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Abbas · Mar 28, 2006, 12:02 AM

I purchased the Core Solo Mini and upgraded the RAM to 2GB. From what I know, the extra $200 spent on the 2GB RAM instead of the Dual Core CPU is a more significant upgrade. Here are some of my observations:

1) I have to use MSN Messenger and Entourage as I sync with an Exchange server. Both these apps are running under Rosetta. When they're minimized, CPU usage is next to nothing- 1-2% for both. When Entorage becomes active, I can see a jump to 30-40%, sometimes even 60%.. Messenger can also hike upto 40-50%..

2) Having both of the above mentioned apps minimized and Using Camino or Safari- both Universal apps. If I have 3-4 tabs open in either of these browsers, CPU usage goes upto 40-50%. I would think that Universals should use lesser CPU cycle. Sure the Core Solo is 1.5GHz but thats not too bad. Sometimes, it becomes so slow that the browses freezes while swithching between tabs and/or scrolling on pages- especially with Flash.

My MBP is on the way and I should (hopefully) have it in the next couple of days. I will also upgrade he RAM on it to 2GB which will then show me how big of a differenceis between the Core Solo 1.5 and Dual Core 1.83.

SWFan · Mar 28, 2006, 05:16 PM

In regards to #2, have you checked the sites you're browsing? My guess is a couple of the sites either have some fancy Java or Ajax stuff going on, or they have some onerous adware running. I've had ads on eBay chew up large chucks of cpu cycles before.

jasong · Mar 28, 2006, 06:38 PM

For #1, you can use iChat with an MSN Jabber gateway instead of the MSN client. That will give you an Intel native app in place of a PowerPC one. Just google iChat MSN for instructions. Entourage is kind of a resource hog, but that does sound excessive. Have you updated to the latest version (the one with spotlight integration), the bug fixes may help you out here.

Please do check back with differences between the core solo and duo, as I am not sure which mini I want to buy.

Abbas · Mar 28, 2006, 10:53 PM

Whats strange is that ony my Sony VAIO (1.8GHz Centrino with 1GB RAM), I could have lots of tabs opens and not see the unresponsiveness that I see on the Core Solo with 2GB.

-a

Originally Posted by SWFan

In regards to #2, have you checked the sites you're browsing? My guess is a couple of the sites either have some fancy Java or Ajax stuff going on, or they have some onerous adware running. I've had ads on eBay chew up large chucks of cpu cycles before.

Abbas · Mar 31, 2006, 02:18 AM

After using the Dual Core MPB for about a week with similarly configured RAM (2GB), I havent really noticed much difference between a solo and dual core setup. Keep in mind that the MBP is also 330MHz faster per core. Sure, it is a bit snappier, but I would say that a lot of that is related to the 128MB dedicated VRAM. Video performance is noticeably faster.

I use my Mac for standard stuff- Web Browing, Office, MSN, iTunes, FTP, VLC/Quicktime and some Photoshop. Maybe the second core will help with other applications for my use, a single core shouldnt produce much higher performance than dual core.

TheTraveller · Mar 31, 2006, 12:33 PM

My Mac Mini Dual Core tends to bog down a bit (with 2 GB of RAM, even) when I'm running multipe PowerPC apps - which is most of the time. Usually this just happens when I switch between these applications, the rest of the time everything is pretty darn snappy. I have noticed that on web pages with Flash it will definitely hiccup tabbing between web pages on Camino, etc.