How fast are the “Mid-2007” Mac mini “Core 2 Duo” models compared to the systems each replaced?
Please note that all Mac mini models mentioned in this Q&A have been discontinued. The “Mid-2007” Mac mini was replaced by the “Early 2009” Mac mini on March 3, 2009. Apple declared that the “Mid-2007” Mac mini “Core 2 Duo” models — the Mac mini “Core 2 Duo” 1.83 and the “Core 2 Duo” 2.0 — “can do everything up to 39% faster” than the Mac mini “Core Duo” models that these systems replaced using iPhoto ’08 “common application tasks” as a benchmark. The “Core 2 Duo” models, which Apple formally refers to as the “Mid-2007” line, have processors with faster clock speeds and the “Core 2 Duo” processor design also is modestly more efficient. The higher-end model — the Mac mini “Core 2 Duo” 2.0 — additionally has twice the amount of level 2 cache (4 MB instead of 2 MB), which can substantially enhance performance. You might be interested in reading through the details of both the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors from Intel’s website, but in particular Intel promotes that the Core 2 Duo
