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will the new i5 2.6 be much faster/any faster than a 2011 i5 2.5 iMac?

U

Uabcar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 31, 2009
382
2
I run a base late 2009 mini @2.26 C2D with SSD and 8gig. My wife has a 2011 iMac with the i5 2.5 (4 gig and stock spinner drive).

I was really excited when Apple announced the new Mini's. I ordered the $699 model right away but after finding out that my wife's machine has an i5 clocked at about the same speed- I've started to second guess the purchase.

I don't know current gen intel cpu's well (i was all over things back in the 386/486 days :). How much faster can I expect the haswell i5 to be vs the sandy bridge i5?

btw- my use case is pretty light - mostly just web browsing and watching youtube videos. No games and very infrequent photo and video work.
 
cfedu

cfedu

Suspended
Mar 8, 2009
1,166
1,566
Toronto
Uabcar said:
I run a base late 2009 mini @2.26 C2D with SSD and 8gig. My wife has a 2011 iMac with the i5 2.5 (4 gig and stock spinner drive).

I was really excited when Apple announced the new Mini's. I ordered the $699 model right away but after finding out that my wife's machine has an i5 clocked at about the same speed- I've started to second guess the purchase.

I don't know current gen intel cpu's well (i was all over things back in the 386/486 days :). How much faster can I expect the haswell i5 to be vs the sandy bridge i5?

btw- my use case is pretty light - mostly just web browsing and watching youtube videos. No games and very infrequent photo and video work.
Click to expand...

They are about the same for the CPU, trading blows in most of the benchmarks, I think the GPU on the iMac is better.
 
U

Uabcar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 31, 2009
382
2
Thanks!

That's pretty disappointing then. I wonder if, for what I'm using my mini for - if I should just stay put and hope for a more significant upgrade next year.

I just checked Best Buy. My local store has a late 2012 Mini with the 2.3 i7 in stock. Maybe I'd be better off grabbing that one for now - as it would buy me some time.
 
cfedu

cfedu

Suspended
Mar 8, 2009
1,166
1,566
Toronto
Uabcar said:
Thanks!

That's pretty disappointing then. I wonder if, for what I'm using my mini for - if I should just stay put and hope for a more significant upgrade next year.

I just checked Best Buy. My local store has a late 2012 Mini with the 2.3 i7 in stock. Maybe I'd be better off grabbing that one for now - as it would buy me some time.
Click to expand...

I think it would be a better choice
 

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U

Uabcar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 31, 2009
382
2
Thanks again!

Well - after some deliberation - I decided to pick up a late 2012 i7 2.3.

I found it online from Abt.com for $699 - and w/o tax - so it ends up being nearly $60 less expensive than a the new i5 2.6. I went ahead and bought a 16gig ram upgrade kit ($135) to go with it - so all in I'll end up spending about $75 more i did on the new i5. After I get it, I'll swap in my existing ssd drive - and should be off an running for a few more years.

I will return the new i5, unopened, to my local apple store when it arrives next week.
 
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