Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Apple, Mac mini
Up to 3GB of RAM in the Mac minis
Reader John L kindly dropped us a tip that Other World Computing has upped their Mac mini memory upgrades up to a whopping 3GB of RAM. And in fact, if you really want a Mini that flies, they'll even squeeze 4GB under the hood, even though they say the Mac Mini can't really handle that much.The performance testing they did just completely confounds me, however-- in situations where lots of memory was needed (the "RAM Hog" setup), 4GB clearly beats everything else. In fact, in most of the regular testing-- the Photoshop test and the "Stress Test" the memory runs exactly how you'd expect: more memory means quicker processing. But in the last two tests, the Halo test and the Xbench test, the mini actually ran faster at just 1GB (which is what it ships with) than the 3GB, and almost as fast as the 4GB. The reasons for that are probably technical (too technical for me, although I'm sure our talented commenters have some answers), but it seems that in some situations, extra RAM just doesn't help.
Still, in situations that ask for a lot of memory, having more will definitely give you a nice bonus in speed, and it looks like the mini can now hold more than ever. When I buy mine (in October when Leopard drops, assuming Steve lets it live that long), I'll probably just double it to a reasonable 2GB. But if you want that extra power, it's good to know it's there.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michel said 4:05PM on 8-18-2007
because the way that computer access its memory, it's better when there are two identical memory extension. the cpu can use both at the same time.
it's better 2 x 512mB than 1 x 1gB
better 2 x 1gB than 1 x 2gB
and so 2 x 2GB is the best.
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NICK A said 4:35PM on 8-18-2007
Quite simple actually: having equal pairs of RAM in terms of size in each slot runs it in full dual channel memory mode, whilst using unmatched pairs results in a non-optimal memory configuration. Cheers.
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punkassjim said 5:10PM on 8-18-2007
Yeah, it's kinda been that way for a good long time, like since pre-G3 days I think. I mean, have you really thought that, all this time, they've been shipping their computers with matched pairs of RAM just so they can rob you of an open slot? The bus is designed to be faster with matched pairs.
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drphred said 5:17PM on 8-18-2007
This is where the slight speed boost you can get by pairing RAM becomes a large speed boost. The integrated graphics uses the system RAM instead of raving its own high-speed RAM. In normal operations you'd never notice the memory speed access speed difference, but 3d graphics involves intensive memory manipulation.
This is why a dedicated graphics card is best. I bet taht the same tests run on a new iMac would show the 3GB vs 4 GB speed oddity.
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Tim said 5:17PM on 8-18-2007
But check out the iMac numbers. Pairs make no difference - only more memory.
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Ryan said 5:18PM on 8-18-2007
Does anyone know where that picture with the mac mini under the TV is from? Or a larger version?
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David Tillyer said 1:59PM on 8-19-2007
See this site for the wall mount..... I want one!!
http://www.compwave.com/products.htm
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Scooper said 5:30PM on 8-18-2007
@6 It's from 123macmini
http://www.123macmini.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=topn&cat=0&pos=1
http://www.123macmini.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-587
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John said 1:50PM on 8-19-2007
I would be very happy if there was a way to let an old Mac mini G4 use a 2GB DDR. Lack of memory is the only reason I keep swearing at my cute little Mac mini...
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jc said 9:34PM on 8-18-2007
3 gigs is the sweet spot right now. Upgraded my macbook pro and the difference is huge.
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artifex said 11:26PM on 8-18-2007
No kidding, John. 1GB max on my 1.42 Mini is pretty slow. But another way to make things faster is to replace the hard drive, either with a faster internal or by booting to an external firewire. It's kind of sad that a firewire-connected drive running IDE internally can be faster than the drive hanging right off the Mini's internal IDE, but that's what happens when Apple chooses 4200 RPM. Form over functionality, right? :)
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Adrian vG said 3:28AM on 8-20-2007
If you don't use memory heavy applications, more RAM will not give you a speed boost everywhere else. Even with memory hungy apps like Adobe Photoshop, if you don't do memory hungry actions, you won't notice a speed boost just by adding more RAM.
It's correct, though, about pairing DDR memory sticks.
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junk.mail.21 said 2:47PM on 8-20-2007
uhhhh...... I am not sure what test results you looked at but the only test I saw that the 4GB didn't win was was XBench. Then the 2GB only won by .09.
Above each chart in RED is says higher is better or lower is better and it isn't the same for each test.
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