08-28-2009, 03:41 PM

Okay. My main computer is currently an original 1.6GHz G5. It's all stock except it has 4GB ram.

Specs here: apple-history.com

I love it, it's never let me down and it's still hella fast. But it's almost seven years old now, and since Snow Leopard won't work on it, I'm considering buying a new Mac. I can't spend another $2500 for a new Mac Pro, and I don't want an iMac, so I'm seriously considering a Mac mini.

Specs here: Configure - Apple Store (U.S.) (low end model)

I do a lot of photoshop work so the 4GB of ram comes in handy.

My question is, will the performance of the Mac mini be better/worse/on par with my G5?

08-28-2009, 04:14 PM

CPU speed and capability, the C2D mini should beat the 1.6 G5 hands down (based on some quick research, and comparing graphs from here iMac Core 2 Duo versus three older iMacs of a 2.0 G5 vs 2.0 cd imac (has x1600 video card in it, which is old and not really as good as the 9400m) .

Graphics capability - well, that depends on what graphics card you had in that G5. Chances are tho, as the G5 is an older machine with older graphics capabilities, the 9400m would perform well against them if not beat them. For photoshop work, I'd imagine you'd be fine looking at this thread at Apple: Apple - Support - Discussions - Photoshop CS4 on a mac Mini? ...

Also keep in mind, you'll want to get a version of CS that is either intel or universal - you'll have a performance hit if you run it on rosetta (although the capabilities of a C2D may negate the performance hit and it may feel similar to running on your existing mac)

08-28-2009, 04:18 PM

that's what i was thinking, i'm probably gonna do it, thanks for the info