Mac Mini vs Firefox

I got a mac mini core solo a few days ago and I'm having a great time, but the system memory is VERY low. I've noticed especially that Firefox is a memory hog. What's a good web browsing alternative for this system (functionality vs memory use). Along side that however, upgrading memory in these systems is a pain, is it not? As I understand, it voids your warranty, is difficult to do, and even then, can I throw any kind of DDR ram in there or am I limited to certain apple ram (I'm a new switcher btw). Thanks for the help!

polakbob said:

I got a mac mini core solo a few days ago and I'm having a great time, but the system memory is VERY low. I've noticed especially that Firefox is a memory hog. What's a good web browsing alternative for this system (functionality vs memory use). Along side that however, upgrading memory in these systems is a pain, is it not? As I understand, it voids your warranty, is difficult to do, and even then, can I throw any kind of DDR ram in there or am I limited to certain apple ram (I'm a new switcher btw). Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

There is Safari and Opera for your alternitive web browsers.. I am normally switching between firefox and Safari.. (off the wall question to everyone else.. is Firefox a Universal Binary?)

The memory the mini uses is DDR2 667 Non-ECC. You would be fine getting any reputible brand (kingston, crucial, corsair) and be fine.. I would just stay away from the el cheapo brand, as it can be a hit or miss for system stability.

Installing the ram can be a pain, you have to "crack" open the case, but there are plenty of websites that give instructions to open it up. And unless apple changed its policy it would void your warranty.

Are there more than one ram slots on the board or would i need to expand by adding a larger stick?

polakbob said:

Are there more than one ram slots on the board or would i need to expand by adding a larger stick?

Click to expand...

If you just got the coreduo mini, there are 2 slots in it.. I think some older ones had 1 slot

Actually, the core solo mini. I suppose there has to be a way to find out...

polakbob said:

Actually, the core solo mini. I suppose there has to be a way to find out...

Click to expand...

I looks like there are 2 memory slots in your solo model.

http://www.caminobrowser.org/

my personal favorite

polakbob said:

I got a mac mini core solo a few days ago and I'm having a great time, but the system memory is VERY low. I've noticed especially that Firefox is a memory hog. What's a good web browsing alternative for this system (functionality vs memory use). Along side that however, upgrading memory in these systems is a pain, is it not? As I understand, it voids your warranty, is difficult to do, and even then, can I throw any kind of DDR ram in there or am I limited to certain apple ram (I'm a new switcher btw). Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

Just one more thing I was looking at...
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0/releasenotes/

Firefox 1.5... does not seem to be a Universal Binary. The 2.0 is in beta, but looks like it is a universal binary.. That may give you a performance boost if you want to try out beta software. Can anyone back me up on that?

i like safari, and firefox 2 RC3.
for me firfox 2 RC3 helps me alot because i really suck at spelling and has a built in spell check when typing. but i like the looks of safari

Camino is my favourite browser. It is lightweight, simple and powerful.

wouldn't know about the intel models polakbob, i have a g4 model myself. but from whats already been said, browser wise opera is my main browser - and to save some more memory you can turn off dashboard if you don't use it, the widgets take up cpu usage and memory too

By the way -- My Experiences with Opera were about the same as you described Firefox... Memory hog, I leave my browser on 24/7 and just constantly load/unload web pages.. Opera just ate CPU and RAM... (Which is funny, Opera on Linux and mostly on Win32 work really good).

But yes I use nearly exclusively Camino, with an occasional Safari when the situation arises Camino isn't displaying everything perfectly to my expectations.