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March 3, 2006

hardware

What’s up with the integrated Intel graphics chipset on the Intel Mac Mini?

Posted Mar. 3, ’06, 12:04 PM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Hardware

Mac Mini So after the discussion about the new Mac Mini’s possibly not-so-good video capabilities. Macworld Senior News Editor Jonathan Seff interviewed Apple’s Senior Director of Desktops, Tom Boger, to find out what was up:

Unlike the previous models, which included ATI Radeon 9200 graphics with 32MB of dedicated DDR RAM, the new mini uses Intel’s GMA950 graphics core, which doesn’t include its own graphics memory—instead, it shares its RAM with the Mac mini’s main memory. Because of this, many people have been calling the new mini’s graphics a ‘downgrade’ from the last model.

Boger said the new graphics are actually a significant upgrade from the Mac mini, and pointed out that the GMA950 is programmable, allowing the Mac mini to support Tiger’s Core Image features for the first time. For example, when you add a widget in Dashboard, you’ll see the ripple effect on these new systems, and it simply wasn’t there on the previous Mac mini models.


7 Comments

Marcilio Crog said:

Still, benchmarks performed by MacInTouch reveal that OpenGL Hardware performance in the Mini Intel are much poorer than the Mini G4.

March 3, 2006 12:41 PM
Paul Joannides said:

regarding the comment from Marcilio Crog, I'm not so sure where you get the "much poorer" idea. For instance, here's the findings of the administrator at 123macmini.com (http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4066):
I put together a few benchmarks comparing a 1.4GHz G4 Mac mini to the new 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac mini. So far, I've been able to compare the two with Xbench, Geekbench, and Cinebench. I haven't had a chance to test our 1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini yet, but based on the numbers, the new Intel-based Mac are looking good. On another note, I've received some mail asking about boot times for the new minis. I can report that the new 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac mini boots up in 28 seconds. My 1.42GHz G4 Mac mini takes around 46 seconds.

March 3, 2006 1:29 PM
Paul Joannides said:

Again, this would be regarding the Mini Duo, not the single core:
(from http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4063)

2) OpenGL Benchmarks
185.87 vs. 75.94 = 144% increase over previous mini with 9200 graphics
from http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=12974

3) XBench Benchmarks
Duo beats previous 9200 graphics mini in almost every graphics test
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=158732&doc2=146457

March 3, 2006 1:40 PM
Oliver said:

Should we really believe anything apple says?

For years they discredited intel chips, only to do a 180 degree turn and make the switch. That's slightly forgivable considering the advancements intel have made recently regarding power consumption etc..

But when the Mac mini came out one of the 'features' that set it apart from other low cost systems was that it didn't use integrated graphics. Until Tuesday this info was still up on the Mac mini site. Now we are told integrated graphics are somehow better..???

March 3, 2006 1:48 PM
Dan Author Profile Page said:

But Apple's always been at war with Motorola and IBM. Don't you remember?

March 3, 2006 2:21 PM
Angel of Truth said:

The Intel Mac Mini, same old story, the slowest computer for the highest price. I stopped trusting Apple since they touted their G5 as the fastest computer in the world. And let's not even talk about the iPod, at least 5 years behind the rest of the mp3 players and it hasn't even got an FM radio! Apple's only good product is "marketing". As long as Bill Gates continues to produce mediocre versions of Windows, the Mac Mini which BTW can't even run your software properly, will sale just not very much.

March 3, 2006 4:18 PM
Marcilio Crog said:

Paul, you have a point. Thanks for the clarification. I may change my mind about these minis...

March 3, 2006 7:51 PM

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