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Intel Mac mini Q&A - Revised August 10, 2007
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How fast is the Mac mini "Core Solo/Core Duo" compared to the Mac mini G4?
Please note that all systems mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. The Mac mini "Core Solo/Core Duo" models were replaced by the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" line.
In a balanced review that should be read in its entirety, the always faithful MacWorld compared the Mac mini "Core Solo" 1.5 and the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.66 to the Mac mini G4/1.25 and Mac mini G4/1.42 that each replaced. Regarding the "real-world" speed of the Intel-based systems compared to their PowerPC-based predecessors, the author states that:
Our standard rendering test, using the Universal Cinema 4D XL application, was nearly twice as fast on the Core Duo model as on the Core Solo mini, and even the Solo shaved 91 seconds off the time it took the [Mac mini G4] 1.42 GHz to perform the test--a speed boost of almost 34 percent. The Core Duo performed equally well in our iMovie filtering and iTunes encoding tests, whereas the Core Solo model clocked speeds in-between or worse than the previous minis in those tests.
Apple's Rosetta translation technology works very well on the new minis, but there is a significant speed hit. In our Adobe Photoshop CS2 test suite, for example, both models performed much slower than even the [Mac mini G4] 1.25 GHz, taking 51 percent longer (Core Duo) and 117 percent longer (Core Solo) to complete their tasks.
For readers who are not already familiar with the "Rosetta" translator that allows programs written for a PowerPC-based Mac to run on an Intel-based Mac, it may be worthwhile to read the answer to "What is Rosetta? What does it support?" in the "Macintel" Q&A.
Although, as noted elsewhere in the Mac mini "Core" Q&A, the Mac mini is not intended to be a "hardcore" gaming system, MacWorld notes the following regarding their performance:
When it comes to graphics-intensive 3-D games, our tests of the Intel-native version of Unreal Tournament showed disappointing frame rates of 12.2 per second for the Core Duo and 10.4 per second for the Core Solo--compared with 14.5 and 13.9 for the [Mac mini G4] 1.42 GHz, and the [Mac mini G4] 1.25 GHz, respectively. But during casual game play, when we used the lower settings that are more suited for the mini, we got decent performance from the game.
When we tested the Universal version of Nanosaur II, which takes advantage of the fast Intel processors, we found frame rates increased by roughly 33 percent over the previous Mac minis.
MacWorld also reviewed the second revision of the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.66 and the Mac mini "Core Duo" 1.83. Although the publication did not compare the speed of the 1.83 GHz model to the G4-based systems, the author stated that:
The new [1.83 GHz] model was generally 10 to 15 percent faster than its [1.66 GHz] predecessor on Macworld Lab's battery of application tests. Its overall score of 165 in our Speedmark test suite makes it the fastest Mac mini yet, but it's noticeably slower than the iMac line.
Ultimately, the Intel-based iMac models and MacBook Pro tend to be faster than their immediate predecessors when running Universal applications, but slower when running older applications optimized for the PowerPC. However, compared to the PowerPC-based Mac mini G4, the Intel-based Mac mini "Core Solo/Core Duo" models are faster performing some tasks and slower performing others even when running "native" software designed for the system.
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