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jeffryscott · Mar 8, 2006, 09:20 AM

posted this in mac mods also:

Anybody have any sense of speed comparisons between a G4 tower, upgraded to a dual 1.8 and the new dual core mini?

I'm thinking of upgrading my dual 500 to the 1.8's, but for the price of the upgrade, and selling the tower I could buy a new dual core mini.

thanks, jeff

Todd Madson · Mar 8, 2006, 09:56 AM

Depends -
-do you need classic? Won't work on the mini.
-do you have a large investment in ppc software? runs at reduced speed on the mini.

Positives about the mini with coreduo:
-dual core processing and a faster bus than the G4 machine.
-front row functionality.
-should go quite fast with universal binaries.

Possible downsides re: the mini:
-see the ars technica review of the coresolo mini -
higher resolution video bogged that machine down - integrated video issues?
-shared memory with the video card.

They compared it against various G4s and an iMac G5 as well as the
MacBook Pro and new iMac I believe.

Try one out for yourself and see.

jeffryscott · Mar 8, 2006, 10:50 AM

I know all the pluses and minuses software wise, just curious about speed as all the comparisons of the dual core mini are to single processor G4s. I had a Cube upgraded to 1.5 and it was much snappier than a 1.42 mini, so I'm just curious.

iREZ · Mar 8, 2006, 11:36 AM

cube was probably snappier due to the hard drive that was in the g4 mini's. although the mini is no tower replacement, i wouldnt hesitate taking the mini over expanding your current machine. the mini's apparently have a 7200rpm drive in them as well, im not sure to the validity of that statement but 5400rpm is a given, thats still a big boost over the 4200rpm drives in the earlier minis. based on the various benchmarks ive seen/read, it appears that the duo core aint too shabby and if you havent noticed, ppc architecture is on its way out the door (im not saying ppc is crap, just sayin in 2 years time you wont hear about too many of them still chugging along doing intensive stuff). you wanting to know which is a faster proc is kind of a challenge to answer, where itunes and imovie will probably run faster than the 1.8, when it comes to illustrator and photoshop it will not, so which is exactly faster? but again id like to reiterate, if you NEED a new comp now, go with the mini if you could wait, see what towers are offered :shrug:

MacOS-Fan · Mar 16, 2006, 08:35 PM

I can't really compare mine to a 1.8 Dual G4 (upgrade) but I can give you a very definite comparison to a QuickSilver 1GHz Dual G4 with 1.5 GB of RAM. That is what my new CoreDuo Mini replaced. I can definitely say that the Mini is faster than my Tower. The ONLY thing that I can honestly say that my Tower was better at is 3D gaming. I however didn't buy it to play games on, that is what my PS2 and 55" HDTV are for. I am very impressed with my new Mini and can say that it is ONE OF the quickest Macs that I have spent any time on.

Hope this helps

MacOS-Fan · Mar 16, 2006, 08:36 PM

Just FYI, all of the Intel Mini hard drives are 5400rpm's.

mountainash · Mar 24, 2006, 09:32 AM

@ iREZ, MacOS-Fan 5400rpm 2.5" drives are like 7200rpm 3.5" drives,

@ jeffreyscott Upgrade the G4. It has a year more in it at least. Although, for the price of a dual 1.8GHz upgrade, it might make more sense to get a G5. If you must upgrade, then check out dual 1.4GHz upgrades with level 3 cache. They are probably faster for what you are doing.

The Mac mini is nice, but not quite a workstation. The lack of Intel native apps, the integrated video, the poor upgradability, make it less than it could be.

Try for a G5 (sell the old G4, and get a used G5), and if that doesn't work for you, upgrade the G4 or even upgrade to a newer G4 like the MDD or QS 2002. Speed comes from CPU, memory, system bus, graphics card, and HDD. Roughly in that order.