silence , 2 questionz

[mithun914]

2 questions

1)How silent is the mac mini ( core 2 duo)..... is it as silent as my current 24 inch core 2 duo Imac ( the white Imac)??

Because am planning on getting it as secondary computer, for my sis, but would of-course like it to be as silent as my imac, i don't mind if it gets hot , but asking cause such a little box, hope it's not too loud.

2) When i upgrade to leopard, it's gonna be using the 64-bit processing power and all, but does that mean that the chip will be hotter , and my imac fans will run louder?

 

[Makosuke]

I haven't seen one of the new Core2 minis in person, but based on my experience with an older Core duo mini compared to Core Duo iMacs and Core2 Duo iMacs, it'll be at least as quiet.

Even running full-bore, the fan is pretty darned quiet, and under normal use it's VERY quiet--quieter, in my experience, than the iMac in fact.

It probably helps that the mini probably won't be right next to your face--the fact that the cooling fans on the iMac are by definition within arms reach behind the screen makes it seem somewhat louder than it otherwise would. The mini can be a few feet away easily, in which case you'd probably never even hear it.

Also, it's clocked significantly lower than the iMacs, which helps.

As for Leopard, while the eye candy MIGHT hit the GPU and CPU harder resulting in somewhat louder fan operation (I'm still betting it'll be very quiet), the 64-bit-ness won't have anything to do with it. That's related to memory addressing, so it won't be working any "harder" in any case, and if anything with a 64-bit-optimized app (which there are few of, since most apps see no benefit from it) it will probably be a little less stressed.

32 vs 64-bit isn't like, say, running twice as many cylinders in a car's engine--it's totally different.