Should I upgrade my Mac Mini?

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I bought a second hand Mac Mini mid 2010 about a year ago. It was maxed out to 8 GB RAM by the previous owner, but still has the original 320 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. The processor is a Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz.

It is my first Mac. My intended use is for iOS development. But it took me a year to find the time to begin the learning process, lol!. My day job is doing B2B website development w/ MS ASP.NET & C#. In a perfect world, I'd probably dedicate more time to programming in the Apple universe and write it off as my mid life crisis! For the foreseeable future, I'll be Windows oriented in my career, but playing w/ Macs and iDevices in my free time.

That said, I'm now at the point where my Mini doesn't meet my needs processing wise. It is OK with running a few applications, browsing the net and watching Netflix etc. And it can handle development work for now. But virtualization brings it to its knees. I've been running VMWare Fusion off and on since last year. I am now testing out a trial version of Parallels Desktop. Neither virtualization solution runs very well on my current hardware, though Parallels does seems faster.

I've given some thought to upgrading the hard drive to a 512 GB SSD. My other idea is getting a new Mac Mini w/ an i7 and selling my current model. I've also considered one of the new MacBook Air models. But that is too much for now.

I wonder how an SSD upgrade will help, especially with virtualization. My RAM is maxed out at 8 GB. The hard drive is the only upgrade option possible wo/ getting a new machine.

Any thoughts, opinions, advice, etc. ???
 

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I've given some thought to upgrading the hard drive to a 512 GB SSD. My other idea is getting a new Mac Mini w/ an i7 and selling my current model. I've also considered one of the new MacBook Air models. But that is too much for now.

I wonder how an SSD upgrade will help, especially with virtualization. My RAM is maxed out at 8 GB. The hard drive is the only upgrade option possible wo/ getting a new machine.

Any thoughts, opinions, advice, etc. ???

First of all your 2010 Mac-Mini can be upgraded to 16gig of ram. So if you think that would help...you could go this route.

Second. I certainly would not upgrade to a 512gig SSD. Why you say? SSD's are expensive...and the larger capacity models even more (price/gig). A 512gig SSD will probably cost you $400+.

If it were me...and I was willing to spend $400+ on an SSD (and I was considering upgrading to a newer Mac-Mini)...I would rather spend that $400+ on a new Mac-Mini. The new Mac-Mini with the i7 cpu costs $799. So that $400+ spent on a 512gig SSD would be a large chunk of a new Mac-Mini.

But like I mentioned earlier. Your 2010 can actually be upgraded to 16gig of ram...and if that will help things...that will only cost you around $175.

HTH,:)

- Nick
 
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First of all your 2010 Mac-Mini can be upgraded to 16gig of ram. So if you think that would help...you could go this route.

Second. I certainly would not upgrade to a 512gig SSD. Why you say? SSD's are expensive...and the larger capacity models even more (price/gig). A 512gig SSD will probably cost you $400+.

If it were me...and I was willing to spend $400+ on an SSD (and I was considering upgrading to a newer Mac-Mini)...I would rather spend that $400+ on a new Mac-Mini. The new Mac-Mini with the i7 cpu costs $799. So that $400+ spent on a 512gig SSD would be a large chunk of a new Mac-Mini.

But like I mentioned earlier. Your 2010 can actually be upgraded to 16gig of ram...and if that will help things...that will only cost you around $175.

HTH,:)

- Nick

I'm pretty sure that the 2010 model did max at 8gb of ram. I had one of these back then and 8 was all I could ever get to go. 2011 and on mini's can definitely take 16gb.
 

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You've probably already thought of the but have you checked the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine. When I jumped from 4GB to 8GB recently on my MB Pro the memory allocated inside Fusion for the virtual machine had not changed. Changing it didn't turn the VM into a speed demon but did help. Wasn't expecting huge improvements its a Win XP VM (32 bit).
 
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Thanks for the replies!

I've had the same thought, that an SSD cost is too high considering the cost of a new Mini. I just checked Craig's List locally and found several i5 models, mid 2011 and later, for LESS money than I spent a year ago for my current Mini. Looks like I spent a little too much then.

