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March 4, 2006

Intel Core Duo Mac Mini: The First 96 Hours

Back in January, when the new Intel iMac and MacBook Pro machines were introduced, I wrote a post ("Why I'm Not Buying A MacBook Pro") that laid out the reasons it made sense (for me) to skip this first generation of Intel-equipped Macs, and wait for the next generation.

In the intervening months, however, I've had occasion to play with the new iMacs (they're damn fast), and the Mac blogosphere has exploded with people raving about the performance of their newly-arrived MacBooks. Performance of Universal binary games, for example, seem to be off the charts. (And personally, Safari on the new dual-core Intel machines is the fastest Web browser I've ever used. Period.) All this has made me very curious to see what an Intel machine would run like in the real world.

So this Tuesday, when Apple introduced the new Mac Minis with Intel Core Duo processors, well, it seemed like a perfect way to dip the 'ol toe in the Intel waters without breaking the bank. So Richard and I invested in a coff! test unit coff! to see what the damn things are like.

(Yeah, I backslid a bit. Mea culpa.)

First thing's first: for $800 the Mini is loaded: 1.66ghz dual-core Intel processor, 512 MB of RAM, 80 GB drive, 802.11g, Bluetooth, dual-layer DVD burner, and an Apple IR remote control for FrontRow. (More on that last one in a minute.)

How fast are these new machines, relative to the current PowerPC iron? Well, the benchmarks are coming in fast and furious from the various Mac fan sites, but I thought I'd share the findings from one specific test that Richard and I have conducted.

We use GarageBand to record Confab and Podcasting Liberally, and we generally record six people for an hour, which results in roughly 1.5GB of raw audio. To turn that raw audio into a Podcast, we export to iTunes from GarageBand, at which point the software does two things: it mixes the six channels down to one, and then converts that one file to AAC. This tends to take a long time on my 1.67-ghz PowerBook, so we stacked up the new Mac Mini against my current stuff:

I've got just two words on this, and they are "Holy" and "Crap".

(Now, if they'd just release a Universal Binary of Roller Coaster Tycoon...)

The other thing I've had a chance to play with is FrontRow. It's slick, but it's not "done" yet, as near as I can tell. Yes, it's nifty to be able to kick back on my couch, browsing through my music or photo collections (or playing a DVD). But the product just doesn't feel very polished - it's not as fast as it should be, and seems to pause or stop at odd times. Furthermore, the remote control feels cheap, and its pushbutton interface is clunky for driving long lists of pictures or music. Apple really ought to implement a remote with a scroll wheel, much like the iPod has, and move to something with a little more heft.

Overall, though, the new Mini ROCKS. I'll share more as I learn about it.

Posted by Gavin Shearer at March 4, 2006 6:36 PM. Posted to Apple.

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