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Early Impressions and Benchmarks on Apple's 2012 Mac Mini
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I wouldn't mind seeing a Shuttle-sized box with a little more expandability than the Mini, but not the behemoth of the Pro.
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And added USB3, which is significant.
Yeah, it is somewhat sad when USB 3.0 is a make or break feature on Apple's computers. That and discrete GPUs.
I hate it when they compare completely different machines solely on raw benchmarks.
It seems weird to read that in an article. It's more like a comment I'd expect from someone old who remembers memory that was measured in KB, although given that notebooks have been able to use 8 for several years, this really shouldn't be a huge surprise.
That would net you two ethernet ports, but I don't know whether it's actually supported with the use of dongles. This would also leave you with just hdmi for your display.
I don't see the entry mac pro as that extreme. Many people view it that way due to the price and size. Its volume is a bit bigger than many comparable workstations with similar features. The ones that are close in size typically house more than what is contained in a mac pro. The outer case structure was really designed for the G5. If it was designed for one of these Xeons, it wouldn't have been dramatically smaller. I just do not think it would have been exactly what it is today. The entry level hardware isn't that great. The 27" imac in its top configurations uses a cpu that is roughly comparable in cost to what you have in the entry mac pro, and they do this with a display attached for several hundred less.
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Hmmm, can I play SC2 on high settings on a 1920x1080 and get 40fps+?
No, but you should be able to play at medium detail at 720p resolution.
Not Mac Mini specific but benchmarks of the GPU: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmarked.73567.0.html
I thought I was crazy buying a Mini just before the expected update, but if I'm reading these specs right I didn't miss much.
I got the entry-level one with 2.3 GHz and 2GB RAM (I just use it as a basic media center anyway). Replaced the RAM with 4GB. Apple increased the price of the entry-level model in my country with the same amount it cost me to buy the RAM, so it looks like all I missed is the .2 GHz speed bump...?
I got the entry-level one with 2.3 GHz and 2GB RAM (I just use it as a basic media center anyway). Replaced the RAM with 4GB. Apple increased the price of the entry-level model in my country with the same amount it cost me to buy the RAM, so it looks like all I missed is the .2 GHz speed bump...?
mac mini has a laptop CPU
iMac has desktop CPU (with 5400 RPM laptop hard drive, oh snap!)
I'd be down for that. Ive does amazing work even with limiting himself with the forms he wants. If he could burst past that in his mind, then my god, talk about killer machines all around. Even something the size of an HP slimline or a mid tower of course would be killer.
Wish in one hand crap in the other phrase comes to mind though
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if the mini had a full size desktop gpu it would be so awesome
bah, i missed that it's a laptop processor too :-/
bah, i missed that it's a laptop processor too :-/
Ignorance is bliss I see. Sorry, but with FCP X's latest upgrade it's quite clear the Mac Pro arriving will be thee box to buy for one looking to work and I mean do serious work.
How are you figuring that? The retina 2.7 i7 quad core of rMBP is only 82% of the westmere 6-core speeds, and yet this mini, which has a slower processor is 85%? It's still a mobile processor, it's actually just an entry-level macbook pro. Same memory specs, same graphics chip, but slower processor. I've tried the Retina and it does not compare to the mac pro.. They are getting close, but not quite there.
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1001. Just ordered a mac pro 6-core westmere because the Macbook Pro Retina just doesn't cut it for what I need to use it for.
This is Pretty nuts... Almost the same as my 8-core mac pro 2008
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1121514
But I have 22gb Ram and could go to 48... yes i do need it! After effects and 3d packages use loads.
And a 2gb 285GTX ( ebay hacked version - works great for cuda )
C'mon Apple - I know you are not designing the iPhone and iPads on a Mac mini or iMac!
Get that proper macPro out already... if a mini is hitting 11, by rights a mac pro should be hitting 40+ and the 2012 is 24-25 on Geekbench.
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1121514
But I have 22gb Ram and could go to 48... yes i do need it! After effects and 3d packages use loads.
And a 2gb 285GTX ( ebay hacked version - works great for cuda )
C'mon Apple - I know you are not designing the iPhone and iPads on a Mac mini or iMac!
Get that proper macPro out already... if a mini is hitting 11, by rights a mac pro should be hitting 40+ and the 2012 is 24-25 on Geekbench.
Mac Mini is a god send of Macs. It's simply so useful to people that want a Mac, have dished out their money many times before.. but now simply want a modern Macintosh. The iMac however has a golden dollar chain round it's 'Chin' because consumer or not, it's a bloody rip off!
How many copies of Final Cut Pro are there out in the wild? Many Millions at very least. Logic Pro also. I'd say about 90% of them would buy a new killer Mac Pro if it was available. I know because I'm one of those.
Can't give an exact figure on sales but it would be in the Billions of dollars.
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Very well said! I will be getting a Mac Mini, not sure which chip though. Anything is better than my Pentium 4, 3.4GHz 0.99 GB of RAM 75GB HDD Dell Optiplex from 2005 (I got it second-hand)! I had a HP Pavilion laptop too, but the GPU and motherboard crapped out.
The Mac Mini is a fine machine though.
Just wished they put good graphics chipsets inside these things. The mini being the faceless iMac, it should at least be available with an nVidia GPU in the higher end models.
Haha, remember the Virginia Tech Big Mac? With the PMG5s it could pull around 7 tera flops. I think you could get that out of a handful (max) towers with nvidia cards these days. Then again, that's speculation off the back of a napkin (slightly educated speculation), and I am too lazy to dig up the info to back this up
Since the top supercomputers are producing tens of petaFLOPS in performance now, this wouldn't surprise me.
Amusingly, since tablets use purpose-built CPUs they still have a ways to go in catching up.
Linpack performance on the G4 was a lot higher than an iPad, but yea.. that's like using a hammer to drive screws into a wall. XDExactly why I am getting one! Sick of having the HD die in my 1st gen Aluminum iMac and not having the ability to upgrade it easily myself.
One big question I have on the benchmarks, I see that the mid level i7 really easily beats the base i5. But does that really make a difference for the daily tasks of the average user (basic iPhoto loading, iTunes arranging, web) or does it only help the graphics intensive users and VM folks? I am almost considering the i7 but for my basic needs I assume it will be like having a Ferrari driving in a school zone...
Looking forward to working in Logic & Pro Tools with the new 2.3 i7 Mini...hopefully starting tomorrow. Ram will be upgraded & next year when prices are down a bit more a SSD will be added internally.
Looks like the direction Apple is taking, they only want us to play games on our iDevices.
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Yes all CPU. Just use SMC fan control to ramp up the fans as the Mini will definitely heat up quickly and run hot encoding video 24/7.
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Yes all CPU. Just use SMC fan control to ramp up the fans as the Mini will definitely heat up quickly and run hot encoding video 24/7.