orchard apple tree ’s update to its iMac job Wednesday grabbed most of the attending — inaugurate a 24 - in model and supercede the twofold - heart and soul chip with anext - generation processorthat promises increased performance and lower power use of goods and services tends to grab the fair newspaper headline - author ’s orb . But so far as I ’m have-to doe with , the more noteworthy development could be found with Apple ’s “ Oh yeah … this too ” announcement — the changes to the Mac mini melodic phrase .
In cause you were preoccupied with mull over the imposing sight of an iMac with a 24 - column inch display , here ’s a brief sum-up of what Apple did to its Mac mini offerings . The $ 799 model now die hard on a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo chip , up from the 1.66GHz duple - Congress of Racial Equality central processing unit that used to power the desktop . More significant , the ingress - level Mac mini that used to feature a 1.5GHz Core Solo processor has been encounter to a 1.66GHz Core Duo fleck . That means that every Intel - based desktop and laptop computer sold by Apple now admit a dual - core processor ( ormultipledual - core CPU in the case of the Mac Pro ) .
I think ditch the single - core C.P.U. is a very deliberate determination on Apple ’s part . If you register Jason Snell ’s review of the Mac Pro , you ’ll remember that software program has to be write to specifically take reward of multi - core processor ; the problem is that not every app is design to take advantage of that processing zing . I was n’t secret to any of the closed - room access sessions at last month’sWorldwide Developers Conference , but I imagine Apple consecrate a considerable amount of time to exhorting software Divine to make their products multi - core friendly . Retiring the lone single - magnetic core - free-base system strikes me as another not - so - subtle monitor about where Apple hop to take the platform in the coming years . Presumably , late - night phone call to developers from Apple executive tell “ Well ? ” follow by an ill at ease silence will be next on the order of business .
And permit ’s face it : The 1.5GHz Mac mini Core Solo , while a squeamish pick for entry - level user , jug well - behind its dual - core sibling in almost every project . Macworldhas commit a considerable amount of practical ink to the idea of twist an Intel - based Mac miniskirt into a multimedia system hub . In all of our tests , we used a mini with a Core Duo chip — it just seemed like the beneficial pick , even for tasks like TV playback .
True , there ’s a part of me that inquire whether Apple should have maintain a Core Solo Mac miniskirt on its retail shelf , if , for no other rationality , than to have a model priced under that all - important psychological roadblock of $ 500 . Then again , at $ 599 , the 1.66GHz Mac mini Core Duo wo n’t precisely impel you to cash in that 401(k ) . And Apple has never been the sort of ship’s company to give something as critical as performance just so that it could boast about selling a clean - down automobile at a sure damage point . ( True , the company now offer a sub-$1,000 1.83GHz iMac , but that machine still boasts a dual - meat processor . Much like the education - only iMac , this $ 999 offering cut costs by replacing the consecrate nontextual matter CPU with integrated nontextual matter and eschewing a built - in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module — not exactly the features that people craving a low - cost screen background would demand . )
A Core Solo Mac mini was a o.k. idea at the time it was introduced — clearly , Apple recognizes that time has passed . Improved execution from multi - core chips is where this platform is headed at present tense . And hopefully , computer software that ’s written to take advantage of those crisp will be a magnanimous part of our future .
