As I've posted in other threads, I received yesterday my 2014 Mac Mini. It is configured with the 3.0Ghz Core i7, 8GB of soldered RAM, and a 512GB Apple PCI-E SSD. This particular SSD ended up being the Samsung model.
After powering up, the first thing I did was load Windows 8.1 Enterprise via Boot Camp. As I've posted in other threads, I use this machine exclusively to RDP into, either from other computers at home or remotely. I RDP into it as a standalone workstation, and it runs Outlook, Pidgin, Lync, and a few other utilities 24/7. One of the draws of the Mini in general for me is the near silence and low power draw. In the event of a power outage, my Mini will stay on for upwards of an hour.
I don't do any content creation or transcoding. This is not a "workstation" per se, but really just is my stable long term home for all of my non gaming PC activities. I have a high end gaming PC that exists only for that purpose, and my girlfriend has her own as well. I also have a 13" MBP Retina and an 11" i7 MBA.
As I've mentioned before, I had a 2011 Mac Mini with the 2.3GHz i5, 8GB of RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD. I've been pretty happy with it overall, but USB 2.0 was becoming an issue for me and overall I was just ready for an upgrade even though I didn't "need" one. Like many, I'd been considering a 2012 Quad for some time, but was hopeful that in 2014 we'd see an update. Like many, I was disappointed to see only dual core CPUs offered in the new models. Despite my disappointment, I realized I don't really need quad cores for what this machine does, so I pulled the trigger on a pretty hefty investment knowing this will be in service for probably another 3 years.
I've noticed a few things right off the bat in comparison between the 2011 and the new 2014:
1. CPU temps are down on average about 10*C over the 2011. Idle temps are down nearly that much. Load temps do go up about as high as 90*C but I haven't seen them jump above that so far.
2. Overall usage is "snappier." The CPU seems to stay in its turbo frequency of 3.4-3.5GHz almost all the time while under load, then drops back down to 800Mhz when little else is going on. Its not a night and day difference, but it is noticeable.
3. Storage performance is noticeably improved. Under Windows with the Samsung 840, read and write speeds were pretty high at 400-500MBps, but IOPS were lower than expected at around 40k. With the new mini, I'm seeing speeds around 775MBps and IOPS in the 70k-80k range. Again we're comparing SSD to SSD here so its not going to be a night and day difference, but in transferring files from old to new it definitely showed an improvement.
4. USB 3.0 speeds are obviously vastly improved over USB 2.0
Overall I'm happy. Was it worth the cost? Probably not. I could have gotten a NUC or a BRIX or a Zotac whatever, but I do like the ability to occasionally use OSX if I want to, and its hard to beat Apple's build quality and form factor. I never hear the fans and the power usage is minimal. Cost to performance ratio is terrible though, much as it often is with Apple products.
Now I'm installing a fresh copy of OSX onto the SSD on my 2011 and prepping it for sale. Anyone interested?
After powering up, the first thing I did was load Windows 8.1 Enterprise via Boot Camp. As I've posted in other threads, I use this machine exclusively to RDP into, either from other computers at home or remotely. I RDP into it as a standalone workstation, and it runs Outlook, Pidgin, Lync, and a few other utilities 24/7. One of the draws of the Mini in general for me is the near silence and low power draw. In the event of a power outage, my Mini will stay on for upwards of an hour.
I don't do any content creation or transcoding. This is not a "workstation" per se, but really just is my stable long term home for all of my non gaming PC activities. I have a high end gaming PC that exists only for that purpose, and my girlfriend has her own as well. I also have a 13" MBP Retina and an 11" i7 MBA.
As I've mentioned before, I had a 2011 Mac Mini with the 2.3GHz i5, 8GB of RAM, and a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD. I've been pretty happy with it overall, but USB 2.0 was becoming an issue for me and overall I was just ready for an upgrade even though I didn't "need" one. Like many, I'd been considering a 2012 Quad for some time, but was hopeful that in 2014 we'd see an update. Like many, I was disappointed to see only dual core CPUs offered in the new models. Despite my disappointment, I realized I don't really need quad cores for what this machine does, so I pulled the trigger on a pretty hefty investment knowing this will be in service for probably another 3 years.
I've noticed a few things right off the bat in comparison between the 2011 and the new 2014:
1. CPU temps are down on average about 10*C over the 2011. Idle temps are down nearly that much. Load temps do go up about as high as 90*C but I haven't seen them jump above that so far.
2. Overall usage is "snappier." The CPU seems to stay in its turbo frequency of 3.4-3.5GHz almost all the time while under load, then drops back down to 800Mhz when little else is going on. Its not a night and day difference, but it is noticeable.
3. Storage performance is noticeably improved. Under Windows with the Samsung 840, read and write speeds were pretty high at 400-500MBps, but IOPS were lower than expected at around 40k. With the new mini, I'm seeing speeds around 775MBps and IOPS in the 70k-80k range. Again we're comparing SSD to SSD here so its not going to be a night and day difference, but in transferring files from old to new it definitely showed an improvement.
4. USB 3.0 speeds are obviously vastly improved over USB 2.0
Overall I'm happy. Was it worth the cost? Probably not. I could have gotten a NUC or a BRIX or a Zotac whatever, but I do like the ability to occasionally use OSX if I want to, and its hard to beat Apple's build quality and form factor. I never hear the fans and the power usage is minimal. Cost to performance ratio is terrible though, much as it often is with Apple products.
Now I'm installing a fresh copy of OSX onto the SSD on my 2011 and prepping it for sale. Anyone interested?
