Apple’s made some cool changes to its most affordable computer.
Per Macminicolo and Mac mini vault, a series of teardowns and benchmark tests of Apple’s newly released Mac mini, finding that the small format desktop’s performance is approaching that of legacy Xserves and 2010’s Mac Pro.
Announced on Tuesday at a special event, the new Mac mini is largely seen as an incremental update from last year’s model as it doesn’t feature a new design like the super thin iMac, however the internal upgrades are substantial enough to significantly boost the tiny computer’s performance.
The company noted in a blog post that the most substantial additions to the new machine are Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors and the option to configure up to 16GB of 1600MHz RAM straight from Apple. The entry-level offering now comes with 4GB of memory, which was found to be a major improvement as the previous 2GB standard configuration was just barely enough to run OS X Mountain Lion.
Also of note is Apple’s new Fusion Drive, a hybrid device that uses a solid state drive to maximize read/write times and an HDD to maintain high storage capacity. As Fusion is only offered on the mid-tier Mac mini, Macminicolo believes the US$799 model will be the most popular out of the lineup.
The firm performed a Geekbench benchmark test of the new unit, and found its score to be expectedly superior to previous models.
During the teardown, the companies found that not much has changed besides a different fan design, the move to Hitachi HDDs, and updated antenna connections.
The company also performed an identical Geekbench test, and found that its out-of-the box unit running OS X 10.8.1 (Build 12B2080) scored 7433, compared to a 2011 Mac mini updated to OS X 10.8.2, which scored 6583.
Apple’s new Mac mini is already for sale and starts with a standard $599 configuration powered by an Intel 2.5GHz dual-core i5 chip, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. The most expensive Mac mini comes with OS X Mountain Lion Server, a 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of memory, Two 1TB HDDs and Intel HD 4000 graphics.
If you’ve snagged a newly-released 2012 Mac mini and have any feedback to offer about the unit, please let us know in the comments section.
One reply on “2012 Mac mini teardown, benchmark results revealed”
After waiting for months for an update, I can honestly say it was worth the wait! Way more powerful than my previous PC (I’m a convert since purchasing my iPhone and iPad). I went for the 2.3 quad core i7, standard, off the shelf model. I am planning on upgrading the ram soon though as the onboard graphics is eating it when playing games. I’m not prepared to pay the extortionate price that apple want for ram as I can get it way cheaper and is a simple job to change on the mini. I can honestly say the unit is practically silent even when accessing the HDD and takes up no space at all. If you we’re considering buying one, then, get the best you can afford if you want to play games, albeit you won’t be playing on high settings, as the processor and ram will vastly effect the performance of the graphics chip. In my opinion the fusion drive is overpriced as the boot up time and data read/write times of the standard drive is more than sufficient for someone considering buying one.