On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 9:59 AM, Cara Vaughan
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I've seen from the archive that some people do use the Mac Mini for
> crystallography and I've got two questions:
> 1. Do I need the Quad core or is a Dual core processor enough?
You can survive with the dual, but I would definitely spring for the
quad if you can afford it - but I suppose it depends on how you work.
I like to run multiple of jobs at once if possible, and still have a
core left for the web browser, etc. Some programs will also take
advantage of multiple processors, for that matter.
I would definitely recommend maxing out the memory, but don't buy it
from Apple - we were able to get 16GB from CDW for less than $100.
> 2. Is the intergrated Intel HD graphics card OK for crystallography
> requirements?
It depends on your requirements, but I've been using Coot and PyMOL
frequently on a MacBook Air for the last year, and usually the
graphics chip (also Intel HD) isn't the bottleneck.
-Nat
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