How significant is difference between i5 duo & i7 quad

[RTL44]

I just bought the base mac mini to replace an OLD mac mini. I also sold my older iMac and wanted to buy an additional mac mini to replace that. I do a little video, music and graphics editing, but just for fun - nothing too major.

Would it be worth the extra $200 to get the quad core i7 as opposed to an additional core duo i5? I will upgrade the RAM in both regardless of what I buy. I have several external hard drives, so the extra 500GB HD space isn't that big of a deal to me (I do wish they had included a SSD instead, but oh well, maybe next time). I am also thinking of using it as a server - but it would be VERY basic and only be accessed via my immediate family.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

-RTL

[Grasshopper]

The performance boost of the quad-core i7 is significant. Like 7500 for the i5 vs 11250 for the i7 in Geekbench. You can also get that model with the Fusion drive, which gives you SSD like performance and 1TB of storage.
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2011 Mac mini with 8GB of RAM
2012 Mac mini Server with 16GB of RAM
46" Sony TV
24" HP LCD
Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse
2 x 1TB MiniStacks

[marv777]

[NosOther]

Personally as someone that does music production I would spend the extra $200 and upgrade the processor.

While you can upgrade RAM, HDD, or add extra external components later- you can't upgrade the processor later- the model of Mini you buy is stuck with the processor that it is configured with from the purchase date.

I do music too (using mostly Logic Pro 9) and you really will benefit from the extra cores and processor speed. It is noticeable.
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2011 Mini Server (5,3)- 2.0Ghz i7 Quad-core; 8GB RAM; 2x750GB 7200rpm

[Texark]

No doubt, the Core i7 is a much better processor. The extra $200 dollars also gives you another 500GB worth of internal storage. If you're doing anything serious like NosOther, it's well worth the extra money. It's also better for Handbrake, iPhoto and Aperture. Especially if your're working with RAW files.