That said if I got a newer Mini, is maxing out the RAM to 16 GB, better than a faster drive. The drives on these are 500 GB, I assume still at 5400 RPM. I have a Samsung Slate (Windows tablet) with an i5 Sandy Bridge, that run circles another a Dell desktop w/ a Core 2 Duo. Even ran VMWare Player w/ VM on USB2 hard drive! There should be considerable advantage just moving to an i5.

About the RAM size in the VM: after reading a highly technical article (I think from Mac Tech) comparing VMWare Fusion and Parallels, the author stated too much memory in the VM can slow things down. The VM is the Windows 8.1 Preview, which came out late last month. I tried 64 bit at first, but switched to 32 bit since it is the better choice w/ limited RAM.
 
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I have the same 2010 Mini you have. I use it as a media hub with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD (SSD is circa 2009). It is quite fast, but 8GB would make it better for VM use. It currently runs a Win7 32-bit VM just fine, but it is mainly used with MS Office type products (Visio, Sharepoint, Project). Actually, since we started running Citrix for work, I don't use it much for MS Office lately. I'd have to imagine that with 8GB of RAM, it would run Win7 without issue. I don't code or compile in Windows though (or run Win8), so I guess mine is an Apples to oranges comparison.
I hold on to this Mini mainly since it has an internal optical drive and because the video connection is already set up to my TV and works perfectly as a DVD player for even old RCA connected TVs. Still, I'd rather spend $400 towards a new i5 or i7 Mini and an external Blueray drive, than bulk mine up to handle more demanding tasks.

ETA: maybe sell the Mini on Craigslist or eBay for $300-$400, add that to the $400 for a new SSD; you now have the scratch for a new Mini?
 
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Apparently my Mac Mini can take 16 GB RAM, at least according to OWC.

OWC MaxRAM Memory Certification - Max out your Mac's Memory

Question is: can I find that kind of memory locally and not go through OWC? I live in Southern California, so there shouldn't be any problem finding memory. But I have to make sure it's the right stuff.
 

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I'm pretty sure that the 2010 model did max at 8gb of ram. I had one of these back then and 8 was all I could ever get to go. 2011 and on mini's can definitely take 16gb.

2010 Mac Mini 2.4ghz can take 16gig of ram. I checked on that detail before posting.:)

- Nick
 

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Apparently my Mac Mini can take 16 GB RAM, at least according to OWC.

That's what I said in post #2!:)

Question is: can I find that kind of memory locally and not go through OWC? I live in Southern California, so there shouldn't be any problem finding memory. But I have to make sure it's the right stuff.

If you ordered the OWC ram today...got overnight shipping...you would have it tomorrow.:) You want ram that works...and the ram from OWC works.

You can also get ram from Crucial.com.

- Nick
 

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The OWC memory chart is probably dead on accurate. If they say it will take that much ram it probably will. When I purchased my 2008 MacBook Pro the official maximum memory was 4GB. A year or so later OWC posted a note that the limit was 6GB. Now it is listed at 8 GB for the same machine. I can say for a fact that my machine recognizes the 8GB just as OWC says it does. I installed it about two months ago and not had any issues.

What has probably happened is that higher density memory chips are available for your machine now than there were then. IIRC when Apple tests maximum memory configurations they are based on chip capacities at that time. If new chips with the same specs but different capacities become available they don't usually update the max specs because they haven't tested those configurations.
 
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I have found a mid 2011 Mac Mini locally for $440 on Craig's List. It has 8 GB RAM already and the standard 500 GB hard drive.

The RAM upgrade from OWC is $180 plus other shipping charges.

I could have the newer Mini this evening and the RAM in a couple of days.

That the mid 2011 Mini is a little over twice the price of the RAM upgrade of my current Mini.And of course the newer Mini will also take 16 GB, though I strongly suspect 8 GB will have my needs initially.
 

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I have found a mid 2011 Mac Mini locally for $440 on Craig's List. It has 8 GB RAM already and the standard 500 GB hard drive.

What cpu does it have?

- Nick
 

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2.3GHz Core i5

CPU benchmark score for that 2011 Mac-Mini is 5839...cpu benchmark score on a new 2012 Mac-Mini with the 2.3ghz i7 cpu (4 cores) is 10626. Of course a lot of that better benchmark score for the 2012 mini is due to the 4 cores.

What I'm thinking is...you can spend $440 for that 2011 Mac-Mini...or $799 for the new 2012 2.3ghz i7 Mac-Mini. With the 2012 mini you get 4 cores & better graphics hardware.

