Help, my late 2012 Mini is unbearably slow

[Monkeychemist]

Hello everyone,

I did a quick read of threads but it seems my Mini is just too old or my question is too narrow to find the answer via the search box. I have a 2012 Mini (model A1347) 2.5 GHz i5, 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM.

I thought of 2 things but the computer doesn't seem upgrade friendly.

#1 from what I read in this forum about these stock Mac Minis is their HDD is just terrible slow, so an SSD might provide a nice boost.
#2 from my old days when I used to know about computers RAM made a difference.

This is more of an entertainment system for the TV with our photos, browser, iTunes movies, etc. It's sort of the lightest load you can do on a computer, yet it is unbearably slow these days. I think it takes about 10-12 icon bounces before iTunes loads!

Questions:

1) The SSD, it really doesn't need high capacity. I just need something fast, we have a lot of our documents/pictures/etc on a NAS. Somethign like this seems ideal with price and capacity:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-...412U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513724612&sr=8-2

2) Do you think that would solve a good chunk of the slowness, or should I also contemplate RAM upgrade?

Is this even possible? It really looks like a totally closed out box

Thank you so much!

 

[archer75]

Both could help. An SSD would be more noticeable. However i'm wondering why it's so slow. Did this just happen all of a sudden? Was it gradual over time? Typically what I do to eliminate software issues causing slow downs is format it and do reinstall. If that speeds it up I know that software was the issue. If not then perhaps it really is time for a hardware upgrade. You can replace both the ram and hard drive in the 2012 mini.

And then based on costs and your usage i'd probably just buy an apple tv instead. It's going to be much more user friendly for your needs.

 

[Boyd01]

I had the same machine and didn't think it was especially slow, considering the hard drive and 4gb RAM. But I upgraded to 16gb (this was cheap a year ago, but RAM prices have doubled today). The RAM upgrade is dead simple, Apple intended for users to do that, should only take 5 minutes.

I did not want to open it up to install a SSD so I got a 500gb Samsung T3 external USB SSD. It is very fast, about 400MB/sec write and 430MB/sec read. No installation necessary, just plug it in and clone the internal drive.

I gave that machine to my daughter's family for Christmas 2016 and it feels very fast now, they are still quite happy with it.

 

[treekram]

I think 4GB may not be enough RAM. You can find out by going into Activity Monitor and looking at your memory usage. In the document, click on the memory button and read what it says about memory pressure. Do a cold restart of the computer and go through your typical tasks and if you see a lot of red and yellow, more memory would help.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464

I have several 250GB Samsung 850 Evo's and they work well.

As mentioned in the other posts, the disk(s) and RAM in the 2012 Mini is replaceable, but it's not easy and you may want to either use an external SSD, as mentioned in post #3 or go to an Apple-authorized service provider. One poster said they paid $50 to have the disk changed at one of these shops. It'll probably be more if you do both RAM and disk.

 

[Boyd01]

As mentioned in the other posts, the disk(s) and RAM in the 2012 Mini is replaceable, but it's not easy

That is absolutely untrue. The disk was never intended to be replaced by a user and it is difficult.

The RAM is extremely easy to upgrade and Apple intended for you to do that yourself. They have instructions on their own website: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041

 

[treekram]

That is absolutely untrue. The disk was never intended to be replaced by a user and it is difficult.

The RAM is extremely easy to upgrade and Apple intended for you to do that yourself. They have instructions on their own website: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041

The disk is replaceable, whether or not Apple intended for a user to replace the disk. The point is that it can be done. Furthermore, in comparing what they have done in some of the other Mac's, Apple really didn't put major roadblocks in the way of somebody who wants to replace the disk themselves (gluing batteries in the recent MacBook Pros, using proprietary connectors for some SSD's, soldering RAM, etc.). If somehow the OP got confused by my statement that replacing the RAM is as difficult as replacing the disk, I apologize.

 

[iMacoo7]

Hello everyone,

I did a quick read of threads but it seems my Mini is just too old or my question is too narrow to find the answer via the search box. I have a 2012 Mini (model A1347) 2.5 GHz i5, 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM.

I thought of 2 things but the computer doesn't seem upgrade friendly.

#1 from what I read in this forum about these stock Mac Minis is their HDD is just terrible slow, so an SSD might provide a nice boost.
#2 from my old days when I used to know about computers RAM made a difference.

This is more of an entertainment system for the TV with our photos, browser, iTunes movies, etc. It's sort of the lightest load you can do on a computer, yet it is unbearably slow these days. I think it takes about 10-12 icon bounces before iTunes loads!

Questions:

1) The SSD, it really doesn't need high capacity. I just need something fast, we have a lot of our documents/pictures/etc on a NAS. Somethign like this seems ideal with price and capacity:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-...412U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513724612&sr=8-2

2) Do you think that would solve a good chunk of the slowness, or should I also contemplate RAM upgrade?

Is this even possible? It really looks like a totally closed out box

Thank you so much!

