While we might have some doubts about the mini's performance, its power efficiency is highly encouraging. We hooked both the X1700 and the mini to a power meter and tested both systems' consumption at idle with a few basic apps open, and under load while playing Quake 4.
Happily, our results fell in line with Apple's claims. When the system is powered on but idle, the mini used only 15.4W, compared to the X1700's 70.9W. The mini also saved a relatively large amount of energy under load, consuming only 28.3W during our Quake 4 session, as opposed to the X1700's 95.6W. We're still refining our power-consumption testing, and we have some concerns about accuracy at low wattages, but, with such a large gap, we feel comfortable in saying that, compared with other low-cost systems, we expect you'll save money on your electricity bill with the mini.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
Rendering Multiple CPUs | |
Rendering Single CPU |
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
|
Load | |
Idle |
Conclusion
The new Apple Mac mini retains its distinctive appearance, cramming plenty of features into its space-saving chassis. While the multitasking performance of this impressively energy-efficient machine is good, similarly priced PC rivals offer better overall performance and greater flexibility.
Additional editing by Charles Kloet
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russtafa 17 February 2010
Good: Fits perfectly in to my way of working
Bad: Mobile Me as per above the webmail is USELESS and complain to Apple about this EVERY WEEK!!!
Comment: This "links' in perfectly to the Apple product line. If you are like me and always on the go then I have a Mac Pro at home and a Mac Pro at the main office then where I occasionally work a Mac Mini is about perfect for me. You see I used to use Small Business Server 2003 and used Sharepoint as my central repository. Now I have MobileMe and use my iDisk EVERY day then I want to access it EVERYWHERE. So having Macs in each location for me makes my life totally productive and access to ALL MY STUFF
365/24/7 without the chore of logging in to the sharepoint.Of course I can access ny iDisk on my iPhone which is great when out on the road
So the Mac Mini is a great form factor and if you have Monitor and Keyboard etc at your idifferent locations can pack it up in your rucksack (yes I bike it around) and I much prefer this to notebooks which I have used in the past HP/Dell the list goes on and on what a waste of money that lot was!! Do not like netbooks either not a good solution
I believe if Apple get the MacMini OSX server + associated hardware for small offices sorted then linked in to a central iDisk "Cloud" they are on to a certain winner, BUT with simple setup advice for non technical people.
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