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Mac mini Core Duo 1.66GHz with 512MB RAM vs 1GB RAM

Monday, March 13, 2006 · 2:05 pm · 19 Comments

“The Mac mini Core Duo is still targeted at the entry-level and general computer user, especially those who already have a display, keyboard and mouse that they want to continue using. The Mac mini Core Duo and Solo have gone upscale in price relative to the Mac mini G4 by $100 but with much more capability and speed,” Bill Fox writes for Macs Only!

Macs Only! pitted a Mac mini Core Duo 1.66GHz with 512MB RAM versus the same unit with 1GB RAM. “Subjectively, all of the applications seemed to work fine with 512MB of RAM and seemed to work no better with 1GB. However, at 256MB the slow-down was very clear and basically the Mac mini Core Duo was unusable–applications took forever to launch and switch between and startup took 62 seconds as opposed just 25 seconds at 512MB and 1GB,” Fox reports. “It is also clear to us that the benefit, if any, of 1GB of RAM over the standard 512MB is small. Most people can save $100 and stick with the Mac mini Core Duos base 512MB of RAM. Those who are likely to occasionally work with very large images on a Mac mini, like us, may benefit from the upgrade and may wish to consider it.”

Full article with benchmark results here.

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Related article:
Increasing RAM improves Mac OS X’s ‘Rosetta’ performance? – January 25, 2006

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Comment Feed

19 Comments

Macs King

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:12 pm · Reply

It appears that Macs Only still has not learned how to write, and and and and and and.

Give your mine a break and skip this one.
greeeeeed

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:15 pm · Reply

More is better! more more more more more…

MW mind as in @I don’t mind the extra cost@
Jeff

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:21 pm · Reply

I would like to see some Rosetta benchmarks with 512 mb vs 1 gb of ram. I suspect there would be some difference.
Jooop

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:21 pm · Reply

Too vague. I want to know the real benefit of 2GB RAM (which is the mini’s new maximum) on RAM-hungry applications like GarageBand, iDVD and iMovie. Why test on 1GB when 2GB is the max?
CandTsmac

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:26 pm · Reply

I own an iMac G5 17″ and the move from 512 to 1gig was a great thing. More apps at a time and faster switching. I think this would be the same for any cpu 2 cores or 1. It all depends on what apps you are using and how hard u push them.
the other steve jobs

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:26 pm · Reply

there is a simple and opinion-less reason why you should get as much RAM as you can afford in it. Rosetta. The memory footprint of those apps, i have seen, tends to run more than double, regardless of what people say.
tHE dUDE

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 3:44 pm · Reply

Mac Mini Core Duo.

Confirmed:
512 MB RAM is fine.

What is not fine is the hard drive. SLOW. Unless you like waiting for things to happen. Especially if you have a lot of photos and plan on using Front Row etc.

Invest in a Firewire 7200RPM hard drive, format for Intel booting (>disk utility OPTION<), install OS on firewire drive.
Spark

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:13 pm · Reply

Hello, how are you?
I’m fine.

Fine is equivalent to “okay”. It’s not superb, it’s not excellent, it’s now improved. I don’t own a mac mini, but my 30 years of computer use has made evident that more RAM always takes a computer beyond “fine”. If reading email and surfing most of the net is all you expect from a mac mini, than 512MB may be excellent. But I doubt that if one wants to work in many of the iLife apps, or wants more that one or two apps concurrently processing, they will find 512 MB of RAM is “fine”. Anyone wanting a pleasant experience with any computer will add an amount of RAM that allows for an experience beyond “fine”. Give yourself some headroom and let your computer be “all that it can be”.
SJR

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:14 pm · Reply

I can testify that the jump from 512MB to 1GB makes all the difference in the world if you’re still running some apps in Rosetta. If you’re running all native apps only, 512MB might be OK, but if you use Photoshop, M$ Office, etc, you definitely need to upgrade to 1GB.
Mind your mine

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 4:17 pm · Reply

How about I give my “mine” a break and skip reading your post!? Oops, already done it
2 Different Paths to 1GB

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:00 pm · Reply

The memory will perform differently depending on configuration. 2x 512 will be better on memory intensive and Rosetta than a 1 x 1GB setup.
tHE dUDE

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 5:18 pm · Reply

FINE: Fine for a lower-end consumer level machine. Light content creation, media browsing

Not FINE: Watching spinning beach ball waiting for System Preferences and every other program to run. Clicking the Menu button on remote and waiting for 30 seconds + for Front Row to appear.

I wouldn’t stop anyone from upgrading the Mini all the way to 2GB. In fact, I will eventually. It is just not mandatory. As the article states.
cam

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 7:17 pm · Reply

2 paths 2 one gig??
one slot in a mac mini.
and dont trust this article it gives u like on timeing but doesnt tell you what the actual article was based off of.
clyde

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 7:47 pm · Reply

Cool! And I was worried that an average joe switcher would have to add memory on the m.m., since it was using system memory for the integrated graphics card.
OpJ

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 8:39 pm · Reply

Funny that this reviews haven’t mentioned the utterly bunged up airport and bluetooth in these critters, such that Apple is now asking that machines brought in with the problem be sent back to Apple. (See networking discussion in mac mini support on Apple’s site.)
Cubert

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 9:47 pm · Reply

The findings in this article are totally contrary to what I have seen with several G4 units (desktop and laptop) and a few G5 units. On all of those, there was a nice speed increase in going from 512 MB to 1 GB of RAM. After 1 GB, you would still see a speed increase but just not as big.
RicMac

Monday, March 13, 2006 - 9:48 pm · Reply

The Mini an entry level computer? Well, ok, but my entry level Mac was a 512k Fat Mac back in 1985. Today I just added a Dual Core with one gig of memory to my home theater setup. It’s sharing the network with three other Macs. All of them have more than the minimum amount of memory, cause memory ROCKS baby!
And the Bluetooth and Airport on this here Dual Core Mini is wall to wall! Not all of em have bad Airport connections or whatever, and I got one of the good ones, whooo hooo!
This rocks on a big screen tv.
tHE dUDE

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 3:07 am · Reply

Some of the Mac Minis do have Airport issues. My Mini’s Airport works about as well as my P4 with a Netgear G card. Poor to acceptable. Whereas my Quicksilver G4 with a trusty original Airport card and my iBook G3 with same card worked FAST and flawless.

I can use the “old Macs” over wireless at full speed while the Mini and the P4 can’t find the network.

Apple and Intel will work it out I guess. Growing pains. I still may take this thing back and try another one.
afcombatcrayola

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 4:13 am · Reply

Has anybody used a Core Duo Mac Mini in conjunction with Skype? How does it run under Rosetta? I just got transplanted in the UK (US Air Force) and the Mini is calling my name, so is 2 cents a minute to the states.