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mac mini intel, slow as crap!

T

thepreludedude

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 31, 2004
32
0
richmond, indiana
Hey everyone. I bought a new apple imac mini intel solo about a month or so ago. It has 1.5ghz, 512mb, Superdrive and 10.4.8. I am running the following:
Lacie external hard drive (firewire)
Hewlett-Packard copier/scanner/printer F340 (usb)
Harmon Kardon Soundsticks with Sub (older usb style)
Apple bluetooth mouse
Apple bluetooth keyboard
Hanns-G 19" widescreen display (DVI)
I am on cable Earthlink.
Anyway, I had the older G3 iMac 600mhz until it died. The iMac seems to do just about everything better than the mini:( The mini is slow. If you need to print, it takes forever. If you need to run Office, it takes forever. If you need to run anything that is not from apple it pretty much takes forever.
I have done all system upgrades, etc.
Any ideas or is the way these machines run? I am very dissapointed so far. I have always been a Apple fan but the PC's I have used recently (cring) have ran circles around this.
Any ides what I could do to make it work better?
Thanks everyone. You guys are the best.
 
I kinda remember my old iMac when I increased the ram from 512 to 1gb, it seemed better. So the 2gb would probably be the way to go? Why is it so expensive? I didn't think my old iMac ram was that high:(
 
thepreludedude said:
I kinda remember my old iMac when I increased the ram from 512 to 1gb, it seemed better. So the 2gb would probably be the way to go? Why is it so expensive? I didn't think my old iMac ram was that high:(
Click to expand...
Definitely worth it. I just went 2GB in my iMac and though it was fast before, it doesn't miss a beat now.

RAM prices are notoriously volatile, and the current consumer Macs all use more expensive laptop RAM...

Anyhow, I remember paying more than the current price of 2GB ~$250 for 1MB of DRAM for a '286 PC.

B
 
thepreludedude said:
I kinda remember my old iMac when I increased the ram from 512 to 1gb, it seemed better. So the 2gb would probably be the way to go? Why is it so expensive? I didn't think my old iMac ram was that high:(
Click to expand...
It isn't expensive, depending on whom you purchase it from. Buy quality third-party RAM from a reliable reseller.
 
Bill Gates said:
It isn't expensive, depending on whom you purchase it from. Buy quality third-party RAM from a reliable reseller.
Click to expand...
FWIW spending $200+ on a $600 machine seems expensive under most definitions, or at least to me too. (OWC's current price is ~$250 and I paid just under that from Newegg a few weeks ago.)

B
 
balamw said:
FWIW spending $200+ on a $600 machine seems expensive under most definitions, or at least to me too. (OWC's current price is ~$250 and I paid just under that from Newegg a few weeks ago.)

B
Click to expand...
$200 would certainly be expensive. You don't need to spend $200 to get a decent speed improvement though. Just swap out one of the 256MB sticks for a 1GB stick.
 
Bill Gates said:
$200 would certainly be expensive. You don't need to spend $200 to get a decent speed improvement though. Just swap out one of the 256MB sticks for a 1GB stick.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with you, but he was talking about buying 2GB, which would (IMHO) actually be worth it compared to 1.25 GB for half the price. The matched RAM does actually buy you some additional performance boost and this can be more of an issue for integrated video where the RAM is your VRAM.

B
 
balamw said:
I don't disagree with you, but he was talking about buying 2GB, which would (IMHO) actually be worth it compared to 1.25 GB for half the price. The matched RAM does actually buy you some additional performance boost and this can be more of an issue for integrated video where the RAM is your VRAM.

B
Click to expand...
It might be worth it, but he can stagger the cost if needed. Buy one stick now, and the other later. I don't think the fact that the pairs are unmatched will cause a significantly detrimental effect. On a side note, RAM prices must have gone up in the past few months. It used to be that $150 would buy two matching 1GB SODIMMs.
 
A good place for RAM, actually, is the Marketplace here on MR. I got a 512MB stick for my Mini for $30 shipped, not a bad deal. My Core Solo was slow running anything in Rosetta until I upped the RAM to 1GB. The extra 512MB has been icing on the cake, if you ask me. I'd start off with a single 1GB stick, and see how you like it, then move from there.

