Applerecently releaseda redesign version of its entry - level background figurer , theMac mini . Macworld’sown Dan Frakes gave us his initial hands - on impressions as well as aphoto tourof the $ 699 desktop data processor . And though the biggest change may be external , there are a few under - the - hood improvements that helped advance the scheme ’s performance in our Speedmark 6 test suite .
The new Mac miniskirt comes in one stock contour feature a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU , 2 GB of DDR3 SDRAM , a 320 GB hard drive , and new nVidia GeForce 320 M integrated graphics .
This unmarried configuration replaces two previous models , a $ 599 system ( ) with 2 GB of DDR3 SDRAM , a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor , a 160 GB hard effort , and nVidia GeForce 9400 M nontextual matter ; and a $ 799 model ( ) with the same 9400 M graphics , but with a 2.53GHz Core 2 yoke , 4 GB of DDR3 SDRAM , and a 320 GB heavy drive .
( Also , a novel $ 999Mac mini with Snow Leopard Serveris offered with two 500 GB hard drives . The new waiter replace the premature Mac mini server ( ) that also had a dyad of 500 GB hard drives . We do n’t have a new Mac mini server yet , but we will do a full review once we get one . )
In our tests of the fresh standard 2.4GHz Mac mini , we detect it performed as well as the specs would paint a picture , with most of its mental test results shine in between the outcome of the previous 2.26GHz and 2.53GHz model in nine of our 16 test .
The new 2.4GHz Mac mini ’s Speedmark grudge was nearly indistinguishable to the older , 2.53GHz manikin , but that can be attributed almost only to the improved graphics , which helped to most double the number of shape per second the new system was able-bodied to display in our Call of Duty 4 tests .
Aperture was 12 per centum quicker on the newfangled 2.4GHz Mac mini , while the iMovie tests export test results were 8 percent faster , and the iMovie import result were about 5 percent faster than the 2.53GHz exemplar . The raw Mac miniskirt was also faster in our file cabinet duplicate tests .
Curiously , the new Mac mini ’s Handbrake H.264 test results were quite a bit slower than the older 2.53GHz Mac mini ’s ; the new Mac miniskirt ’s score were on par with the MacBook Air with a USB optic driving force . The results were strange but repeatable , even with three different DVD , fox out Handbrake druthers and reinstalling the covering . We ’ll work on an explanation as we cover our testing .
The newfangled 2.4GHz Mac mini is about 13.5 per centum faster overall than that erstwhile 2.26GHz Mac mini model . Again , the unexampled nVidia GeForce 320 M graphics helped the 2.4GHz Mac mini display about doubly as many frames per second as the 2.26GHz model . The 2.4GHz miniskirt was 18 percent faster than the 2.26GHz miniskirt in our Aperture test and 14 percentage faster in the iMovie exportation test .
New Mac mini 2.4GHz Speedmark scores
Best results inbold . book of facts systems initalics .
Performance as compare to the latest 2.4GHz MacBook ( ) is very similar , with the MacBook scoring just one item higher in our Speedmark 6 test entourage , and most test just a few seconds off from each other .
compare to the entry - story $ 1199 iMac ( ) , the 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo 21.5 - inch model with nVidia GeForce 9400 M graphics , 4 GB random access memory and a 500 GB operose drive , the iMac was about 27 percentage faster overall , with much quick times in processor intensive tasks . The fresh Mac mini did ticktock out the iMac in our Call of Duty tests , displaying 65 percent more frame per second . iMovie import mental test were slow on the iMac , something we saw when we melt the tests for that system of rules ’s review .
How we tested . Call of Duty score is in frames per 2nd ( higher is better ) . Speedmark and MathematicaMark are carrying into action score ( higher scores are good ) . All others are in instant : seconds ( lower is better ) . The new Mac miniskirt was try out with OSX 10.6.4 , the MacBook was test with OS X 10.6.3 and the the rest were tested with 10.6 . The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 14 written undertaking using a 50 megabit file . Photoshop ’s memory was set to 70 percent and History was define to Minimum . We recorded how long it ask to render a scene with mulitprocessors in CinemaBench . We used Compressor to encode a MOV file to the program ’s H.264 for telecasting podcast mount . We time the import and thumbnail / preview creation time for 150 photos . In iMovie , we import a camera archive and exported it to iTunes for Mobile Devices setting . We convert 90 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality place setting . We unzip a 2 GB archive in the Finder . We ran WorldBench 6 multitasking test on a Parallels VM . We import 150 JPEGs into iPhoto . We used HandBrake to rip a videodisk chapter to the hard movement . We opened a 500 - varlet Word document in Pages ’ 09.—Macworld Lab examination by James Galbraith and McKinley Noble
Check back soon forMacworld’sfull review of both the new Mac miniskirt and the young Mac miniskirt server .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld ’s lab conductor . ]