Yes the 2012 only comes with 4 gig of ram. But you can always upgrade the ram on the 2012...but you will never be able to upgrade the cpu & graphics hardware on that 2011 mini.

Heck...even if you purchased the new lower-end 2012 Mac-Mini with the 2.5ghz i5 cpu for $599...it has a cpu benchmark score of 6643 (10%+ better than the 2011 Mini)...and the 2012 i5 mini also has better graphics hardware.

What I'm basically trying to say is...$440 for that 2011 Mini probably isn't that great of a price...compared to what you would get with one of the new mini's.

- Nick
 
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Thanks for the helpful replies I've received so far. But I have to answer a question for myself none of you can answer, that is how far should I go in upgrading my Mac or getting a newer Mac. I've had my current Mac Mini since last August, less than a year. During that time, I've used it heavily the first month or two and then again for the last month now. In between, I only used it for occasional Netflix viewing on a 32 LCD monitor.

That said, I am considering the cheapest route right now, getting the 16 GB RAM upgrade from OWC. I know it is upgrading an older Mac. But it is the most bang for the buck until I know I'll be using a Mac more regularly. I can certainly do the iOS development on this box in the meantime. It certainly isn't the performance I'm accustomed to on my 32 GB RAM Windows 7 box at work. Nor should it be.

This leaves me with another question. How can I determine the bottle neck when running virtualization? How do I interpret the readings with Activity Monitor? If I'm reading it right, it looks like more memory will reduce swapping to paging files. It should reduce time lost to paging. How can I know for sure?

Thanks,

Steve
 

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How do I interpret the readings with Activity Monitor? If I'm reading it right, it looks like more memory will reduce swapping to paging files. It should reduce time lost to paging. How can I know for sure?

Here's how to interpret Activity Monitor readings:

Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used

FYI...usually "page-outs" and "swap file" issues are greatly reduced when 8gig or more is installed. So installing 16gig may or may not be the solution.

Also...if the page-outs and swap file get large (causing a decrease in performance)...the simple answer is to reboot the computer...which "resets" everything to zero.

The experiment you want to do is:

- reboot your computer
- do what you normally do on the Mac-Mini
- all the while monitor the swap file and page outs to see how long it takes for these to get "large"

The more installed ram...the longer it will take for these file sizes to increase from zero. Like I mentioned...when you have 8gig or more ram installed...it can take quite a while (in most users situations) before these become greater than zero (I'm talking days or longer).

And even when these file sizes are greater than zero...it can take quite a while for them to get to a size that actually degrades performance. So what I'm saying is...if it takes a week or more for these file sizes to get to a level that hampers perfomance...just simply reboot the computer.

In your situation...if it does take quite a while (days or a week+) for these file sizes to get to a point of slowing down the computer...then a 16gig ram upgrade is not the solution. The solution then may be a newer faster more capable computer (if the computer seems too slow).

As a "flip-side" example. If someone only had 1-2gig of installed ram...the swap file and page out sizes can increase from zero VERY quickly...and possibily in less than a day (or a few hours)...get to a point that computer performance is effected. In this case...a 4gig ram upgrade greatly improves things...and an 8gig ram upgrade from there is even better (but not necessary for most folks at this time).

So again...do the experiment that I mentioned above...to determine how long it takes your Mac-Mini (with 8gig of ram) and with the computing activities you do...for the page outs and swap file sizes to:

1. Deviate from zero.
2. Get to a size that actually impacts computer performance.

This will give you an idea if:

- a 16gig ram upgrade is the solution
- if you simply need to reboot the computer more often
- need a newer faster computer

HTH,

- Nick
 
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skallal
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I've been silent for awhile, but have some additions to my arsenal. I was toying with buying a new MBA 13" i7 with all the trimmings. Instead picked up an early 2011 MBP 13" i7. I've already upgraded the RAM to 16 GB, twice the max speced by Apple. The hard drive is still the stock 500 GB for now.

Simply put, there is substitute for better hardware. The thing I regret is the screen resolution at 1280x800. Should have looked for a 15" instead. Of course an external monitor is an option when at home. Virtualization is SO much better now.

I'll probably be selling the Mac Mini, though it can still be a light weight server or HTPC. And any further discussions about the MBP belongs in another forum...
 

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