would use lesser power? I only need the Mac Mini for basic internet browsing, watching videos some HD playback, and office. Nothing more major than that.

If anyone knows any difference between the two and has any advice on which would be the better purchase for me to make please post below;

Model #'s: MC238LL/A, MC239LL/A, and MC270LL/A. Thank you everyone.

 

[Osip]

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3468

You're going to be looking at the Early 2009 to Mid 2010 models.

 

[blanka]

They are both baked on the same process: 45nm for the C2Duo and 55nm for the GPU.
The 2010 is faster in both departments, thus hotter under load, but has a more efficient PSU, so better at idle. Guess it is splitting hairs. With light use, I would get the 2010 unless it is a very good 2009 deal. The 2009 has a really large powerbrick which sucks, on the other hand the 2009 is easier to tweak and upgrade with faster HD or BR drive.
The 2011 is much cooler as it has a 32nm/40nm process for CPU/GPU, the 2012 even more on idle with the 22nm Ivy Bridge.

The 2009/2010 are very capable on HD playback though. The fan does not kick in as the GPU decoding is very efficient. I don't know how the newer HD4000 integrated GPU handles HD: with or without fan speed increase.

 

[opinio]

They are both baked on the same process: 45nm for the C2Duo and 55nm for the GPU.
The 2010 is faster in both departments, thus hotter under load, but has a more efficient PSU, so better at idle. Guess it is splitting hairs. With light use, I would get the 2010 unless it is a very good 2009 deal. The 2009 has a really large powerbrick which sucks, on the other hand the 2009 is easier to tweak and upgrade with faster HD or BR drive.
The 2011 is much cooler as it has a 32nm/40nm process for CPU/GPU, the 2012 even more on idle with the 22nm Ivy Bridge.

The 2009/2010 are very capable on HD playback though. The fan does not kick in as the GPU decoding is very efficient. I don't know how the newer HD4000 integrated GPU handles HD: with or without fan speed increase.

nice comparison review