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Power of a Mini?

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Wingnut330

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
530
0
Central Ohio - USA
Hey all,

I have a Mini that I'm considering replacing. It's new, and I don't want to replace it if I don't need to but...

Will it handle light photo editing and light video editing? The new Aperture says it requires a 2GHZ C2D processor which I have but it's minimum spec for that software.

Is it worth upgrading the RAM? If so, how much should I add?

I bought this to be a HTPC, but now plan to move it to my Den and use it as our main iLife editing machine. My options are the Mini, and iMac or MBP.

I just bought a MBA and love it!
 
Cave Man

Cave Man

macrumors 604
Feb 12, 2007
7,112
316
Neander Valley, Germany; just outside Duesseldorf
I run PSCS3 and Aperture 1.5.2 concurrently on my 1.66 mHz Mini. It's not blazing fast, but then again I don't process dozens or hundreds of images a day. Video is a piece of cake, too. Get 2 or 3 gigs of RAM and a nice, large firewire drive and you should be good to go.
 
D

dbam987

macrumors regular
Aug 27, 2007
210
0
Wingnut330 said:
Can a mini take more than 2GB of RAM?
Click to expand...

Yep, it can address up to 3GB of DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHz) memory. Some have installed a pair of 2 GB sticks and had success in installing them in their Mini's, but keep in mind that even though 4 GB is available, the current Mini's will only recognize 3 GB. Also keep in mind that the Mini's take the notebook-style memory sticks, not the longer sticks used on desktops.
 
bluedoggiant

bluedoggiant

macrumors 68030
Jul 13, 2007
2,570
54
MD & ATL,GA
I would recommend an iMac since you already have a macbook air, a macbook pro wouldn't make much sense, IMO. If you want some good power, pick the 2.4ghz processor, the 24" is just plus, that i would recommend for looking at your pictures on a large screen, if you want to get a little serious, and want plus power, but dont need a mac pro, nor even the quad mac pro, then a high end imac would be nice. Mini can handle, but I don't really recommend it.
 
OllyW

OllyW

Moderator
Staff member
Oct 11, 2005
17,196
6,799
The Black Country, England
Wingnut330 said:
The new Aperture says it requires a 2GHZ C2D processor which I have but it's minimum spec for that software.
Click to expand...

I think you've read the specs wrong, the minimum requirements for Aperture 2 are...

Aperture 2 - Minimum Hardware Requirements

One of the following Mac computers:
Mac Pro
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air
MacBook
Mac mini with an Intel Core Solo or Duo processor
iMac with a 1.8GHz or faster PowerPC G5 or Intel Core Duo processor
Power Mac G5 with a 1.6GHz or faster PowerPC G5 processor
15- or 17-inch PowerBook G4 with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4 processor
Memory requirements:
1GB of RAM
2GB of RAM required for Mac Pro
One of the following graphics cards:
ATI Radeon X600 Pro, X600 XT, X800 XT Mac Edition, X850 XT, X1600, X1900 XT, 9800 XT, 9800 Pro, 9700 Pro, 9600, 9600 XT, 9600 Pro, 9650, HD 2400 XT, HD 2600 PRO, or HD 2600 XT
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 or 9600
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra, 6600, 6600 LE, 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL, 7300 GT, 7800 GT, 8600M GT, or 8800 GT
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 or Quadro FX 5600
Intel GMA 950
Intel GMA X3100
Minimum Operating System requirements:
Mac OS X v10.4.11 Tiger
Mac OS X v10.5.2 Leopard
DVD drive for installation
5GB of hard drive space for the application and sample projects
Click to expand...
 
W

Wingnut330

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
530
0
Central Ohio - USA
That's the minimum, but the recommended is...

Recommended Configuration

Mac computer with a 2.0GHz or faster Intel Core Duo processor or dual 2.0GHz or faster PowerPC G5 processors
2GB of RAM
One of the following graphics cards:
ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition, 9800 XT, 9800 Pro, X1900 XT, X1600, or HD 2600 XT, HD 2600 PRO
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, 7300 GT, 7800 GT 8600M GT, or 8800 GT
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 or FX 5600

It looks like I'm at the bottom of the recommended configuration Coming from the Windows world I never wanted to be at the bottom of the food chain. Maybe Mac's are different...
 
A

ADent

macrumors 6502a
Sep 9, 2007
504
0
Wingnut330 said:
As for RAM, maybe I'll just add a 2G stick rather than buy 2 2G sticks and essentially waste the one I have. Doesn't seem worth it for .3G gain.
Click to expand...

Buying a 2GB stick will leave you with 2.5GB since Apple typically ships two .5GB (aka 512MB) sticks in minis.
 
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