Mac Mini Core 2 Duo Review - Performance

The Mac Mini represents an engineering miracle that forced the technicians from Cupertino to try to adapt in order to reach the best performance possible, while keeping a very small size and a reasonable price. Even if many people complain about its limited graphic performance and the optical unit’s capability, there’s a reason why the Mac Pro and other professional computers are as big as they are. Due to the high performance requirements, these computers tend to heat more often, hence, the need for more space, more cooling fans and a higher cost. The Mac Mini is, thus, the result of a balance on costs, performances, size and limitations.

Looking at the results obtained frm tests, it’s noticeable that the Core 2 Duo offered a noticeable enhancement in the most demanding tasks. In the test done with Photoshop, for example, the Mac Mini 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo has resulted 19% faster than the previous Mini model.

The integrated Intel graphic card, however, doesn’t support the most demanding videogames, for example, those from Electronic Arts developed especially for the Mac Intel. Even other games for Mac, such as Doom 3, don’t reach even an average performance. It doesn’t mean, however, that the Mac Mini doesn’t support games, but users must settle for those titles that have few 3D effects.