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Late 2009 Mini: Max amount of Ram?

L

legaleye3000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
1,377
33
What is the max amount of ram that I could put in a late 09 Mini? I see conflicting reports around the web. Thanks.
 
Is there much of a speed difference bumping this machine from 4gb to 8gb? Thanks.
 
Mine originally came with 1GB. I bumped it to 4GB mid-2009, then to 8GB early 2011.

Will you notice a difference? It depends on what you do. The only time my memory usage goes above 4GB is when I'm playing games or running virtual machines. It definitely makes a difference in those circumstances.

It'll only make a real difference if you have a lot of applications open at once. Minis typically have slowish hard-drives, so if you have more RAM, you'll use virtual memory less often. This will make a noticeable performance difference.

More RAM is always good, and RAM isn't expensive. It's well worth future-proofing your Mac.
 
I'm just wondering since 8gb is considered "unofficial" if it will provides an "8gb experience"...?
 
legaleye3000 said:
Is there much of a speed difference bumping this machine from 4gb to 8gb? Thanks.
Click to expand...

That depends on your computational needs and habits and usage.
If you have many applications and documents open at once, the more RAM the better.

legaleye3000 said:
I'm just wondering since 8gb is considered "unofficial" if it will provides an "8gb experience"...?
Click to expand...

Yes, it will provide that "8GB experience" as on officially supported machines, but only if you really use that amount of RAM.

I have 8GB and I can fill it easily, but the last couple of days I can't even fill 4GB.


46​
 
It's only "unofficial" because, when it launched, Apple said it had a 4GB limit.

Whether Apple call this unofficial or official, it still works perfectly with 8GB of RAM.

The only issue with "8GB experience", as you call it, lies with Windows. If you're using Boot Camp, make sure you have a 64-bit version of Windows. 32-bit versions of Windows will only see 3.5GB of RAM. You will have no such problem with Mac OS X.
 
YanniDepp said:
It's only "unofficial" because, when it launched, Apple said it had a 4GB limit.

Whether Apple call this unofficial or official, it still works perfectly with 8GB of RAM.

The only issue with "8GB experience", as you call it, lies with Windows. If you're using Boot Camp, make sure you have a 64-bit version of Windows. 32-bit versions of Windows will only see 3.5GB of RAM. You will have no such problem with Mac OS X.
Click to expand...

Is the Windows 7 Home version 64-bit ?
 
philipma1957 said:
it has 2 versions 32 or 64


I will find a link
Click to expand...

Are they sold separately and if so what do I look for when buying ? I'm planning on buying it to install under Bootcamp in my new Mini. It would be helpful to know if I'm getting the 32-bit or 64-bit version.

Edit: It seems like you answered my questions in the above post.
 
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