Is the base model mac mini actually a quad core?

[sampers]

Hi,

Recently I've bought a mac mini 2,3Ghz i5 base model 2011.
and i really love it, only does it freeze up sometimes. So now I keep the activity monitor in front, to look for the cause. (with actually doesn't show, i think it's maybe apple id related. ass i had the same thing with my iMac with i sold.

but now when looking at the activity monitor it shows 4 cores doing work?

although the system profiler states it has 2.

 

[soco]

 

[wrinkster22]

virtual cores. The base is dual core. Only the server is quad core.

 

[sampers]

yeah, apple's website does list that this way. so I know it really is, but what is a virtual core?

 

[wrinkster22]

yeah, apple's website does list that this way. so I know it really is, but what is a virtual core?

i5 and i7 can hyper thread and use virtual cores when the built in ones are under a lot of stress

 

[Ice Dragon]

Why does it freeze? How much memory do you have? If you have only 2, upgrade to a minimum of 4, recommended to 8.

 

[sampers]

yeah, was already thinking of doing that!

I also find it being slow when surfing. the safari web content process with lot's of threads. but especially with chrome. and when it's 'freezing up' it's taking a lot of time to go in mission control,...

sounds cool that hyper threading, thanks for the info!.

 

[Consultant]

Should not freeze.

Show "ALL PROCESSES" instead of my processes.
Use Flash Blocker.

 

[sampers]

how is it that, a process can be at 100% pro cent, or near to it. and the %user or %system keep giving lower values?

 

[The-Pro]

how is it that, a process can be at 100% pro cent, or near to it. and the %user or %system keep giving lower values?

The %user and %system at the bottom is out of 100% but combines the 4 cores (every core is 25%). So a process of using 100%, or 1 core, will occupy 25% of the CPU. You can have processes run close to 400% on your mini (all 4 cores in use)

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

...what is a virtual core?

Thread management in software is very inefficient. HT (Hyper-threading) is thread management in hardware.

Second generation Core iX processors (Sandy Bridge) have also hardware based memory management for virtual machines (EPTs), which make virtual machines on these processors faster, if the VM-software uses EPTs (such as VMware Fusion v3.x.x or newer).

 

[blevins321]

yeah, was already thinking of doing that!

I also find it being slow when surfing. the safari web content process with lot's of threads. but especially with chrome. and when it's 'freezing up' it's taking a lot of time to go in mission control,...

sounds cool that hyper threading, thanks for the info!.

Try updating to the new version of Safari that was just released this afternoon. That fixed a lot of the freezeups and high RAM usage for me.

 

[sampers]

@ blevins321: check! curious to see if it changes anything.

@ Mr. Retrofire & The-Pro : Thanks!