When I wrote a recent article comparing WorldBench 5 scores of Intel-based Macs to some similarly configured PCs, I couldn’t list results for the Mac mini Core Duo. PC World’s WorldBench 5 requires three complete runs before returning final scores and the mini had some trouble finishing the tests involving Windows Media Encoder 9. It took a few additional trials, but the results are now in and posted below.
Looking at the specifications for Apple’s slim desktop, it’s no surprise that the Mac mini struggled to keep up with the other dual-core systems we matched it against. The mini runs on a 1.66GHz Core Duo processors; all the other machines in our tests featured 2GHz and higher processors. The mini did manage to squeak by the HP Pavilion and its 2GHz Athlon 64X2 dual-core processor on two of the five individual tests listed in the chart—the Photoshop and the Multitasking tests. For more information on WorldBench, including results from other PCs, visit PCWorld.com.
Updated Windows XP Testing
| Test System | Processor | WorldBench 5 Score | Mulititasking Test | Windows Media Encoder 9 | Roxio VideoWave | Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1 | Microsoft Office 2002 SP-2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mac mini | 1.66GHz Core Duo T2300 | 82 | 514 | 343 | 304 | 364 | 603 |
| Apple iMac | 2.0GHz Core Duo T2500 | 96 | 423 | 294 | 267 | 320 | 541 |
| Apple MacBook Pro | 2.16GHz Core Duo T2600 | 98 | 419 | 280 | 259 | 305 | 535 |
| Dell Inspiron E1705 (portable) | 2.0GHz Core Duo T2500 | 97 | 498 | 305 | 271 | 325 | 549 |
| HP Compaq nx9420 (portable) | 2.16GHz Core Duo T2600 | 101 | 444 | 279 | 259 | 311 | 575 |
| HP Pavilion a1250n Media Center Desktop PC | 2.0GHz Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 94 | 521 | 321 | 290 | 367 | 563 |
Best results in bold. All individual test results in seconds.
All systems had 1GB RAM. Macs used Apple’s Boot Camp beta to install Windows. All machines were tested with Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2 except the HP Pavilion which had Windows Media Center Edition installed. For more information on WorldBench 5, go here .—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
We’re still working on posting results of the MacBook Pro running WorldBench 5 on a Parallels Workstation Virtual Machine, but the rapid-fire beta updates from the company is making it difficult to produce definitive results.