Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Mini advice needed, real comparison?

ValSalva said:
How difficult is it to change the HDD on the new Mac Mini? I don't think I've seen any DIY videos yet.
Click to expand...

Check out the iFixit.com teardown for an idea. It doesn't look like it is the easiest change in the world, but it all depends on how well versed you are in things like that! :eek:

Nabby
 
QuantumLo0p said:
Hi all,
I currently use my old PowerMac dual 2.7, which is so long in the tooth it is impaling itself with its once, deadly canines. My fiance just informed me of the PM's current state which doesn't look good and so I may be in the market for a replacement. I have always loved the design of the Mini and have a 23" ACD that should work great with a Mini. I have been apprehensive of buying a Mini because of their processors, always wondering if they are really enough. The iMacs have a bit more power but I really don't care for the iMac's design, plus I have a perfectly fine 23" ACD. I really should pull the trigger soon because more and more of my favorite apps are going Intel only. : (

I have a couple questions:

Are the new Mini's 320 graphics much better than the old 6800 in my PowerMac?

Will the 320 graphics suffice for iPhoto editing?

Can the Mini run Win7 in bootcamp okay?

I would especially like to hear from anyone that has owned a PowerPC Mac and a Mini! Thanks in advance for any helpful opinions!
Click to expand...

I've owned both, as well as a few home-built PCs for gaming.

Right now I'm running the 2.66GHz BTO desktop Mac Mini with a 500GB Seagate Momentus XT and 8GB of DDR3 from Crucial as my everyday "do everything" computer. It's hooked up to a 23" HD Cinema Display (alum) and has a 500GB MyBook Studio hooked up via FW800 behind it on a TwelveSouth backpack. (pic)

  • The 2.66GHz C2D is only a 10% CPU boost over the 2.4GHz. For most people, money will be better spent on a 500GB Seagate Momentus XT. That CPU can encode a 1-hour 720p video to H.264 in about 6 to 6 1/2 hours. With the 2.4GHz expect it to instead take more around 6 1/2 to 7 hours. A Core i7 iMac could do the same task closer to 2 1/2 hours.
  • 4GB of memory is fine for most things. If you're going to play games in windowed-mode and have other apps running, I will recommend maxing it out to 8GB.
  • 3DMark06 with a 2.66GHz, 8GB of memory and the 320M is about 4400. A GeForce 6800 Ultra would score between 2700 and 3000. The 320M's performance is comparable to a desktop 7800GTX or a desktop ATi Radeon X1800 XT. So the Mini will put out a 50% higher framerate in similar situations.

    For comparison, an MBP with a 330M GT scores around 6100. The Radeon 4670 in the 21.5" iMac scores around 6900. The Radeon 4850 in the 27" iMac scores around 10000. A desktop Radeon HD 5750 scores around 15700.

    You won't run Crysis, but Wrath of the Lich King will run decently with the settings turned down. The 27" iMac seriously hustles, but a 5750 or 5850 is probably coming for it in 3 to 6 months making it a very, very capable package.
  • iPhoto? Runs Aperture 2 and 3 like a champ.
  • Boot Camp? I run Windows 7 Ultimate since my day job is a Windows developer, working mostly with SQL Server. Does what i need, including for games.

Idle CPU temp is 120F, with ambient temps between 90F and 95F, with the exhaust fan set to 2200rpm (inaudible at 3 feet). Running games it peaks between 140F and 145F with ambient temps still around 95-100F with the exhaust fan running between 3400rpm (slight noise) to 4200rpm (becoming noticeable, but not over the computer's built in speaker). Max rpm is 5500rpm and it's a noticeable whooshing noise.

Something to consider -- if you sell your ACD and PowerMac, you probably could get a well-equipped 21.5" iMac for Mac Mini money. If you were going to upgrade the Mini, you could go to the 27". The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger on a 27" Core i7 iMac is I'm waiting for a Radeon 5000-series GPU.
 
Thanks for the info!

I think I'll consider a Momentus 500 and at least 4GB of ram.

My Mini seems to get quite hot during gaming. Has anyone done anything about cooling this little guy?
 
QuantumLo0p said:
The crunching power may be more than my old PowerMac but, seriously, the Mini's slow hard drive is the little guy's Achille's heel. In fairness to the Mini, please keep in mind I was using a raid0 setup in my Powermac so it would be unfair to compare the two. I will definitely have to upgrade it as soon as I can.

As far as the graphics are concerned, they are a little better than my old Nvidia 6800, but not by much.

Still, overall I am satisfied with my Mini. It has a very small foot print, is almost silent, uses a lot less energy than my old PowerMac and is running Snow Leopard. I plan to get 4GB ram and eventually replace the hdd. I also plan to get a decent FW800 drive for additional working space and a usb drive for doing backups.

So far it's still thumbs up! Thanks for the input and info.
Click to expand...

I plan to put an SSD in my 2009 Mini. Would like to hear what you ended up doing Quantumloop. I was also thinking of putting a second one in the optical drive bay-like a Momentus XT 500GB for big files etc. Any comments?
 
i stuck a 60gb Agility ssd in my 2009 2.0 and it made a notiecable difference, boots in half the time and apps load very quickly
 
QuantumLo0p said:
I agree with you all about the drives but what about trim support?

How about a 7200 rpm drive? Is the speed increase worth the time and money?
Click to expand...

I've alway's used 7200rpm drives but they aren't a patch on SSD drives. I would vote for one of those, Intel are very good with Macs, their are lots of threads about SSD's in the MacBook Pro forums. But the capacity is severely limited at present which is why I don't have one yet. The larger capacity SSD's out there aren't Intel's but the techs in it's early days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back