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New Mac mini, but...

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Panther Al

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 24, 2011
62
0
I just got in a new Mac mini (i7) and started playing around with it. Massive improvement over my previous machine (One of the first intel MacBooks) and overall pleased.


However.


Both machines have 4gb of RAM installed, an while the laptop is running Snow Leopard, it appears that the mini is sucking up just shy of 2gb of memory the moment I boot it up - compared to the 700mb (or less) the laptop sucks up on boot.


Is this normal?
 
Panther Al said:
Both machines have 4gb of RAM installed, an while the laptop is running Snow Leopard, it appears that the mini is sucking up just shy of 2gb of memory the moment I boot it up - compared to the 700mb (or less) the laptop sucks up on boot.

Is this normal?
Click to expand...
It depends on what you have launching at startup. Look at the first 3 items on this list:
Also, since it's new, if a drive is constantly active or your CPU utilization is high (possibly with increased temps and fan speed) when you're not running any major apps, check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon:
attachment.php
(not indexing)
attachment.php
(indexing) (pulsing dot)​
 
Just use your computer for computing and don't worry about these things. Your OSX will know how to manage the memory if you're hitting the limit.
 
everything that people are saying is true but just to add one thing...

10.7 uses more RAM when running than 10.6

so that is what you might be seeing....lion just takes up more RAM to operate....


peace will
 
The RAM-management in OSX is okay, don't worry about that. Altough I found Lion to run much faster with at least 8 GB of RAM, as all these features like "Resume" and "Autosafe" seem to need some memory.
 
You don't need 8GB of RAM to run Lion well, 4GB works fine for most purposes.

OS X will try to use as much RAM as it can, that is completely normal. The more it can store in your RAM the quicker your system will run.

Many, many people get confused and think that Lion is inefficient with RAM because it tries to use as much as possible. Don't worry too much, as unless you're running VMs, or editing 50MP images, or anything that uses a lot of memory, Lion manages very well with 4GB.
 
Yes OS X has good memory mgmt, and will use all that it can for whatever it needs it for. However, with current prices as low as they are, there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHATSOEVER to not max out any system that uses DDR3 ram.......

And as is usual, memory requirements for ALL OS's and their apps have always been, are now & will forever continue to increase as time goes on....at least until someone figures out how to slowdown/stop/reverse this trend....................

the current low prices will NOT continue forever...........
 
So I just bought a Mac mini the other day and went to crucial to buy some more ram. From what I understand is that the i5 Mid 2011 Mac mini could be upgraded to 8 GB of ram. On the crucial site, however, they show that it could be upgraded to 16 GB. Anyone have any info on this?
 
billnye97 said:
So I just bought a Mac mini the other day and went to crucial to buy some more ram. From what I understand is that the i5 Mid 2011 Mac mini could be upgraded to 8 GB of ram. On the crucial site, however, they show that it could be upgraded to 16 GB. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...

OWC has confirmed that the mini will take and use up to 16 gig of ram.
 
billnye97 said:
So I just bought a Mac mini the other day and went to crucial to buy some more ram. From what I understand is that the i5 Mid 2011 Mac mini could be upgraded to 8 GB of ram. On the crucial site, however, they show that it could be upgraded to 16 GB. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...
You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:
 
billnye97 said:
So I just bought a Mac mini the other day and went to crucial to buy some more ram. From what I understand is that the i5 Mid 2011 Mac mini could be upgraded to 8 GB of ram. On the crucial site, however, they show that it could be upgraded to 16 GB. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...

yes your mac mini can use 16gb ram from crucial . if you want to run vm ware fusion and setup windows and lion it will be helpful
 
Had my 2011 i5 2.3Ghz mac mini for about month now, the standard 2GB just wasn't enough for Lion, so I went to Crucial and upgraded to 8GB for a mere £40 in the UK. System runs perfect now. Just wish I'd checked beforehand, as I thought 8GB was the max, If I had known, I would have went to 16GB. :eek: Oh well never mind, 8GB should be enough for the time being. I suppose I could always replace it the RAM with 16GB at a later date, with the prices being so reasonable.

:cool:
 
4 gigs.

I also have a 2011 i5 2.3 with 4gigs of ram currently. Unless you are really taxing the snot out of your mini, ( Final cut pro, Photoshop, handbrake, 3-4 monitors etc) 4 gigs is more than enough.

I have a dual screen setup and on most days I have at least 12 programs up and running at one time to accomplish my daily tasks. I have never had a hickup, just my mini quietly chugging along.

Outstanding mac! Congrads on your purchase.

~Nathan
 
I am looking at getting the Ram bumped up to at least 8 (and most likely 16) here soon, but another hardware/software question: Is the i7 (Dual Core) beefy enough to run a screen recording program - like fraps - and some of the more basic games out there - like minecraft - at the same time? And if so, what program for recording is out there that you all recommend?
 
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