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Intel Mac mini Q&A - Published March 13, 2009
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How fast is the "Early 2009/NVIDIA" Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" compared to earlier Mac mini models?
Please note that all systems mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. The "Early 2009/NVIDIA" Mac mini models were replaced by the "Late 2009" line on October 20, 2009.
When Apple released the "Mid-2007" Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" models the company proudly proclaimed that the systems could "do everything up to 39% faster" than the Mac mini "Core Duo" models that they replaced.
For the "Early 2009/NVIDIA" configurations -- the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 (Early 2009/NVIDIA) -- rather than providing an overall performance number, the company instead focused on graphics performance and remarked that these models provide "up to 5x faster performance" than the "Mid-2007" models due to the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor.
However, it is worth noting that Apple decided to compare the 2.26 GHz "Early 2009" custom configuration to the previous "Mid-2007" model equipped with a 2.0 GHz processor -- available via build-to-order for an additional US$150 -- rather than the stock "Early 2009" 2.0 GHz system.
Quickly review a comparison of the standard "Early 2009" Mac mini configurations to the standard "Mid-2007" models and one will notice that the "Early 2009" line has a newer processor (albeit of the same clockspeed and with a smaller L2 cache than the higher-end "Mid-2007" model), a faster system bus (1066 MHz up from 667 MHz), faster memory (1066 MHz DDR3 compared to 667 MHz DDR2), and faster integrated graphics (a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M compared to a Intel GMA 950).
It is a safe bet that the graphics performance will be dramatically improved -- as the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M is substantially faster than the Intel GMA 950 -- but whether or not the other architectural improvements will make a major difference for a system equipped with processors of the same clock speed can only be unveiled in real-world testing.
In its SpeedMark 5 test -- which required boosting the low-end configuration to 2 GB of memory -- the industry-standard MacWorld reported:
The new high-end Mac mini was 21 percent faster overall than the previous high-end Mac mini, which had a 120GB hard drive. The biggest differences between the two Mac minis were in 3-D game performance, of course, but drive tests and even the Compressor and Photoshop tests show some real improvement in this new generation.
Comparing the new entry-level Mac mini to its predecessor, a 1.83GHz model with a 80GB hard drive, we see a performance gain of 23 percent in our Speedmark 5 score, with the new Mac mini beating the older model in every test we ran.
In Mac and Windows testing, PC Magazine found that:
The [Early 2009] Mac mini runs rings round the older [Mid-2007] Mac mini. The new mini completes the Photoshop CS4 test in 3 minutes 50 seconds in Windows Vista and in 3:19 in Mac OS X. The old mini took an absolutely glacial 7:46 in Vista and 6:32 in OS X. The old mini only had 1 GB of memory, contributing to crazy slow Photoshop scores. The systems were closer at the CineBench R10 test (which checks how fast the system can render a 3D image using the CPU alone): old mini (4,057) vs. new mini (4,372). The differences followed in the Windows Vista tests: The old mini couldn't even run any of our 3D game or 3D Vantage tests, but the new Mac mini was able to get a (low) 3,215 score on 3D Mark Vantage, and at least run Crysis (9 fps) and World in Conflict (11 fps).
In a review comparing the "Early 2009" Mac mini to cheaper but considerably larger Windows boxes, C|Net put the "Early 2009" Mac mini through a variety of tests, and regarding graphics in particular noted:
The Mini's gaming performance is also to its credit, considering the older model's near-total inability to render a 3D image. Thanks in large part to the new Nvidia graphics chip, we were able to run Quake 4 at 1,600x900 at decent image quality with minimal lag. Our gameplay experience wasn't entirely seamless, and more recent games will surely provide a larger challenge. But as a budget gaming system, the Mac Mini is at least respectable.
Ultimately, the performance of the "Early 2009" Mac mini is noticably faster than the "Mid-2007" models it replaced and graphics performance in particular is considerably improved, but it remains an entry-level system for those more interested in size and ease-of-use than performance.
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