new Aopen mini PC vs Mac mini

[jojo4u]

There is a new mini PC by Aopen called MP945-VXR tested in german magazine C't issue 17/06 page 76.

A system equipped with Core Duo T2500 2.0 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, TV-tuner was tested. It's called "cebop scope 2 88MC".

Good compared to the Intel Mac mini:
- looks nice
- TV-tuner
- sourround sound, better quality

worse:
- no WLAN (miniPCI used by tuner)
- many more buttons on remote
- idle noise three times higher (0.2 vs 0.7 sone)
- DVD noise more than two times higher (0.3 vs 0.8 sone)
- CPU full load noise much higher (0.3 vs 2.3 sone)
- idle power (20 vs 29 W)
- CPU full load power (40 vs 42 W)
- VGA signal quality
- only single channel memory possible

[mb2]

i thought the mac mini only had one memory slot? anyway, i would take off 'looks' against the mini- althou the Aopen one looks considerably better than i was expecting, its not quite as good imo.

[jojo4u]

The Apple mini has 2 memory slots: http://www.apple.com/macmini/whatsinside.html

[damormino]

The MP-945VX miniPC and MP-915 miniPC both measure about the same: 35 to 36 dBA at 0.6 meter*. These measurements were taken at idle. I have an original Mac Mini on the same desk as these, so I will check that tomorrow. My guess is that it will be within 1 dBA of the miniPC's.

I also need to test these under load. I watched the noise meter while using the MP-945VX on some relatively intense tasks. The highest it registered was 40dBA. But I really should check this more scientifically. Both systems have 7200RPM hard drives and fairly fast processors.

*Note: 0.6 meter is a little over 2 feet for those who prefer measurements that are basaed size of the King's body parts.

[ist.martin]

The MP-945VX miniPC and MP-915 miniPC both measure about the same: 35 to 36 dBA at 0.6 meter*. These measurements were taken at idle. I have an original Mac Mini on the same desk as these, so I will check that tomorrow. My guess is that it will be within 1 dBA of the miniPC's.

...[/i]

Hi:

I was wondering if you had a chance to measure the latest version Core Duo Mac Mini's (which would be the direct competitor of the MP-945)?

I am trying to find an off-the-shelf system in the 20-21 dB range at idle.

Thank you.

[MikeC]

I was wondering if you had a chance to measure the latest version Core Duo Mac Mini's (which would be the direct competitor of the MP-945)?

I am trying to find an off-the-shelf system in the 20-21 dB range at idle.

There would be little reason to think the Core Duo version would be any different acoustically.

The only "factory built" off the shelf computers that come close to being that quiet are the iMacs based on core Duo.... although they've just discontinued those and are using Core 2 Duos now. I heard they might be Meroms -- the mobile version of the Core 2 Duo, which have very similar power characteristics as the Core Duo (Yonah).

[ist.martin]

...
The only "factory built" off the shelf computers that come close to being that quiet are the iMacs based on core Duo.... although they've just discontinued those and are using Core 2 Duos now. I heard they might be Meroms -- the mobile version of the Core 2 Duo, which have very similar power characteristics as the Core Duo (Yonah).

Hi Mike:

How are you? Long time, no contact. I do not understand why the Minis, would be ' within 1 dB' of the 35 dB measured by the AOpen, whereas the iMacs are in the 21 dB range?? The Mini also uses the Socket 479 'mobile' core duo that the iMac uses, does it not? It also uses a similar notebook HDD, so why would it have such a dramatically different acoustic profile?

Off topic - do you have any interest in an iGesture touchpad from FingerWorks? I bought it a few years ago thinking I would 'silence my mouse', but never got around to installing it. It has just been sitting here, so its yours if you want it.

Cheers,

Ian

[MikeC]

Hello ist.martin, it's been a while!

I have no explicit answer to why.... but to say the iMac is clearly a differently engineered product. It has several advantages over the mini, acoustically and thermally. My conjectures...

1) It's bigger. Still very tight, but more room for cooling.
2) The heat in the box is not that different, despite the difference in size.
3) The LCD monitor probably helps a lot -- to block the noise from the user.
4) The vertical configuration of the imac also helps cooling; natural convection is an integral part of its design.
5) There's a lot more "softish" plastic that probably helps to damp the noise.
6) Perhaps it uses better fans -- it uses more of them --several, not just the one in the mini, which naturally has to spin faster (than several fans) when heat builds up.

re- iGesture touchpad from FingerWorks -- I'd be happy to take a look. Maybe it'll help my hand/wrist/arm/shoulder repetitive motion ailments...

[ed_p]

Does anyone have sound readings from both the AOpen MiniPC and the Mac Mini, measured the same way?

I've heard conflicting reports. In this thread it's claimed that they're probably within 1 dbA. In other threads here it's been claimed that the Mac Mini is noticeably quieter.

The 35dbA reported here sounds high, but is 0.6 meters a standard distance to measure at?

AOpen claims that the MiniPC 945 is 27dbA at idle: http://narrowcasting.blogs.com/AOpenMiniPCMP945VX.pdf

This, like most sound measurements I've found, doesn't specify a distance. I'm not sure if there's a standard distance that everyone uses.

I can't find any retailers that have an aopen minipc for me to see for myself, so I'd like to know how they compare before I spend $700 on one. The aopen minipc is cheaper for equivalent configurations and allows for an internal tv tuner, which I like. It'd be my choice if it wasn't significantly louder.

[ed_p]

So I found some benchmark results for the mac mini and aopen minipc, including power consumption and noise level:

http://www.minitechnet.de/aopen_minipc-duo-mp945_5.html
http://www.minitechnet.de/apple_macmini-core_5.html

The same, translated from German to English through Google:

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... =translate
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... =translate

This puts them within 1 dbA at idle, 3 dbA playing a DVD, 5 dbA at full load, and 6 dbA reading from CD. So Mac's CD drive is quieter (I don't care about this), but other than that I think the only difference may be the power consumption difference between Core CPUs and Core 2 CPUs, since I think the mac here is a first gen Core Duo.

[hmsrolst]

I have a Core Duo Mac Mini and an AOpen 945-D with almost identical configurations. I don't have a way to measure them, but the Mini is noticeably quieter. I have Vista on the Mini and use AnyDVD to quiet down the superdrive when playing audio or video. Otherwise it's too noisy.

[ed_p]

So I wound up getting a Mac Mini. I'm quite happy with it. I use it as a server on top of my DVR box, running linux. (Note: I don't use the optical drive, so I have no comment as to how loud that is.)

I don't have any way to measure noise. As for power, I have a Core Duo Mac Mini 1.8 Ghz with 2GB ram. This is an older model compared to the recent Core 2 Duo's. The entire system typically takes 20W of power at near-idle (which is how I generally have it running).

[zhark]

Quick question for those of you running the Mac Mini as a multimedia center in linux: Does the intel integrated graphics card correctly sync to vblank while playing video? And if you had to do some tweaks to get it working correctly can you please tell me what you did?