well, I just think it would be ok for schools and great as a "project" computer.
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Intel Atom-Based Mac Mini Due in March?
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well, I just think it would be ok for schools and great as a "project" computer.
fail !
http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/microarchitecture.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/index.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/microarchitecture.htm
Scalable performance and increased power efficiency with multi-threading support²
Improved performance on multimedia and gaming applications with support for Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3)
Improved performance on multimedia and gaming applications with support for Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3)
http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/index.htm
Intel® Atom processor was developed specifically for targeted performance and low power while maintaining full Intel® Core microarchitecture instruction set compatibility. Intel® Atom processors also feature multiple threads for better performance and increased system responsiveness.
Google "Megahertz Myth".
How did you ever survive the transition from Pentium 4 to Core Duo, supposing you were a PC user.
I have OS X running on a eee 1000h. A nice well running small netbook, but a Atom in the Mac Mini would be odd and would not have the performance you expect even from entry level desktop machine.
If this rumors pans out, its exactly the kind of gimmick product that scares me to death about letting Ive run wild. Remove the optical drive and move to a 1.8" hard drive and you could an insanely small cool looking machine. Not that useful as a computer though. There are uses for such a machine, say as an embedded OSX system or in a handheld Mac, but not a a frontline computer.
Update: We had a discussion with Kasper at AppleInsider on this detail, and according to Kasper, Apple may be using Nvidia's Ion platform for an updated Apple TV. This seems highly plausable. At this time however, neither we nor AppleInsider are absolutely sure where Apple will be using Ion, but an Nvidia partner explicitly said Apple has Ion for Mac Mini.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/15/apple_rumored_to_adopt_nvidias_ion_platform.html
Apple TV to go Ion?
It's still possible Apple will be using the Ion platform elsewhere, and a prime candidate could well be Apple TV. It currently uses a low power, 1 GHz Intel Pentium Crofton CPU, so moving to the new dual core Atom 330 and a better GPU would be an upgrade.
Apple still isn't making any money on Apple TV, with tear down reports suggesting that it sells the existing unit nearly at its materials cost. The power of the NVIDIA 9400M GPU would mean the unit no longer needs its standalone NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 GPU, but could still decode HD video.
It's also possible that Apple is targeting a new low cost, low power computer at emerging markets, and planning to leave the Apple TV and Mac mini with more evolutionary, incremental updates.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/15/apple_rumored_to_adopt_nvidias_ion_platform.html
Apple TV to go Ion?
It's still possible Apple will be using the Ion platform elsewhere, and a prime candidate could well be Apple TV. It currently uses a low power, 1 GHz Intel Pentium Crofton CPU, so moving to the new dual core Atom 330 and a better GPU would be an upgrade.
Apple still isn't making any money on Apple TV, with tear down reports suggesting that it sells the existing unit nearly at its materials cost. The power of the NVIDIA 9400M GPU would mean the unit no longer needs its standalone NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 GPU, but could still decode HD video.
It's also possible that Apple is targeting a new low cost, low power computer at emerging markets, and planning to leave the Apple TV and Mac mini with more evolutionary, incremental updates.
What am I thinking of? The Atom is embarrassed by desktop processors of the same clock speed.
Hot compared to what? They're pretty power efficient. I mean they draw less than Atom, but that's because Atom's an ancient design made for an entirely different market.
Hee hee. That's awesome. You can browse the web and edit documents on an 8088, so clearly that's all you need according to crazy people
Someone mentioned earlier that the Atom [presumably they meant the N270] costs $53. According to an Nvidia rep, the Ion/9400M would add approximately $50 to the chipset price, increase video performance by 10x from the GMA 950 and allow for playback of 1080P videos.
Yes, entry level desktop.
The mini is
- 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1GB memory 1GB memory
- 120GB hard drive
for $799.
Gee, what kind of entry PC can I get for $799?
Attachments
I guess that late 2007 AppleInsider rumor of Apple adopting Atom wasn't completely wrong after all.
Well, true for the single core Atom. I've used the Dell Atom Based hackintosh. And it's slow. Frustratingly so. Yes, I'm aware there's a latency in writes to their solid state hard drive and that may have exacerbated the sluggishness -
But even when disk i/o was likely not heavily engaged, it was a dog. I agree that the dual core Atom with an actual 3.5/7200/reasonably cached SATA drive with a floor of 2 gigs of ram might actually pull it off in conjunction with the Nvidia chipset though. Esp with a second monitor option.
But with Intel making a 1 billion dollar writeoff, and facing a sagging market, I'm hoping chip prices for the nicer Core2Duos fall enough that the mini can squeak in under the wire equipped with them, and at the margin Apple requires.
I kinda wish I wasn't selling my mac mini's now. If this ends up being true, apple will be making a big mistake....like way big....1.6GHZ netbook speeds as a desktop computer...1 word = gross.
It would indeed, but you can't sell it as a MacMini the Mini has always been if lower end a "workable" computer for CAD, Photoshop or other paid work.
Anything with an Atom in it is going to be limited great for school reports or web research. An AppleTV that can run some full apps like iWork suite (in a nice new full screen mode) would sure help them sell. Sounds like it would be perfect for the board room in the office. Add Screen Sharing so someone presenting off a laptop can hook up and it's every thing we always wanted the AppleTV to be. But really doesn't come close to being a Mini.
Sell it for $199-299 and I'll buy it. But anything more than that I would just buy the current generation mini which should be faster than the Atom.
I built a Hackintosh for my sister using the Dual Core Atom and it runs OSX really well, but it only cost me $180 for the whole computer so I don't mind it not performing better than the current mini's.
I built a Hackintosh for my sister using the Dual Core Atom and it runs OSX really well, but it only cost me $180 for the whole computer so I don't mind it not performing better than the current mini's.
$399 LOL LOL LOL
Funny how some think a cheaper simpler Mac Mini is not coming. I can't wait to see a sub $599 Mini with no Firewire and no optical drive.