Read my thread about a slow Mac mini.. You might have a bad logic board

 

[sublunar]

In terms of SSD 128Gb capacities are often slower due to the chips involved. 256Gb and bigger capacities often run at the best available speed. It's worth doing as the single best thing to revive older tech and prices are very reasonable these days. Upgrading the RAM is also worth it as 4Gb might be a little low for the latest MacOS and it's dead easy on a 2012 model. 8Gb should be minimum for modern MacOS but 16Gb should be cheap and should make resale value decent too.

 

[Fishrrman]

Two quick, easy improvements that will speed up that Mini:

First (and most important):
An SSD.
You don't have to open it up. Get an external USB3 SSD, plug it in, initialize it to HFS+, and either put a clean copy of the OS onto it, or use a cloning app (CCC recommended) to "selectively clone" over the OS, apps, and accounts.
Important: leave the "large libraries" (movies, pictures, music) on the internal HDD -- they don't require speed.

Now, designate the SSD to become your "external booter"
This will completely change the performance of the Mini.
(I've been running my own late-2012 Mini for just shy of FIVE YEARS this way -- still running great!)

Second:
Buy just ONE 8gb DIMM, and pop off the back cover and replace the topmost 2gb DIMM (that's already there).
This will "bump you up" to 10gb of installed RAM -- probably all you'll ever need.
Others are going to jump in and warn you that "2 dis-similar DIMMs won't be as fast as 2 that are alike". They are correct, but the speed difference is so small you'll never notice it in the real world, especially since you're now booting and running from an SSD.

You DON'T need a large SSD -- 500gb or even 250gb will be "enough".
And you don't need two DIMMs either.

The above advice will give you the greatest bang for the buck!

 

[archer75]

Opening it up and replacing the hard drive is not hard. People are just intimidated by something they haven't done before.

 

[Martyimac]

That is absolutely untrue. The disk was never intended to be replaced by a user and it is difficult.

Only moderately difficult. IFixit guides are very good. I replaced the hard drive in my 2011 mini which according to the ifixit guides should be more slightly involved than the 2012. Piece of cake.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716

 

[Ace2617]

I have the same Mac Mini, but I bought it used. When I was looking for one, my requirements were 1. an SSD, and 2. at least 8 gigs of RAM. Mine has an 850 EVO 250 GB SSD (internal) and 8GB of RAM. So far, it's great for my usage, but at some point I will max out the RAM at 16 GB.

As for the SSD, something around 256 GB is probably fine. It should give good speed and enough space, seeing as you said you use a NAS. I don't keep a ton of stuff on my local SSD, but if it ever fills up I'll probably just add an external SSD. If you bump up the RAM to 8 GB or more, and add an SSD (external would work too, as Fishrrman said) the performance of your Mac Mini will probably improve greatly.

 

[ziggy29]

I'd agree with adding one 8 GB stick (for 10 GB total) and getting a small SSD in there -- internal if you are adventurous enough, external if not. One advantage of an external SSD (apart from the lack of a partial teardown to replace the internal HDD) is that you would still have the internal HDD for storing data and some apps. Of course, the internal solution is "cleaner" and probably a little faster, but not much and does have a little bit of risk of breaking something (or plunking down some cash to have a pro do it for you). I've looked at the iFixit guide and I'm pretty sure I could do it, but I decided the risk/reward for doing so wasn't worth the effort or the chance of breaking it; the speed difference is minimal. (YMMV, of course.)

I'm booting from an external Samsung T5 SSD these days (500 GB) and I can tell you that this alone made an increasingly slow Mini feel like a brand new machine. With the old spinner, even with 16 GB of RAM, Finder actions regularly felt very sluggish and often produced beachballs. Not any more.

That said, with current RAM prices through the roof I'd start with the SSD.

 

[Boyd01]

Of course, the internal solution is "cleaner" and probably a little faster, but not much and does have a little bit of risk of breaking something

FWIW, I have a 2012 Quad Mini with the original Apple 256gb internal SSD. This is what I get with it

And this is what I get with an external USB Samsung T3 1tb SSD (I also have a 500 gb T3 and it performs the same).

 

[archer75]

synthetic hard drive benchmarks don't mean anything. It's real world tests that matter.

 

[ziggy29]

synthetic hard drive benchmarks don't mean anything. It's real world tests that matter.

You're right, but these tests can still give a reasonable estimate at order of magnitude when comparing different volumes on the same hardware/software combination. If Drive A is 10-20% faster than Drive B on a comprehensive benchmark, chances are that it will be reasonably close to that in a real world mix, even where the throughput will almost always be lower than the raw benchmark results.

 

[redheffer]

I went through this process over a couple of years. Upgraded to 8GB of RAM first and found nominal improvement.

Going to SSD provided a significant jump in everything from boot time to apps opening immediately. The original HD is the bottleneck for sure. I opted not to go the fusion drive route and just kept all the important active stuff on the SSD and all the other stuff like music and movies on the original HD.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

What everyone else has said: SSD + Stick of RAM will breath new life into it.

Some people are saying 4GB is enough .. but that's a big 'It Depends' on your OS and current software setup. Basically if you get memory pressure -- and you don't have to have all 4GB (minus VRAM amount) of memory in use for the OS to decide it's seeing pressure -- then the OS will start paging data out to, and back from the hard disk a lot. And with a spinning disk drive, seek times on even a relatively small amount of paging access will absolutely kill perceived performance. The time spent moving the heads and waiting for the disk to rotate will vastly dwarf the actual amount of time spent transferring data. An SSD has zero moving parts and no appreciable seek times.

tl;dr - one SSD + one 8GB stick of RAM and you'll be asking yourself why you didn't do it sooner.

I've upgraded Mini's 4 or 5 times now, and as long as you are patient and follow the iFixit guide, it's not that hard. If you want to keep your existing drive and just add an SSD, you can buy a 2nd HDD kit from iFixit for about $30 and it comes with the tools you need to handle all the screws and lift all the parts.

And.. if you do go the SSD/upgrade route - make sure to change out the PRAM battery as it's 5 years old and you are alredy in there. It's a standard CR2032 coin-cell battery, you can find them at most grocery stores even.

 

[Boyd01]

It's real world tests that matter.

I use my 2012 quad exclusively for video and audio editing. In the "real world", I notice very little speed difference between running from the external USB SSD vs the internal SSD. It takes about 15 seconds to boot to the desktop from the internal SSD and over 30 seconds to boot from the external, so that is noticeable, but an extra 15 seconds once a day isn't such a big deal.

Duplicating a big video file on the internal drive is also faster of course.

 

[MaxinMusicCity]

I have the same Mac Mini, but I bought it used. When I was looking for one, my requirements were 1. an SSD, and 2. at least 8 gigs of RAM. Mine has an 850 EVO 250 GB SSD (internal) and 8GB of RAM. So far, it's great for my usage, but at some point I will max out the RAM at 16 GB.

As for the SSD, something around 256 GB is probably fine. It should give good speed and enough space, seeing as you said you use a NAS. I don't keep a ton of stuff on my local SSD, but if it ever fills up I'll probably just add an external SSD. If you bump up the RAM to 8 GB or more, and add an SSD (external would work too, as Fishrrman said) the performance of your Mac Mini will probably improve greatly.

I upgradeded to 16gb of ram right after purchase in 2012. Made a definite difference. Never regretted it!

 

[Monkeychemist]

Thank you all for the wonderful replies, this really helps troubleshoot and prioritize. I was wondering why no one replied, I guess you did but the notifications didn't kick in. I really really emphasize my appreciation for the advice!

 

[Monkeychemist]

Ok, so I wanted to send an update about what I did. Everyone here was so helpful, it would be incomplete and a disservice to the community if I didn't tell my story.

I ended up swapping the hard drive with a 240 GB SSD, and upgrading memory from 4 Gb to 8 GB.

Long story short it is a whole new computer now. It is amazing and blazing fast like no other of its age. It used to take iTunes and VLC between 8-12 bounces before they loaded, now it's up after 1 bounce. I had to decompress our family movie archives before and it would literally take the whole night. Now it's less than 30 minutes. WOW what a difference!

So, the easy part was memory. I bought this memory from OWC: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C758FBM/
It was incredibly easy to install and was immediately recognized.

The harder part (as warned by some members) was the hard drive swap. I bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M8ABEIM/
and I followed this video:

I feel bad about using their tutorial and not buying their drive, but let's be honest, the price was different. I also bought this tool kit because I had none, and felt if I can do this, then this kit will be useful in the future: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPUGN2O/

The opening the computer and removing parts was a breeze. The video was super helpful! I made the swap and then came the difficulties. Seating the drive back in was a pain in the @#$. I had to put the computer on a vertical angle and wiggle the crap out of the drive before it ever got in. Then putting the other parts back in were hard. Every time I heard on the video "simply do this" or "you can easily do that" I really wanted to punch youtube. It wasn't! It takes a lot of patience and wiggling. That being said, putting the connections together was easy. It wasn't so much as a functional difficulty but a physical difficulty because this computer is so small and parts are so tightly bound. All in all, it was about 45-50 minutes to do it (video says 30) so I think it is very doable with the right tools even for someone like me who has never really done it before.

That being said, I would encourage everyone to give it a shot. It seems intimidating, but really the critical parts (connections) are the easiest of the procedure and I have now extended my mini probably another 5-6 years with the possibility of more since you can go all the way to 16 Gb of RAM.

Thank you again everyone, this has been an incredibly successful installation!

 

[oldtime]

That's good to hear. 16GB of RAM made my old 2011 Mini into a new machine. Especially with an OS like High Sierra, you definitely want more than 4GB.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

Monkeychemist - think of it like this... You just spent ~$160 (+Tax & Shipping) and got at least a couple more good years out of your Mini, and don't have to reinstall/re-setup everything.

From a cost/benefit/amortization point of view, it was dollar smart compared to getting a new computer. Plus you got the confidence of finding out that you are more than capable of doing the upgrading yourself.

And if you wind up maxing out the disk space, or start using some new great software that needs more memory... you can repeat the process with larger capacity parts. Not to mention you've got USB 3 and Thunderbolt for decent connections to external drives if you need to go that route.

If it suits your needs, and is easy on the pocketbook.. that's a win.