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bearcatrp

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 24, 2008
1,765
101
Boon Docks USA
Am still running snow leopard. Seems sluggish but probably the older processor causing it. Is it worth upgrading to a newer version of OSX? Since I have a dvd drive, will updated OS still recognize it without issues?
 
Snow is still the fastest OSX, so that is not the problem.
99% chance, your 5400rpm hard drive is the trouble maker.
Replace it with something speedier: a WD black 7200rpm if you need lots of storage and budget is limited, a Samsung 840 Evo or something like that if you want the fastest.
Also make sure you have 4-8GB RAM.
 
I'm running a 2010 mini and have Mavericks on it. Runs fast enough.
I have 8gb Ram in it, and just recently upgraded the drive to a 1TB HDD, this should do me for another few years.
 
I changed out the drive last year with a WD. Should have put a ssd in it. Plan on hanging on to it until it dies. My last apple computer. Only hanging on to it because of the iphones in the house backed up to it.
 
Personally I would upgrade to the new OS for security updates, which Apple stopped issuing to snow leopard a few months back. If you did put an SSD in the machine, it definitely still has some legs left in it.
 
Am still running snow leopard. Seems sluggish but probably the older processor causing it. Is it worth upgrading to a newer version of OSX? Since I have a dvd drive, will updated OS still recognize it without issues?

I have the 2010 Mini and I'm not planning upgrading to Mavericks. I'll lose cuda support and it will run slower if I don't get a SSD.
 
Am still running snow leopard. Seems sluggish but probably the older processor causing it. Is it worth upgrading to a newer version of OSX? Since I have a dvd drive, will updated OS still recognize it without issues?
Yes.

My 2009 Mini runs Mavericks very well. I have 8GB RAM and 750GB WD Black running at 7200rpm. It was an original base spec machine with 2gb RAM and 160HDD - it used to run quite poorly until I upgraded RAM and disk. I have a DVD which runs perfectly. I will update to Yosemite when it comes out.

If your machine is sluggish I suggest you look at RAM so you have at least 8GB.
 
I put 8GB of ram in it the day I got it. I wish apple would increase the height of these minis so I can put 1 full size drive in it. A 4TB drive in a mini would be the perfect home theatre to hook up to a big screen tv or store just movies to stream.
 
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