As an extension of my previous post about the new Mac lineup I did a quick analysis of the cost per performance of the current entire range of Macs.

Spoiler: The Mac Mini still wins.

Method

• Select each Mac in the current lineup
• Choose each available CPU option
• Keep every other option (RAM, HD, etc) as base
• Note the price
• Head over to Geekbench Results Browser
• Take the average of the 5 most recent results for Geekbench 64-bit for each machine

Notes:

• I only evaluated single processor Mac Pros. Beyond that we are getting costs beyond the ‘typical’ consumer.
• I was unable to find a Geekbench64 for the 2.7GHz i7 Mac Mini. However, a 32-bit value was available. So the value shown below is an approximation of what the 64-bit value would be based on the typical change in i7 processors.
• All processors are dual core except where noted as Qi7 or Qi5, which are quad core. The 6Xeon Mac Pro is 6 core.

Keep in mind this analysis is entirely focused on CPU/Memory performance. While not really representative of overall performance, which is likely far more dependent on hard drive and network speeds, this is the best apples-to-apples comparison we can do across the whole lineup.

Results

In my experience above around 9,000 will be more than adequate for most uses. Almost half the current lineup hits that mark.

The Mac Mini is the clear winner in value for money. Even if you consider that you’d need your own monitor. At almost 50% better performance for cost.