• Happy holidays, folks! Thanks to each and every one of you for being part of the Tom's Hardware community!

Apple Mac Mini Based on Nvidia Ion

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
this is great news. i wanted to buy a mac mini to get a taste of the mac world but i didnt wanna pay almost $700 for a really slow computer. hopefully the ion platform will also reduce the production costs.
 
Wait...wouldn't moving to an atom processor be a huge step BACKWARDS in performance?


p.s the comments are screwed up, im logged in but i still have to comment as anonymous?
 
Wait...wouldn't moving to an atom processor be a huge step BACKWARDS in performance?!


p.s the comment system is screwed up. im logged in, but down at the comment field i still have to comment as anon.
 
I just bought a mac mini with 2GHz core2duo and it's cool.

I most certainly would NOT buy a mac mini with an Atom inside. What are Apple thinking?

Netbook without a screen?
 
I agree with Tipoo and Dude2000, Taking the atom into the mini would be step back in performance of the system. But if they do this, then the system would/could be smaller and use less power. I personally think that its a dumb idea, but for the time being, people(at least some) seem to think that they don't want or need a full computer, and just need something like a thin client. Now, for a lot of people they really don't need a full computer. E-mail and web would be fine. But for the rest of us, we would like the mini to work well as desktop, home server, security server, etc
 
Yeah, I don't get it. Wouldn't using an Atom CPU be a huge step down in performance from a Core 2 Duo?

So better GPU, worse CPU?
 
Oh, and I forgot."An Nvidia partner confirmed to us that Apple was the first to receive samples of Nvidia's Ion platform," that does not mean "Confirmed: Apple Mac Mini Based on Nvidia Ion." Those are two different things. It could happen, but its not Confirmed.
 
The atom 330 intel sells for $43 dollars to oem in a thousand chip shipments.
The intel dual core e5200 soon (Jan 18, 09) will be sold for $67 dollars to oems in thousand chips shipments.

Now the atom is a little bit cheaper, will require less power, can do a smaller case, etc but I think Mac is sacrificing too much for a mac mini by putting an atom in it at the $500 to $700 price point. Seriously for $25 more dollars Apple can have a cpu that is 3 times faster.

----

Now if the new mac mini is $499 it is a different story.
 
Yea I compleatly agree the choice to switch to the Atom processor is the wrong one here. I do like seeing improved graphics out of the Mac Mini the Intel 945 sucks. I can barley output 720p video on a Mac Mini despite having the horsepower to do it. I also don't see this as a logical step in terms of 64-bit compatibility. As far as I knew the Atom chips didn't support 64-bit instructions. So what will a Mac Mini with 4gb on memory do now?
 
FFS, Change the title of the article.

This in no way confirms the ion in the mac mini, I highly doubt they would take the mini and drastically reduce the performance. If anything it points to a mac netbook, or a new model altogether, perhaps a 'Mac Nano' or something in a smaller case with a lower price tag.
More likely that the mini will get a revamp later this year and keep the Core2 and gain the 9400M to bring it in line with the rest of the range.
 
Disappointing, I was hoping for an option for a low power quad core, and a motherboard capable of taking up to 8GB (2x4GB) of (aftermarket) ram.
 
> I also don't see this as a logical step in terms of 64-bit compatibility.
> As far as I knew the Atom chips didn't support 64-bit instructions.

The 230 and 330 atom desktop models actually do support x86-64 instructions, so it will run 64-bit just fine. Since a lot of the horsepower of the old mini would have been used to play catch-up to the weak graphics chipset I think we'll see the benchmarks indicating that this machine is overall a quicker device.

Yes the CPU benchmarks will say otherwise though. I for one look forward to seeing these new minis.
 
Did Apple not say they wanted to start using the GPU for general use computing? maybe this will bring it into line.

This thing "may" be faster then the specs lead on. Not that I would ever buy one without seeing benchmarks.
 
I'd definitely love to see some benchmarks of the ion vs Atom230/330!!
 
er.. so this is highly stupid. it will be 9400M based *but with a Core 2 Duo CPU*, just like the MacBook.
 
Apple, the nVidia Ion platform is great for the Mac mini, but what is ALSO needed is:

- A midTOWER with quadcore and 1.5TB 3.5-inch 7200 rpm inside (no need for PCI slots).

- An iTablet with full Mac OS X (not just OS X) inside and no more than 300-400g for full blown presentations via VGA-out port.
 
My question is: How would Snow Leopard / openCL on a Atom 330/Ion based mini(2cpu cores, 16gpu cores) compare to Leopard w/out openCL and a Core2Duo/gma950 mac mini?

I'd be interested to see how much worse off the openCL enabled system would fare. If it's everything it's cracked up to be, I don't think the performance hit would be as bad as everyone is making out... But then, that would depend on just about every app being ported to using "grand central", which I'm pretty sure won't happen overnight...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom