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Want to upgrade my memory, Help me decide

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blkonblk17

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 19, 2009
280
15
I just purchased the newer mac mini model about 2-3 days ago. It comes with 2gb and I believe I can add up to 8gb. What do you guys recommend? If you can provide links it'll be great.

Thanks!
 
blkonblk17 said:
Also, those of you who have changed from 2gb (factory) memory to 4gb on the mac mini actually felt a difference? Snappier etc?
Click to expand...

I'd spend the extra $20 and get a 2x4Gb kit. 2->4Gb is great, but 4Gb->8Gb is awesome if you use a lot of apps, especially virtualization (vmware or parallels).
 
dcoulson said:
I'd spend the extra $20 and get a 2x4Gb kit. 2->4Gb is great, but 4Gb->8Gb is awesome if you use a lot of apps, especially virtualization (vmware or parallels).
Click to expand...

Seconded. I just went to 8GB from OWC (http://macsales.com/) in my MBP for Xcode (I was keeping lots of stuff open) huge difference! Well worth the extra $50 if you're upgrading now.

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balamw said:
Seconded. I just went to 8GB from OWC (http://macsales.com/) in my MBP for Xcode (I was keeping lots of stuff open) huge difference! Well worth the extra $50 if you're upgrading now.

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Click to expand...

Or get 1x4GB and leave an empty slot for future upgrades. Great option if you're on budget and/or are not sure whether you need 8GB or not. Price is nearly the same as 2x2GB. Losing dual-channel isn't a big deal either, it offers pretty much nothing in real world for an average user
 
Hellhammer said:
Or get 1x4GB and leave an empty slot for future upgrades. Great option if you're on budget and/or are not sure whether you need 8GB or not. Price is nearly the same as 2x2GB. Losing dual-channel isn't a big deal either, it offers pretty much nothing in real world for an average user
Click to expand...

you can run 1 1gb and 1 4gb it is a bit quicker the 1 4gb and 0 stick.
 
I used the activity monitor to access my memory needs. Simply start activity monitor, under "VIEW" select Dock icon, show memory usage. I found that with the stock 2GB there was when running a few applications, just a thin segment of green left (free memory). I upgraded to 8GB, and now find it is 3/4 green all the time. In hindsight I could have saved money and just gone for a 4GB upgrade. I geekbenched the mini before and after. With a stock 2GB I got 3359, with 8GB it increased to 3368. Changing to an Intel 80GB SSD made no difference in geekbench, but the machine is quite "snappy" now.

In short I think 8GB in a mini is a waste of money, I think the machine has bottlenecks elsewhere.
 
What exact Machine Model do you have?

For example, take a look at this table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini#Specifications_2

I have a "Macmini2,1". Apple only "supports" 2 Gigs in this model, but I put in 4 Gigs, of which 3 are considered "addressable".

Make sure that you get the most memory your Mini can handle, regardless of if it's "supported".

----Ooops----

I missed your comment about having purchased the new one.

I still say get the full 8 Gigs for your machine.
 
Last edited:
blkonblk17 said:
Also, those of you who have changed from 2gb (factory) memory to 4gb on the mac mini actually felt a difference? Snappier etc?
Click to expand...

I know this is a bit late, sorry.

IMO the standard Mini is painfully crippled, even for what I would consider moderate usage. Heavy users definitely tax the Mini. The standard hdd is quite slow, even by notebook hdd standards, so when you run out of ram it gets really slow. Even my old dual 2.7 power G5 was much faster at hdd reads and writes but in fairness I had a raid 0 setup.

I would add a stick of 4GB and see how it goes. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
:)
 
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