Mac mini vs. Dell, Round 2

Round 1 of Mac mini vs. Dell ended in either a draw or a slight lead on hardware to Dell. Of course, we have a long way to go.

Today, in Round 2, were go head to head on features. Our Dell contender this go round will be the Studio Slim, a trim midrange model that I found by using Dell's parametric search tool and searching on as close a processor match as I could find to the mini's Core 2 Duo processor.

For reference, here's a replication of the specs chart from Round 1:

Item	Mac mini	XPS630	Studio Slim
Price	$799	$799	$539
Processor	2GHz Core2 Duo E7300	3GHz Core2 E8400	2.66GHz Core2 Duo E7300
L2 Cache	3MB shared	6MB	3MB
Frontside Bus	1GHz	1.3GHz	1GHz
Memory	2GB DDR3 1GHz	2GB DDR2 1GHz	2GB DDR2 800MHz
HDD	320GB/5400rpm	500GB/7200rpm	500GB/7200rpm
Video	GeForce 9400M	Dual GeForce GTS 240	GMA X4500HD
Network	Gigabit	Gigabit	Gigabit
802.11N Wireless	Included	Optional	Optional (included)
PassMark CPU	1371 / 192	2156 / 99	1794 / 129

So, here we go...

Mac min vs. the Spec Match:

The Dell Studio Slim is one of Dell's fashionable midrange models. Weighing in at a slim $539 with the optional 802.11N wireless card added, it's significantly less expensive than the Mac mini. What other differences can we find between the two?

The mini is still by far the smaller machine. It also boasts the newer generation, faster DDR3 memory, running at a faster 1GHz bus frequency. This means the memory subsystem is about 30% faster than the Dell. It also has the somewhat more powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor.

On the other hand, the Studio Slim boasts a somewhat faster 2.66GHz processor (PassMark at 1794 vs. 1371 for the Mac), a modestly larger 500GB hard disk, and - of course - more room for expansion.

The performance differences outlined above would be relatively minor at price parity, but factor in the $170 price difference and this is a significant win for Dell.

Here we see fairly clearly the cost tradeoffs of the Mac mini design. One of the core design principles for the mini is its extremely compact size. To reach that goal requires the use of more expensive laptop components vs. the Studio's standardized (and less expensive) desktop components. Dell is able to exploit this to a fairly significant value difference.

Keep in mind, though, this is only a hardware comparison, and as we will see in a later round, there are significant differences in the software load that may make this a closer match than it appears here.

Next up: Mac mini vs. the Chipper Chicken!