It also reserves 4 GB of space on the SSD for use as a hard drive cache. Fusion Driveįusion Drive treats a hard drive and SSD as a single volume, storing the operating system and all included software on the SSD and initially putting everything else on the hard drive. The Late 2012 model included FireWire 800. We anticipate the 3.0 GHz dual-core i7 Mac mini will score a bit over half that.įireWire is absent. Mini has the highest 64-bit multicore Geekbench score yet for a Mac mini at 12689. This time around, there is no quad-core Mac mini. The Late 2012 Mac mini was available in a quad-core i7 version. For connectivity, there’s Gigabit ethernet and 802.11ac WiFi (up from 802.11n on the previous Mini), along with Bluetooth 4.0. It can also be ordered with 16 GB RAM and a 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB SSD.Īll Late 2014 models ship with OS X 10.10 Yosemite, support monitor resolutions to 2560 x 1600, have both HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output for dual-monitor support, include four USB 3.0 and two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and have an SDXC slot on the back. It can also be upgraded with the same 3.0 GHz i7 as the midrange Mini. It’s also available with a 3.0 GHz Core i7 that Turbo Boosts to 3.5 GHz, giving it 13% more processing power than the stock chip.īuild-to-order options include 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB Fusion Drive, a 256 GB SSD, and a 3.0 GHz i7 CPU.Īt the top is the $999 2.8 GHz i5-based model (3.3 GHz Turbo Boost) that ships with a 1 TB Fusion Drive.

That means it’s a lot more powerful than you’d expect a 1.4 GHz processor to be, something we covered earlier this year when covering the entry-level iMac based on the same CPU, which has also been used in the MacBook Air.īuild-to-order options include 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB Fusion Drive.įor those in need of more power, the midrange $699 Mini runs a 2.6 GHz i5 (Turbo Boost to 3.1 GHz, about 15% ahead of the low-end Mini’s Turbo Boost), ships with twice as much system memory, has twice as large a hard drive, and includes improved graphics. The $499 Mac mini has a 1.4 GHz Intel Haswell CPU capable of running at up to 2.7 GHz – nearly twice its rated speed – using Turbo Boost.

There are three models: low-end, midrange, and top-end. Also, iFixit has a confirmed that the Late 2014 Mac mini ships with memory soldered to the logic board, so RAM upgrades are not possible. It’s been almost two years since the Mac mini was last updated, and while a 1.4 GHz Core i5 CPU may not sound very powerful, the new US$499 price tag is sure to get your attention.

Mac mini quad core i7 2.6