Macopinion

The Core 2 Duo Mac mini vs MacBook - A Value Comparison

In last week's The Road Warrior I parsed a value comparison between the new Aluminum & Glass iMac as a "desktop substitute substitute" computer vs the MacBook.

A reader with the Web-handle of ncbill wrote to say:

I think you missed a third option - the new Mac Mini.

With a Core 2 Duo revision and upgrade to a more usable (under 10.4) 1GB RAM standard, the Mac Mini has become the "headless MacBook"

I've been very happy with my C2D MacBook, which runs circles around my old 1.33 GHz Powerbook G4.

The new Mini is the bargain at the low end for those looking to replace an aging G3 or G4 system.

It allows us to recycle keyboard, mouse, monitor, and any external peripherals we are currently using (e.g. hard drives, DVD burner)

I know when the time comes to replace my second generation eMac G4 the C2D Mac Mini will be my choice.

Good point. I didn't miss it, and the thought occurred to me back when the mini was first introduced as a G4 unit that it might be a viable alternative for folks who use their laptops mainly as desktop substitute computers. Of course, like the iMac, the mini can’t qualify as a real portable because it has no internal battery power, but with a small power inverter that costs about 30 bucks you can be good to go anywhere, say any car or RV, where you have access to 12 volt power.

The Mac mini actually has a lot more in common with the MacBook than with its desktop Mac stablemates, being not so much a "headless iMac," as a stripped-down notebook without a display or battery. For instance, the mini shares with the MacBook a 667 MHz frontside bus in contrast to the iMac's 800 MHz bus, has laptop-type 5400 RPM 2.5” hard drive, a typical laptop array of I/O ports (only more of them), a laptop-style optical drive, and the mini CPU weighs a pound and a half less than the lightest notebook Apple ever made.

So, is the Mac mini a viable laptop substitute? It depends. Not if you need a really portable computer of course. In that case get a MacBook or MacBook Pro. However, for the past decade, increasing numbers of laptops have been purchased for use mainly as desktop substitute computers that spend most of their time plugged into AC power, and frequently with an external keyboard, mouse, and even an external monitor hooked up. For mostly desktop notebook users, the “transportable” Mac mini presents as an alternative to a ‘Book.

Now, personally, I wouldn’t want to be without a real, portable laptop, but I already have several. A mini would be an excellent compliment to serve as a general-purpose workstation that’s still doesn’t take up much space and can be relatively easily moved around.

As I related last week, I traveled down this road with a G4 Cube back in 2001, and discovered that while my idea I had sounded good in theory, in practice the Cube with its satellite speakers and speaker amplifier, humongous external power supply, plus a keyboard, mouse, and display, needed about as much desktop space as my SuperMac S-900 tower. The Mac mini is much more efficiently integrated with an internal speaker, an internal power supply, and will size up quite favorably compared with a notebook on a stand connected to an external keyboard and mouse.

For me, the principal deficiency of the mini he is the lack of battery power, not so much the lack of real portability, but because I live in a rural area where power outages are fairly common. This in addition to desktop real estate occupied, was one of the reasons why I never really got comfortable with the Cube as a workhorse computer. I had become accustomed to the PowerBook’s being able to cruise through power outages seamlessly, sometimes without my even noticing that there had been a power failure until the little lightning bolt charge indicator catches my eye.

The workaround would be some sort of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and/or the aforementioned power inverter and a 12 volt automotive battery or power pack to run the mini rig off of during power interruptions. With its 2.5-inch hard drive and an LCD display, the mini should be able to run for a good long time from a portable 12 volt power source.

The problem, as I see it, is value. An 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini starts at $599, and an Apple aluminum keyboard and Mighty Mouse sets you back $98, and Apple's least expensive Cinema Display (20") a whopping $599 - the same price as the base mini itself, so you're up to $1,296, nearly $200 more than the base MacBook which has a faster Core 2 Duo processor, pretty much the same other internal specs., plus a battery, but of course a smaller 13/3" display. But a mini rig with Apple peripherals also costs $96 more than even the base 20" iMac, which also has a 20" display and comes with a faster processor, a larger capacity faster hard drive, a real ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics processor unit with 128MB of dedicated video RAM, FireWire 800, and a SuperDrive. To get a SuperDrive with a mini, you have to go with the $799 2 GHz Core 2 Duo unit. True, you can do better than those prices by shopping around for a third-party keyboard, mouse, and display, but I'll stick with comparing Apples to Apples for the purposes of this article.

On the other hand, if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse (Apple or otherwise), as ncbill notes, the mini can be a sensible way to upgrade your system to Core 2 Duo performance.

That said, given Apple's evident indifference to the mini, the question is begged as to its future. Rumors of mini's demise proved exaggerated on August 7 when Apple quietly updated the mini with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs at the time of the Alu-Glass iMac's release, without even a press release heralding the refresh, which will keep the tiniest Mac on life support for a while yet at least.

