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Will 1 GB be enough?

H

Henrik85

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 3, 2009
52
0
I'm having a bit of a dilemma here. I wonder if 1 GB of memory will be enough for me. I will only use the Mini for internet, music and video (it would be nice if it can handle 1080p). I will be doing no gaming whatsoever.

I really want to avoid having to open the machine and installing extra memory myself. I have lots of experience installing/troubleshooting PC-hardware, but I don't feel comfortable at all fiddling around with Apple hardware.

I also don't feel like paying a lot of extra money for the Mini, plus having to wait much longer to actually get it (The Swedish Apple Store says 5 days until it's ready to be shipped, and I suppose it will take another 5 days after that...)

What are your thoughts?
 
1 GB is enough for music, video and even 1080p playback. If you want to multitask though, that's where the delays start to happen.

I just bought one yesterday and I'm using it with Plex for my HTPC. Everything works great and there are no delays.
 
The term "multitasking" for me is just running Firefox with a couple of tabs open, X-Chat, Adium, uTorrent, and iTunes at the same time... and I suppose it will be able to handle that... I guess I'll go with the base machine for now :)
 
If multitasking is important to you, then for only $50 more, I'd go for the 2GB standard. I used 1GB on my last-gen Mac mini, and it was fine, but when having iTunes, MSN, Safari, Transmission and Pages open, it would struggle somewhat. 2GB will give you a significantly noticeable advantage.
 
I might have to reconsider then... it's just that the wait will be so long :(

I just can't stand waiting any longer... :)
 
Totally agree. Buy as much ram as you can afford now, or commit to replacing it yourself later. 95% of the time when a friend or family member complains that their computer is slow, it's because they are short on RAM. 1GB standard on the mini is really unacceptable in 2009.
 
Are you good with your hands? Do you know how to change your own oil? Can you put together Ikea furniture? If so, quit being a pansy and install it yourself. It's not big of a deal.

Edit: Or buy it with 1GB now and upgrade if you think it's too slow. It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing.
 
And everybody in the forums says?! (NO!)

Basically. No. A lot of these people are right about the multi-tasking and stuff. The other thing is, I am guessing you will have this computer for a while. While technology gets more complicated, 1GB may be OK now, but in the future, especially if you want to upgrade to snow leopard, 2GB will be the min.

So if you want to buy a Mac-Mini rather than a different mac I would go with the newest release, and 1GB of RAM. Then go out and buy four GB of RAM for your Mini because Apple WAY over charges. You could also see how you like the 1GB and if you don't then go out and buy the four. But I would recommend no less than 3GB.
 
Well, I'm typing this on a iMac with 1 Gb RAM. I have bought 4 GB 6 months ago, but it's still in the box since for the simple tasks (surfing, editing photos, writing documents) I am using the iMac for, I don't need more. One of these days I will add it, but yes, for day to day things 1 GB is enough. RAM is a cheap way of improving the feeling of performance and speed, but why don't do it yourself at a later stage.
 
FWIW the '09 mini is pretty easy to upgrade RAM, much more so than the previous version. You can get a 4GB dual channel kit for about $50. That's 2x the RAM you'd get if you let Apple do it. Just saying. The hardest part is unlocking the top. You just use a thin spackle knife and pry up. OWC (macsales.com) has a step-by-step video on their Mac mini page.

Next remove the wifi/bt antennas, remove 4 screws, one in each corner, pop off a connector in the rear and slowly lift away. You'll see the RAM slots. Pop in your RAM and reverse. I recommend not installing the screws, loosely put the top on and hook up to monitor/kbd to make sure every thing is OK. If it is put the screws in and put the top back on.

Whole job will take you maybe 20 min your first time out. Just go slow. It's really not that bad. I remember putting an Airport card in my TiBook. Now that was bad.
 
