2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo vs new 1.4 GHz mini

The 1.4GHz in the new Mini should be faster than what you have. It's an Intel i5 not a Core-2 Duo. The RAM in the new Mini should also be faster. Overall, the new one, in my opinion, should be faster than what you have. Be aware, that if you DO purchase a new Mac Mini, it will come pre-installed with Yosemite.

The 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 processor is faster than the Intel Core 2 Duo processor in your 2009 Mac mini. Processor clockspeed is becoming increasingly irrelevant nowadays as it does not really equate to actual processor performance. According to PassMark, the processor in the 2 GHz Mac mini from 2009 has an "Average CPU Mark" of 1315. In contrast, the new 1.4 GHz Mac mini (Late 2014) has a "Average CPU Mark" benchmark score of 3620. Intel has done a remarkable job to make their CPUs more energy efficient without compromising too much on processor performance.

I have the 1.4 GHz Mac mini myself and for non-heavy use, it works just fine. However, for running many applications at once, you need to consider the middle model. I run many apps at once and I am a web developer, so this model is a little too slow for me (I have a MacBook Air with a 1.3 GHz processor, so I thought the base model would be just fine, but clearly the SSD in the MacBook Air makes a big difference). As long as you don't run too much at once, the base model will do just fine. Also bear in mind all new Mac minis have soldered RAM, so get the amount of memory you will need now and into the future for however long you plan to keep your new Mac mini. 4 GB RAM might become constraining for you in the future if you plan to keep your Mac mini for 4 years or more.

The one thing that I would seriously rate the Mac mini down on is the fact it comes with a Serial ATA disk drive that spins at 5400 rpm. If you can afford it and you plan to buy your Mac mini from the Apple Online Store, consider upgrading to either an Apple Fusion Drive (that combines a mechanical hard drive and a Solid State Drive (SSD) into one) or an SSD on its own. Both of these options will result in even faster overall performance because SSDs are much, much faster than a 5400 rpm Serial ATA drive; however both BTO options are very expensive.

Whatever you choose, however, the new Mac minis announced last month are faster your 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini from 2009.

Go to an Apple Store and try one out. 2009 was a long time ago (in silicon years)

There are a couple things you need to be aware of.

With the new Minis, you must buy it with the amount of RAM

that you will need for as long as you intend to own the Mini.

The RAM is not user upgradable so what you buy you will have

to live with.

The hard drives are also not upgradable although with the Thunderbolt 2

interface that may not be as much of a factor as it was in the past. Even

with original Thunderbolt, the speed of an external HDD connected in

this manor is what you would likely get if internal.

The 1.4Ghz Mac Mini Late 2014 should indeed be some improvement on my 2011 2.3Ghz Core i5 or so I was to understand the latest versions were an improvement, however this is simply not the case. I bought this machine yesterday, its 1 day old, but hopefully going back for a refund tonight. The machine is dreadful, so slow, no power, well what was I expecting? I was expecting that my Core i5 2011 machine bought new at £399 was going to be improved by what I thought was an enhanced 1.4 / 2.7 Turbo speed CPU. at £399.

The bottom line here is that Apple have released an under powered box of crap compared to the Core i5 machines. This Mac Mini is as slow as my first 1.2 Ghz Mac Mini, at least I only paid £130 second hand for that, this Mac Mini 1.4Ghz is similar power to a Chromebook I had, so basically its terrible. No power for multiple things, no power to run Pixlemator (The only thing I needed it to run), 4gb of fixed soldered ram, can't be upgraded, Yosemite runs so slow I had to turn it off several times after complete halt status. I did a master reset, i'm hoping it can go back for a full refund, Apple, you have lost a long standing customer, back to Core i5 PC's for me........

Terrible!

This is a brand new machine, running Yosemite, 4Gb ram, 500gb hard drive, I installed the basic program of pixlemator, and on opening 80 photo's it ground to a halt.

I ran Adobe Photoshop CS6 on my 2.3Ghz Mac Mini 2011, Core i5, 8gb ram, 500gb hard drive Mavericks, not only did it open all pics without glitch, it opened them up in a matter of maybe 25 secs.

The 1.4Ghz, could not manage to open all of them, before it ground to a halt with its spinning pie chart.

I don't need to run a benchmark test, I have an actual purpose of testing these two machines, the newest entry level is a sham on what my core i5 entry level machine was back in 2011.

Yeah crack on, But being a previous Mac owner from the following great machines to this one, yeah go and waste £399..

I have owned the following all of which the next model was better:

I have owned:

G3, G5 Tower

Mac Mini G4 1.25Ghz with optical drive

Mac Mini G4 1.42Ghz with optical drive

Macbook 13" White laptop 2.26 Ghz

Macbook Pro 15" screen Aluminium body

iPad 4 Retina 64gb 3G

iMac 27" desktop

iPhone 2

iPhone 3G

iPhone 5C

I still own: Mac Mini 2011 Core i5 2.3 Ghz no optical drive dual 27" HDMI monitors

Macbook Pro 13.3"

Macbook Air 13.3"

iPod 80GB Video

This latest offering of entry level Mac Mini will possibly make me steer away from Apple, and it will all depend on what PC World say tonight and how there attitude is with a machine clearly not up to any sort of hard work.

Mac Mini 1.4Ghz :-(

This Mini is a backward step in my opinion, I wouldn't want to offer any other suggestions apart from spending the £569 on the 2.5Ghz Core i5 version of which has been hiked in price for no reason other than to launch this inferior box of crap.

The Core 2 Duo will be faster, the 1.4Ghz is dreadful.

Just how are you judging speed?

Chris Meeks wrote:

The Core 2 Duo will be faster, the 1.4Ghz is dreadful.

Are you suggesting that people should not try it out for themselves?

Thanks for your opinion