Old MP vs new mini

[aaaaaaron]

How might a Dual 2 Ghz PowerPC G5 Mac Pro compare to a current gen mini?

I am using one at work and am trying to gauge how powerful the current mac mini would be with out any first hand experience. I use mostly PS CS5, LR3, and do some light ripping/encoding with various programs. Any help is great, thanks!

 

[drew.bowser]

Go for the Mini. Sure you have more flexibility and can throw in a better graphics card with the mac pro...but if you like Snow Leopard and the upcoming LION. Then your best bet is the intel chip. As a general rule...stay away from PowerPC.

I am running CS5 and Lightroom and it runs great. BUT I also changed out my stock HDD for a 7200rpm drive and have 8gb RAM. I set Photoshop to us 5gb of the RAM. LOVE IT!

According to this, you need Intel to run CS5

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=872217

 

[mdgm]

Go for the current mini if you only want to add 3rd party 8GB RAM. If you wish to replace the hard drive as well (e.g. with a 7200RPM drive or better yet a SSD) you'd be better off getting a refurb of the late 09 mini.

The 2010 Mini is easier to swap out the RAM, but much harder to swap out anything else e.g. the hard drive.

 

[MattA]

The Mac Mini will run circles around the Powermac G5. The Powermac is a nice box, but it is painfully slow by today's standards. When I upgraded my Powermac G5 1.6 to the Mini, it was night and day as far as performance was concerned.