Just switched from 27" iMac to Mac Mini! Thought?

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Level 3

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Just switched from 27" iMac to Mac Mini! Thought?

Hi folks.

I owned a 2.8Ghz 27" iMac i5 since 2010 and just sold it to free up some cash and bought a Mac Mini of eBay.

I have to say i'm amazed how powerfull and snappy this little thing feels! I got the 2.5Ghz i5 and threw in a 750Gb 7200rpm hard drive alongside the stock 500gb and upgraded the ram to 8gb. I bought two nice 23" LG IPS LED monitors and i've still got £200 left from the iMac sale.

I'd lobve the i7 model but couldn't pick one up of ebay here in the UK but that must be a screamer!

My Wife runs a 2009 Mac Mini (previous model) and the difference is night and day, even games run really well on my i5 mini, thjey've com a long way!

No real point to my post other than i'd like other users thoufght on the current mac Mini, particularly the i7.

Thanks.

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 2.5Ghz i5 750gb 7200rpm 8gb of Ram

Posted on Apr 14, 2012 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

238,973 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:09 PM in response to Mark Thornton

Hi Mark, thanks for the report! 🙂

Apple Mac mini "Core i7" 2.0 (Mid-2011/Server)... Geekbench:8573/9456

Apple Mac mini "Core i5" 2.5 (Mid-2011)... Geekbench:6472/7224

Apple iMac "Core i5" 2.8 27-Inch (Mid-2010)... Geekbench:6726/7871

Apple Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.26 (Late 2009)... Geekbench:3205/3521

So, I wonder why your iMac was so much slower???

The Quad Core may be faster, but yours has a real Video Card, likely far better for Gaming.

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Answer 2

steve359

Level 6

17,169 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:12 PM in response to Mark Thornton

Even if you did not ask for our thoughts on the i7, a "happy post" here in the emergency room is always welcome.

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Answer 3

Mark Thornton Author

Level 3

581 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:17 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the info, i just ran Geekbench in 64-bit mode and my Mini clocked 6753.

I'd actually like to see the 2.7 i7 mini benchmarks. I wonder haow it compares to the server quad core i7 although it only has the intel HD graphics?

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Answer 4

Mark Thornton Author

Level 3

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Apr 14, 2012 1:19 PM in response to steve359

Sorry but what does "happy room" mean?

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Answer 5

steve359

Level 6

17,169 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:21 PM in response to Mark Thornton

If you meant to write "emergency room", it means this forum usually only gets questions about problems instead of "I am happy" statements, like the emergency room at a hospital.

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

140,930 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:22 PM in response to Mark Thornton

I think it's like a "rubber room"

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Answer 7

steve359

Level 6

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Apr 14, 2012 1:23 PM in response to John Galt

ROFLMAO!

Thank you for that, John.

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

238,973 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:39 PM in response to Mark Thornton

Mac mini (Mid 2011) Intel Core i7-2620M 2.7 GHz (2 cores)6936

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/search?utf8=%26%2310003%3B&q=Mac+mini+Inte l+Core+i7-2620M

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Answer 9

Mark Thornton Author

Level 3

581 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:41 PM in response to BDAqua

Wow that's not much more than my mini but i guess the i7 results are with the stock 5400rpm hard drive, i'd like to see the same results but with a 7200rpm drive like mine.

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Answer 10

BDAqua

Level 10

238,973 points

Apr 14, 2012 1:56 PM in response to Mark Thornton

No idea why my second link above is circular back here... maybe rubber???

Anyway I think the higher ones here must be a faster drive...

http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/search?utf8=%26%2310003%3B&q=Mac+mini+Inte %20l+Core+i7-2620M

Holy cow, it did it again, but if you drag copy that link, paste into Textedit, copy again there, then paste in the URL bar of a browser, it should actually go there.

Excuse me while I bounce off the ceiling. 😉

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Answer 11

Apr 15, 2012 2:57 AM in response to Mark Thornton

As yet another reference for my setup:

2011 Mac Mini Server

2.0 GHz, quad core i7

8 gig RAM

Stock dual 7200 rpm drives

Thunderbolt Display

OSX 10.7.3

All server services disabled.

I get a Geekbench score of 9674, in 64 bit test.

Integer	Processor integer performance	8500	9674
Floating Point	Processor floating point performance	14393
Memory	Memory performance	5114
Stream	Memory bandwidth performance	6390

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Answer 12

Mark Thornton Author

Level 3

581 points

Apr 15, 2012 12:35 PM in response to woodmeister50

That's some score!

Anyone got the 2.7Ghz i7 Mini with the AMD 6630?

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Answer 13

Mark Thornton Author

Level 3

581 points

Apr 18, 2012 12:30 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for all the posts guys!

I've been hmmering my mini over the past week and it's proved to be a very capable machine indeed, even compared to my previous iMac. The i7 server looks tempting but i'm wary of the intel graphics as i play the odd game (as well as working!) and the AMD 6330 does not discrace itself! I only play games like Quake 4, Doom 3 and more recently Half life and Duke Nukem, all of which run really well.

Thanks again for your veiws.

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Answer 14

Apr 18, 2012 2:30 PM in response to Mark Thornton

New owner of a base model Mac Mini. I had become spoiled with my Macbook Air 13", with the 256GB SSD, 1.7GHz i5. So, we did some surgery on the new Mini: Added a Seagate 750GB Hybrid HDD with 8GB SSD built in, and increased ram from 2GB to 4GB. Running two 23" external monitors. Performance is very nice (no numbers), and no more spinning beachballs! I'm new to Macs, and love both the Air and the Mini! Next upgrade: 4GB Ram -> 16GB Ram!

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