New 2010 Mini Question about Speed and Video

[Wicked1]

I have a Mid 2009 Mini with 2.0 CPU 4 GB Ram adn 500GB HDD it works well, but I was wondering if the new 2010 Mini with the 2.66 CPU and new Video Card is that much better.

Does anyone have both to compare, I am looking for something a little faster then my current Mini, but is there really that much of a speed boost and is the newer graphics card that much better?

 

[stefimke]

Does anyone have both to compare, I am looking for something a little faster then my current Mini, but is there really that much of a speed boost and is the newer graphics card that much better?

I guess this depends on your use case... HD playback? Games? Just "desktop" activities (Safari, Mail, office, ...) ?

 

[bzollinger]

What if you were to use the new 2010 mini for CS4 work and LR2 on Canon
7D RAW files?

My dual 2.0 G5 is sucking wind and I'm getting tired of waiting for the new MP to get released!

 

[MikieMcBikie]

What if you were to use the new 2010 mini for CS4 work and LR2 on Canon
7D RAW files?

My dual 2.0 G5 is sucking wind and I'm getting tired of waiting for the new MP to get released!

at work i just went from a dual 2.3 G5, 4 Gig ram to the last mini, 2.53Ghz, 4 Gig ram. I use cs4 all day(plus a few other programs) and occasionally into LR to look at some of our photographers stuff(so no real work) and i wouldn't go back to the G5. The speed upgrade is extremely noticeable. I would say the only reason to get the MP is if you do heavy video work, or needed more than 8 Gig of RAM, need internal drives or PCI slots. but i see in your sig you have 3 Gig now. So in my opinion I would save all that extra cash and go with the mini(or buy 4 of them )

 

[Wicked1]

Is teh Video upgrade a real improvement, I currently have the 9400M in my Mid 2009 Mini and it works decently, but I am thinking of getting a new one and getting the 2.66 CPU with 4GB and then putting my 750GB HDD in the new Mini.

How hard is it to upgrade the HDD on the new Mini?

 

[mrfoof82]

Is teh Video upgrade a real improvement, I currently have the 9400M in my Mid 2009 Mini and it works decently, but I am thinking of getting a new one and getting the 2.66 CPU with 4GB and then putting my 750GB HDD in the new Mini.

How hard is it to upgrade the HDD on the new Mini?

The 2.66GHz, with 8GB and the 320M posts a 3DMark06 of ~4400. The 9400M would post more around ~1900. It's a notable improvement for games, but not a barnstormer compared to the rest of the lineup.

As I've posted in another thread, here's a comparison to other Mac configurations...

• 15" MacBook Pro, 330M GT - 6100
• 21.5" iMac, Radeon 4670 - 6900
• 27" iMac, Radeon 4850 - 10000
• Desktop PC, Radeon 5750 - 15700

For me it plays the Starcraft II Beta well enough. Compared to the previous PC I had (a 3-year old nVidia 8800GT) it's only about 1/2 as powerful.

The HDD upgrade is 20-30 minutes if you take your sweet time. Remove base. Remove exhaust fan. Remove memory. Remove wireless cowling. Remove fan duct cowling. Pull logic board about an inch. Wiggle drive out and replace.

The recommendation on drives for most people is not a regular 7200rpm or 5400rpm drive, but a Seagate Momentus XT (500GB is $130). It's 7200rpm and has 4GB of SLC flash it uses as an adaptive cache. It'll cut boot times by half, and nearly all applications will open in under a bounce (and Civ4 was cut from 20 seconds to about 4).

I use mine for games (most titles being ~3 years old), HD video encoding, and Windows development (VMWare and Boot Camp). For that, the computer is fine.

 

[Wicked1]

Will it run COD 4 without any issues like lag etc. I love that game however I am tired of using a PC to play it, so I prefer to use a Mac and run BootCamp like I do on all my Macs.

 

[Giuly]

...Pull logic board about an inch...

...Tear the whole thing apart to replace the IR sensor cable you ripped out while possibly damaged it's connector on the logic board...

Serious, pull the logic board out a maximum of 1/5" and you're fine. Pull it out 1" and you're going to damage something.

Is teh Video upgrade a real improvement, I currently have the 9400M in my Mid 2009 Mini and it works decently, but I am thinking of getting a new one and getting the 2.66 CPU with 4GB and then putting my 750GB HDD in the new Mini.

My 2,66GHz Mini with 8GB of RAM plays 1080p h.264 in VLC with 30% CPU load. 1080i with progressive scan deinterlacing in EyeTV at 55%. Compare it to you 9400M Mini.