Also, the hard drive is a 5400rpm one, so you might wanna either upgrade that, or boot from your external firewire one.
 
thepreludedude said:
... I have always been a Apple fan but the PC's I have used recently have ran circles around this...
Click to expand...

so if you like PCs so much, download bootcamp and install XP. runs really well with 512mb on the solo. until you load programs (bundled apps: calculator!), and spyware, and a virus or two. :p
 
Definitely get more RAM and have a serious think about replacing that crappy Core Solo processor with a full-on Core Duo. Having seen the two Intel mini models perform side by side the Duo kicked the Solo's butt.

You should be able to get a Core Duo from any web PC parts supplier. The tricky bit is getting the mini's case open to slot it in.
 
I have 512MB of RAM in my Core Duo iMac and it feels really slow, I had 768MB of RAM in my old iBook G4 and it felt a lot faster than the iMac. And now my MBP with 2GB of RAM feels like it can run circles around my iMac. I got 2GB of Patriot RAM from Fry's (outpost.com is the website) for $220 in store. If you ordered online then you could get it for $200.
 
thepreludedude said:
Hewlett-Packard copier/scanner/printer F340 (usb)
Any ides what I could do to make it work better?
Click to expand...

I'll bet you that the crappy HP drivers are bogging down your Mac.
Too often I'll see CPU cycles being swallowed by an errant HP-related process as it polls endlessly for the USB device.
Did you install the drivers from the CD that came with it or have you got the latest off the HP website?
 
Rychiar said:
core solo was a poor decision ever
Click to expand...
Now when you can upgrade it later. If you're lucky you can get a stock one for around $400 nowadays. Just hold out for cheapo Core 2 Duo chips and more RAM.

I think they're easier to upgrade then the iMac Core Duo.
 
WOW! where do I begin to reply, lol.
Thanks everyone for the replies.

I used the cd that came with the printer.

I DO NOT like PC's, I was just saying......

I thought that $200+ did seem high since my mini cost around $800 (with the dvd burner upgrade and iwork and applecare).

So as far as the processor upgrade, would I be better off selling my mini and buying a duo core mini? How much dies the processor upgrade costs?
 
thepreludedude said:
How much does the processor upgrade costs?
Click to expand...
A 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo (like the one in the latest MBP, but a bit slower in clock speed) is £133 this side of the pond. It's pin compatible with the Core Solo, so you can just swap it for your existing one to get roughly 3x the speed. I'm sure you can manage cheaper than the £/$ exchange rate would suggest :)

And the best thing is, if you wait a couple of months, it'll be even cheaper.

EDIT: Here's a link to give you an idea of cost in $
 
dynamicv said:
A 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo (like the one in the latest MBP, but a bit slower in clock speed) is £133 this side of the pond. It's pin compatible with the Core Solo, so you can just swap it for your existing one for roughly 3x the speed. I'm sure you can manage cheaper than the £/$ exchange rate would suggest :)

And the best thing is, if you wait a couple of months, it'll be even cheaper.
Click to expand...
I don't expect to see a Merom price drop until January or Santa Rosa. Still, even the slowest Core 2 Duo would be a big leap.
 
thepreludedude said:
So as far as the processor upgrade, would I be better off selling my mini and buying a duo core mini? How much dies the processor upgrade costs?
Click to expand...
The processor that you have now, even single-core, should be a lot faster that your 600mhz G3 iMac.

I doubt you'd notice any speed difference in the things you listed in your OP on a 512MB core duo mini vs. a 512MB core solo mini.

Add more memory to your core solo and I think you'll be a lot happier!
 
i remember upgrading 512 to 1gig on my pc and the speed boost was intense. 1 gig is a min for all systems right now. I'd never buy anything under it
 
Konradx said:
i remember upgrading 512 to 1gig on my pc and the speed boost was intense. 1 gig is a min for all systems right now. I'd never buy anything under it
Click to expand...
Indeed. I can remember from my PC days when I used to upgrade whenever anything new came out. People used to be surprised when they found out I had 1GB of RAM. At the time the average Dell or HP was shipping with 128-256MB of RAM. Alas, it seems that applications are much more memory-intensive now than they used to be, and 1GB is the minimum for a speedy system.
 
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