While I agree with most folks on this thread that more memory is always good, if you don't have the money or don't want to install it, 1GB will work. I pretty much use my old 17" PowerBook for pretty much exactly the same thing. I have 1.5GB on it, and I use it in the living room for surfing, email, and Hulu/YouTube videos. It handles all that with no problems. I also often have a couple of other tabs open, along with Adium. The biggest problem I encounter is some stuttering when running Hulu or some other videos in full screen mode. I think that may be more because of my wireless rather than the machine itself. Bear in mind that this is on an old PPC 1.67 rather than the speedier C2D processors.
 
depulse said:
Well, I'm typing this on a iMac with 1 Gb RAM. I have bought 4 GB 6 months ago, but it's still in the box since for the simple tasks (surfing, editing photos, writing documents) I am using the iMac for, I don't need more. One of these days I will add it, but yes, for day to day things 1 GB is enough. RAM is a cheap way of improving the feeling of performance and speed, but why don't do it yourself at a later stage.
Click to expand...

lol so you bought more but dont want to add it? makes no sense
 
Chupa Chupa said:
FWIW the '09 mini is pretty easy to upgrade RAM, much more so than the previous version. You can get a 4GB dual channel kit for about $50. That's 2x the RAM you'd get if you let Apple do it. Just saying. The hardest part is unlocking the top. You just use a thin spackle knife and pry up. OWC (macsales.com) has a step-by-step video on their Mac mini page.

Next remove the wifi/bt antennas, remove 4 screws, one in each corner, pop off a connector in the rear and slowly lift away. You'll see the RAM slots. Pop in your RAM and reverse. I recommend not installing the screws, loosely put the top on and hook up to monitor/kbd to make sure every thing is OK. If it is put the screws in and put the top back on.

Whole job will take you maybe 20 min your first time out. Just go slow. It's really not that bad. I remember putting an Airport card in my TiBook. Now that was bad.
Click to expand...
That sounds pretty simple :) I got the impression that it was harder to do than on the previous versions of the Mini.

Thanks for the answers guys.
 
1GB is barely enough; if you plan to anything other than web browsing you want at least 2GB. Good news is if you buy the 1GB model they give you a 1GB stick, not 2 512MB sticks.

Also if you buy Apple certifed RAM (any RAM that is says Apple certified and costs like $20 more than regular RAM—eg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233076), you can take it to the Genius Bar and they will upgrade it for you for free.
 
One thing I wanted to throw in there from playing around tonight with my new Mini.

I have the 1GB base configuration. I've ALWAYS used VLC for everything, but I noticed in full-screen, the HD encodes from tvnihon.com were coming up really laggy with tons of artifacts. It was bad, hit the point of unwatchable in about 30 seconds.

However, I decided to try out Plex, which many people reccomended- talk about a night and day difference! No lag, no artifacts, etc. It was glorious.

I'm wondering still if the issues with VLC were related to the about of RAM and vRAM in the computer right now- I suppose I'll find out once I have more memory installed! As prior posters have said, even if 1GB works *NOW* better to future proof yourself and just get the upgrade. The 4GB set from Newegg is cheap.

I did notice Plex crashes sometimes randomly when playing music through iTunes though. Not sure what can be done about that.

I love the setup though, it's great so far.
 
Just to be clear, with 1GB, 128MB is allocated to video, with 2GB or more 256MB is allocated to video, so the more RAM for video means better video performance especially when it's integrated graphics.
 
One thing I'm impressed with on the Mini thus far is that, to use the cheezy old Apple axiom, everything just works so far.

Plugged in the multiple adapters to get video to my receiver through HDMI, worked fine right off the bat. Hooked up the optical audio connection, again, worked immediately. Had issues with the overscan at first, til I realized I simply had to hit a button on my TV's remote and the screen was perfectly sized.

Had *some* issues with the 1080p thing at first. I just couldn't get validation I actually was getting 1080p. I installed and tried SwitchResX (which all I ultimately succeeded in doing was changing the way OS X saw the display, from SR-606 to "Samsung TV" lol). I realized a simple test to see how my TV distinuished 1080i and 1080p in it's description was to just turn on my cable box and my ps3. PS3 my TV simply said "1920x1080" on the cable box it distinctly said "1920x1080i". Went back to the Mac, checked the two resolution options...bam, one said 1080i on the TV when I changed it, the other did not..phew, I have working 1080p!

