MM 2011 2.5ghz - 8gb ram upgrade worthwhile?

[Pheo]

Hi All,

I've just purchased a new 2011 Mac Mini. It comes with 4gb of Ram. Not being a mac user previously (iOS devices not withstanding!), I'm struggling to work out whether it is worthwhile.

Kind of things I'll be using it for:

Managing photo library via iPhoto (Aperture when I have the £££) - library is currently 70gb
Photoshop Editing - infrequently
Very Infrequent lightweight video editing (iPhone output at the moment - possible SLR upgrade later)
The odd game (e.g. civ5 - I have a PS3 for heavy duty stuff)
Light Audio Duties - cutting / Slicing etc

Planned is to add a 120gb (probably Crucial) SSD

Cost is £34 for the upgrade - relatively low cost. But is it worthwhile? I'm hoping that those of you with some experience will be able to comment

 

[Pheo]

That should've been 34GBP! Delivered and after tax

 

[henrikmk]

IMHO, 8 GB RAM is probably absolute minimum for working with Aperture, if you run a few other things in the background. I have recently upgraded my MBP 2011 to 16 GB from 8 GB, otherwise Aperture was astronomically slow to work with.

16 GB RAM price has dropped at lot recently, and your Mac Mini should be able to use it.

 

[shortcut3d]

I agree. 8GB is really beneficial for Aperture and Photoshop. 16GB of RAM will benefit large Photoshop work flows and virtualization. iPhoto will benefit a lot from the SSD. My 2011 15" MacBook Pro with 480GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G and 16GB RAM is significantly faster in iPhoto when compared to my 2010 27" iMac 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel i7 with 240GB Mercury Extreme Pro / 1TB WD Caviar Black and 32GB RAM. The big difference is the iPhoto library data resides on the 3.5" 1TB WD Caviar Black 7200RPM drive in the iMac.

 

[Pheo]

Interesting. 16GB hopefully will be a bit overkill; that upgrade is nearer 100GBP - thnk I would prioritise the SSD over that (I'm waiting on the cable, need to order the Torq drivers!)

 

[Pheo]

I fact it's nearer 175GBP!

 

[DmbShn41]

I have the base Mac mini, 2.3ghz, 2 GB Ram stock. I shoved 8 GB Ram into it recently, and it screams. Obviously go aftermarket. Crucial has been good to me for Mac RAM, and you can generally find it for a few dollars cheaper on Amazon than Crucial. With the 2.5ghz, plus 8 GB Ram, I predict you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Interesting. 16GB hopefully will be a bit overkill; that upgrade is nearer 100GBP - thnk I would prioritise the SSD over that (I'm waiting on the cable, need to order the Torq drivers!)

I have 8GB and a 128GB SSD in my dual core i7 mac mini (2011), it's a great update and handles SC2, Photoshop and Motion far easier... Not to mention safari is snappier

I'd recommend putting 8GB in the machine, it's a good cheap performance boost.