Macworld reviews Core 2 Duo Mac minis

[admin]

Macworld reviews Core 2 Duo Mac minis
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Posted by: Brian

Macworld has posted a review of the recently updated 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo Mac minis. "The latest Mac mini models have made some impressive gains in terms of performance, without gaining bulk or higher price tags. Still a great bargain, especially for those who already own a mouse, keyboard, and display, the Mac mini's size and price allow it to fit into spaces and budgets that other Macs cannot. With its faster performance and DVD burning capabilities, the 2GHz Mac mini is worth the extra $200, but if DVD burning isn't something you need, the 1.83GHz Mac mini still gives a lot of bang for the buck," writes James Galbraith of Macworld. The new Core 2 Duo Mac minis earned a score of 4 out of 5 mice.



http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/743.html

[Bandit Bill]

Seems like a fair review if you are already familiar with Macs. It think iLife '08 would have been worth mentioning.

[Ben Tex]

Yeah, it seemed like a fair review. I sort of disagree with the hard drive performance comment though. I know that Mac mini only has a 5400 RPM drive, but did they say the same thing about the MacBook or MacBook Pro? Plus, this can be overcome by swapping out the stock drive for a faster drive.

[Fox]

The review is very fair, and I don't see any reason not to mention the 5400 drive, especially when comparing the mini to an iMac, which is often the alternative being considered. While you can swap out the 5400 for a 7200 or buy an external 7200, the drive will still be slow-performing in comparison to the internal 3.5" 7200 rpm drive of the iMac.
_________________
Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2: 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate
Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu, Mint & openSuse

[Yvan256]

Too bad they don't compare to the old G4's.

[Cubist]

I upgraded to the new top of the line Mini from a PowerPC Mini(1.42Ghz), the difference is night and day better. I put 2gig of RAM in and I'm now seeing the kind of response from the system that I haven't enjoyed in a looooooong time. The new ones are three times faster than my old mini. I thought a bit about which one to get, but having that bigger L2 cache, and the ability to burn DVD's is worth the extra cash. Also nice, the stock HD is fast enough that I can run the OS natively on the mini, something that my old one was never fast enough to do.