Last time I tried using a Windows laptop on my receiver it was a nightmare, and I was using HDMI for video and audio! I think I spent 2 hours just fiddling with Windows settings before I got it to work (just video and audio...nevermind resolution issues). In under 2 hours on the mac I had everything hooked up, and 99% of my questions answered. It's a welcome change. Videos look great on it, even the really old ones that definately aren't in HD...which is a suprise considering usually non-HD playback on LCD TVs is pretty bad, this is actually decent quality.

Still getting used to the 120hz thing on playback. Seems on non-HD stuff it makes no difference, on HD programming..woot


Edit: Although frankly, I think tomorrow I may end up wiping the drive and reinstalling OSX, simply because with only a 120gb hard drive, space is at a premium, and there will be alot of OSX programs that, while I'm sure they are great, I will never use, and I'd rather conserve the disk space. A clean wipe and install will likely be faster than anything else.


GAH edit 2, I forgot to ask something.

For those that installed the memory, did you have to do anything else after to ensure the computer properly recognized it? I read something with prior Minis about resetting the PRAM? How do you do that/is it necessary on the new Minis? Thanks!
 
Allusion said:
Edit: Although frankly, I think tomorrow I may end up wiping the drive and reinstalling OSX, simply because with only a 120gb hard drive, space is at a premium, and there will be alot of OSX programs that, while I'm sure they are great, I will never use, and I'd rather conserve the disk space. A clean wipe and install will likely be faster than anything else.


GAH edit 2, I forgot to ask something.

For those that installed the memory, did you have to do anything else after to ensure the computer properly recognized it? I read something with prior Minis about resetting the PRAM? How do you do that/is it necessary on the new Minis? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Upgrade that patry 120GB.

And nothing that I'm aware of needed to be done. Of course I upgraded the RAM before my first boot.
 
I think I'll just have to custom-order it with 1 GB extra from Apple:( It's going to be a loooong wait...
 
Henrik85 said:
I think I'll just have to custom-order it with 1 GB extra from Apple:( It's going to be a loooong wait...
Click to expand...
I think you should consider maxing the ram. I have 2 GB in my current (old) mini, and it just barely runs OK (for instance, Safari is currently using 540 MB of real memory, and I do run other applications too). Mac OS X is terrible when it swaps.

Not trying to start a flame war or anything, but I have no idea what Apple is thinking when it comes to ram. The new quad-core Mac Pro can only take 8 GB ram, I use the previous model with 10 GB and I can't imagine running it with anything less.
 
"1GB ought to be enough for anybody" ;)

Yeah it's not ideal, I have the 1GB model and it's noticable in comparison to my iMac and MBP which both have 2. It's not *too* bad though.
 
I only have 1Gb in my Mac and I can definately tell I need way more than that if I use it for more than listening to music or watching video.

For instance, I've got Mail, Firefox, iTunes and VLC open.

While playing a 320 x 240 music video off Youtube Activity Monitor is showing:

610Mb Used
4.76Gb Virtual Memory.

If I quit VLC, then open Pro Tools LE (sequencer, Hard Disk recorder) and Reason (software synth, virtual studio). Even without playing anything back, my whole system is less responsive, particularly the keyboard while typing this and Activity Monitor is showing:

939Mb Used
5.36GB Virtual Memory.

This is under Tiger, I don't know if Leopard is more efficient but I would say if you're just a general internet user with iTunes open all the time, you shouldn't have a problem with only 1Gb but if you do anything creative musically or graphically. "Too Much RAM" isn't a phrase that will ever crop up!
 
Can somebody confirm that the G-Bar will install it for free? Also a link to "Apple Cert" RAM (that Newegg link said invalid)?
 
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