How comparable are mac minis to macbook airs?

gameover · 12 May 2011 at 02:38

Hi,
I have the latest 13" macbook air (fully upgraded when i bought it - 2.13ghz/4gb ram) and love it - and want a desktop one...

how comparable are the mini macs (performance wise)?

a 2.66 ghz mac mini comes to 800 with 4gb ram, which is obviously faster, but whats it like without the ssd hdd (don't fancy a 2k purchase of a mac pro)?

Hatter The Mad · 12 May 2011 at 02:53

It will feel a lot slower than the Macbook Air with an SSD when it comes to things like starting up, loading applications, reading large files.

"andy" · 12 May 2011 at 03:23

i wouldnt really say 'a lot' slower

its still fast , just not as fast SSD , you could always put one in it...

Hatter The Mad · 12 May 2011 at 03:25

"andy" said:
i wouldnt really say 'a lot' slower

its still fast , just not as fast SSD , you could always put one in it...

Having owned both, it will be a lot slower for the stuff I described

"andy" · 12 May 2011 at 03:35

how long do you spend opening applications and booting osx though ? when i went SSD on my macbook yea it was faster but i never really felt it was worth the cost

for casual use in the home , browsing etc i just cant ever imagine anyone getting frustrated enough to wish they got a mac pro

gameover · 12 May 2011 at 03:57

I'm temped to just get a dvi cable and hook my macbook to my main display. Suppose its 70 quid to see if it works fast enough rather than £500-800.

i think i just prefer os x than windows.

"andy" · 12 May 2011 at 04:02

£70 ? dont you just need a displayport adaptor ?

gameover · 12 May 2011 at 04:04

for two monitors

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter is £70 from the official store

MacRS4 · 12 May 2011 at 11:04

My 2009 Mac Mini with a Crucial M225 driving a 24" Cinema Display feels very similar to my 4Gb/1.6Ghz 2010 Air.

The SSD makes *all* the difference to the air, and the mini.

MacRS4 · 12 May 2011 at 11:05

Hatter The Mad said:
Having owned both, it will be a lot slower for the stuff I described

Currently owning both, I'll confirm that. Mac Mini + normal SATA feels like sludge next to my 2010 Air.

MuGeN · 12 May 2011 at 13:55

My Macbook Air was my first SSD and there certainly is no grey area for me, its mind numbingly fast when it comes to day-to-day operation when compared to my fairly top-end iMac with its standard HDD...

Every new mac I get from now on will always have the SSD option ticked

- Really couldn't care less about space all my photo and video files are on a portable 1TB hdd along with my iTunes library... everything else is in the cloud so I simply don't need space