The mini's petite 2-inch-tall, 6.5-inch-square anodized aluminum form factor remained essentially unchanged, with the main difference from the previous version being the new Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.83 or 2.0 GHz replacing the former 1.66 GHz or 1.83 GHz Core Duo units. Level 2 on-chip cache has been bumped from 2MB or 4MB. Even though the new CPUs only have a 8%-10% faster nominal clock speed, Apple says the updates make the Mac mini up to 39% faster on its benchmark scale compared with the preceding models, The Core 2 Duo chip is more efficient than the Core Duo, with a 128-bit SSE3 vector engine, which can handle twice the amount of data per cycle as the erstwhile Core Duo(64 bits), and the doubled Level 2 cache. Consequently, a real-world performance boost of 20% - 30 % should be achievable, so it's a substantial improvement over the previous models.

However, the mini's (and the MacBook"s) most serious performance compromise is its Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics support that that annexes up to 80 MB of the computer's system RAM for video support. This cost-reducing scheme, disparagingly referred to by some as "vampire video," results in comparatively pedestrian video performance.

Mac mini Build To Order options include 120 or 160 GB hard drives; Apple's Mighty Mouse and new super-thin aluminum keyboard (in either case wired or wireless). A freestanding modem will siphon another $49 from your wallet and eat up one of the USB ports. A$19 DVI to Video Adapter facilitates connecting the Mac mini to most TVs.

While the Core 2 Duo Mac mini is a respectable performer, especially compared with a MacBook, personally, I find it hard to make an economic case for buying a mini compared with a low-end iMac or even a MacBook unless you already have a good monitor and input devices and just want it for a CPU module upgrade. The mini doesn't really doesn't compete with its iMac sibling on a value per dollar basis if you have to buy a monitor and input devices.


Mac mini and 13" MacBook Specifications And Features Compared

Processor

Mac mini
1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2MB on-chip L2 cache
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4MB on-chip L2 cache

MacBook
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2MB on-chip L2 cache
2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4MB on-chip L2 cache

System Bus

Mac mini
667 MHz front-side system bus

MacBook
667 MHz front-side system bus

Memory Config and Support

Mac mini
1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM on two SO-DIMMs; expandable to 2GB

MacBook
1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB

Hard Drives (Standard)

Mac mini
80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm
120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm

MacBook
80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor
120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor

Optical Drives

Mac mini
Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
or
Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW): writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 2.4x speed, writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed, writes DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs at up to 4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed

MacBook
Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
or
Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer read support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW): writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs at up to 4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed

Display

Mac mini
none

MacBook
13.3-inch glossy widescreen TFT active-matrix liquid crystal display
1280 x 800 pixels

Graphics Support

Mac mini
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (annexes RAM from system memory for graphics support) - Minimum graphics memory usage is 80MB, resulting in 944MB of system memory available

MacBook
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (annexes RAM from system memory for graphics support) - Minimum graphics memory usage is 80MB, resulting in 944MB of system memory available

I/O Ports

Mac mini
One FireWire 400 port
Four USB 2.0 ports

MacBook
Two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port
Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);

Video Out Support

Mac mini
DVI output; VGA output (using included adapter); S-video and composite video output

MacBook
Mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately)

Audio

Mac mini
Built-in speakers, combined optical digital audio input/audio line in, combined optical digital audio output/headphone out

MacBook
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in omnidirectional microphone
Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack)
Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack)
Audio line in (minijack)

Ethernet

Mac mini
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

MacBook
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Modem

Mac mini
None - Works with 56K V.92 Apple USB Modem (sold separately)

MacBook
None - Works with 56K V.92 Apple USB Modem (sold separately)

Wireless networking

Mac mini
Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11g)
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module

MacBook
Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme wireless networking (based on 802.11g standard)
Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) up to 3 Mbps

Battery

Mac mini
None

MacBook
55-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery with integrated charge indicator

Size and Weight

Mac mini
Height: 5.08 cm (2 inches)
Width: 16.51 cm (6.5 inches)
Depth: 16.51 cm (6.5 inches)
Weight: 1.31 kg (2.9 pounds)


MacBook
Height: 1.08 inches (2.75 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.92 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 5.2 pounds (2.36 kg)

Bundled Software

iMac
Mac OS X v10.4.10 Tiger (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools)
iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand), Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, iWork (30-day trial), and Apple Hardware Test
Front Row

MacBook
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools)
iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand), iWork '08 (30-day trial),
Big Bang Board Games, Comic Life, Omni Outliner, and Apple Hardware Test
Front Row
Photo Booth


***



cmoore@macopinion.com


Provisionally, you can access The Road Warrior Archive to Jan. 16, 2006 by clicking here.

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM