MacMini 2014 i7 - shouldn't it be faster?

[Giuanniello]

I am quite happy with my new used bought MacMini, it's an i7 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD from 2014, it all works smooth but I noticed on some tasks, like converting videos, that my way older 2011 15" MBPro with an i7 CPU, 16GB and 1TB SSD does it better.

For the sake of curiosity I run the GeekBench test and results confirm my impressions, no software was running during tests but still results are not on par on expectations nor on the usual standards for this category of Mini, any hints what could it be and how to speed things up?

Grazie

 

[Stephen.R]

The i7 MBPs from 2011 are quad core, the 2014 Mac mini had only dual core i7s.

 

[Giuanniello]

You are right, the old MBPro is still a beast and I forgot its cpu being a quad core, I will wait a little before upgrading to a newer Mini, in the meantime it will serve well, all I need it for is normal home activity and as archive for my photography hobby, it's about 90K pics and the editing is not an intensive task, the 16GB and SSD serve well the purpose.

Grazie

 

[Boyd01]

A few years ago I made a choice between the same 2014 i7 Mini that you have and a used 2012 i7/2.6ghz quad. I went with the 2012 because the quad core processor is about 50% faster than the 2014 i7. That makes a big difference ripping video in Handbrake or rendering in Final Cut Pro.

However, I'm a bit surprised that there isn't much difference between the geekbench score of your 3.0 ghz i7 Mini and the 2014 2.8ghz i5 Mini. But I suppose that isn't enough to be noticeable for typical tasks. Anyway, it should be fine for most things, unless you start working with video. I also have a 2014 2.8ghz i5 Mini, but only use it for an iTunes server which is not very demanding.