The 32-bit Geekbench results of the late 2014 Mac mini may look rather dull. Especially when you compare it to the Geekbench results of the quad-core 2012 models, but there is something that I noticed when I ran sudo dmesg
:
IOPPF: XCPM mode
X86PlatformShim::sendPStates – Success!
X86PlatformShim::sendPStates – Success!
X86PlatformShim::sendPStates – Success!
X86PlatformShim::sendPStates – Success!
xcpm: unsupported version
X86PlatformShim::start – Failed to send stepper
That doesn’t look right to me!
I also checked the performance bias MSR 0x1B0 (IA32_ENERGY_PERF_BIAS) which is now set to 1 for maximum performance. Quite normal for desktop hardware, but this MSR is set to 5 on the MacBook Pro models (example).
Power management is now also much more aggressive, because now it banks up from 800 MHz (idle) straight to 2700 MHz. Previously this was done a little less aggressive, because then it went up from 800 MHz (idle) to 1700 MHz. Quite a difference.
The big question now is: Why do I see these errors, and why has Apple missed it?
My guess is that we are going to see a minor update to fix this. Either that, or I didn’t get the right version of Yosemite – though it appears to be using the same version (Build 14A389) of Yosemite already. Anyway. The errors may explain, at least in part, why it is a little slow right now.
Update
The 13-inch MacBook Pro has the same processor (i5-4308U @ 2.80 GHz) and ditto Geekbench results, so don’t expect miracles, but it should run smoother after the errors have been fixed. The new Haswell processor with the Intel® Iris™ Graphics 5100 paired with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and a PCI-based flash drive, makes it a lot more responsive. It also boots up much faster and loads application a lot quicker. Not to mention that it has two Thunderbolt 2 ports (up to 20 Gbps). And all this for the: “We have one other small update today“, which was what Phil Schiller said during the October event.
Sure. There is no quad-core processor option (yet/anymore) and you cannot replace/expand memory yourself, and adding a SSD will void your warranty, but do Apple users really care? I don’t think so, and the people who do want replaceable memory, GPU(s), processor(s), PSU and what not… your Mac is called a hackintosh.