Just felt like sharing my experiences in putting an SSD in my Mac Mini. Suffice to say I'm very pleased with the results! So here's a little review. Real-usage results rather than Xbenchesque numbers, since I feel it's more relevant!
I own an old core solo 1.5GHz mac mini, originally with 512MB RAM. I swapped out the CPU for a modest Core Duo 1.83GHz and 2GB of memory after finding the system far too slow for modern use, and Leopard.
No problems there, done and dusted it was a big improvement becoming my everyday machine over my monstrous quad-core PC.
But then I began to consider the old 60GB hard disk. It was the single slowest-performing component of the system I hadn't bothered to touch yet. I began to wonder if the system had more potential, because loading applications didn't seem to be taxing the CPUs resources. Also, I'm impatient
So I took the plunge, purchasing an OCZ Solid series 60GB SSD for around £115ish. A good purchase as far as SSD prices go, I didn't need any extra storage as I have several external hard disks for data, only apps on the mini itself. The drive felt roughly the same weight as the original, and fit in its place perfectly.
Well, once the system was up and running the difference was immediately obvious. It's fast. VERY fast! On bootup (after the usual POST etc), it will transition from the moment the rotating progress indicator under the Apple logo appears (when the mac starts to load from the hard disk) to the login screen in about three to five seconds flat.
Going from the same point straight to the desktop took a total of twenty seconds, down from the two+ minutes it used to. (Times measured from the point that background apps stop loading; the actual system is responsive and ready to use sooner!)
Loading applications is a dream come true; everyday apps like Firefox, Safari, Mail or Calendar appear to simply pop up on click, with an absolute maximum delay of perhaps a couple of seconds. I never appreciated how much time I spent waiting for things to compute before. Quicktime for example, will load in about four seconds whereas it would previously take at least fifteen.
iWork '08 and '09 run like greased lightening, with Pages, Keynote and Numbers all loading in under 1.5 seconds. Bigger apps like Photoshop CS3 will be sat waiting for you in six seconds.
File transfers are fantastically fast and time machine and spotlight are dramatically faster, the latter responding with no delay although the former will only go as fast as the target drive allows
The only app that hasn't seen as massive a performance increase is iTunes. It's much faster, loading in seven to ten seconds, but my library is very large and externally based so I cannot give a good performance metric.
Lastly, I've noticed almost no delays in applications any more during their use; those niggling moments when you realise you've been doing "too much at once" and have to wait for the machine to finish its queue of commands to regain responsiveness. I'm guessing that's because there's just no HDD delay there any more!!
In summary, this has been a VAST improvement and has actually dissuaded me from upgrading to an iMac for the extra speed; it has turned my few-year old mini into a *very* competent, fast and modern-feeling machine. I highly recommend looking into SSDs for your kit if you're looking to squeeze out as much potential from your system as possible! Particularly if you have under 2GB of RAM, and rely on virtual memory. Massive increases to be had there
I own an old core solo 1.5GHz mac mini, originally with 512MB RAM. I swapped out the CPU for a modest Core Duo 1.83GHz and 2GB of memory after finding the system far too slow for modern use, and Leopard.
No problems there, done and dusted it was a big improvement becoming my everyday machine over my monstrous quad-core PC.
But then I began to consider the old 60GB hard disk. It was the single slowest-performing component of the system I hadn't bothered to touch yet. I began to wonder if the system had more potential, because loading applications didn't seem to be taxing the CPUs resources. Also, I'm impatient
So I took the plunge, purchasing an OCZ Solid series 60GB SSD for around £115ish. A good purchase as far as SSD prices go, I didn't need any extra storage as I have several external hard disks for data, only apps on the mini itself. The drive felt roughly the same weight as the original, and fit in its place perfectly.
Well, once the system was up and running the difference was immediately obvious. It's fast. VERY fast! On bootup (after the usual POST etc), it will transition from the moment the rotating progress indicator under the Apple logo appears (when the mac starts to load from the hard disk) to the login screen in about three to five seconds flat.
Going from the same point straight to the desktop took a total of twenty seconds, down from the two+ minutes it used to. (Times measured from the point that background apps stop loading; the actual system is responsive and ready to use sooner!)
Loading applications is a dream come true; everyday apps like Firefox, Safari, Mail or Calendar appear to simply pop up on click, with an absolute maximum delay of perhaps a couple of seconds. I never appreciated how much time I spent waiting for things to compute before. Quicktime for example, will load in about four seconds whereas it would previously take at least fifteen.
iWork '08 and '09 run like greased lightening, with Pages, Keynote and Numbers all loading in under 1.5 seconds. Bigger apps like Photoshop CS3 will be sat waiting for you in six seconds.
File transfers are fantastically fast and time machine and spotlight are dramatically faster, the latter responding with no delay although the former will only go as fast as the target drive allows
The only app that hasn't seen as massive a performance increase is iTunes. It's much faster, loading in seven to ten seconds, but my library is very large and externally based so I cannot give a good performance metric.
Lastly, I've noticed almost no delays in applications any more during their use; those niggling moments when you realise you've been doing "too much at once" and have to wait for the machine to finish its queue of commands to regain responsiveness. I'm guessing that's because there's just no HDD delay there any more!!
In summary, this has been a VAST improvement and has actually dissuaded me from upgrading to an iMac for the extra speed; it has turned my few-year old mini into a *very* competent, fast and modern-feeling machine. I highly recommend looking into SSDs for your kit if you're looking to squeeze out as much potential from your system as possible! Particularly if you have under 2GB of RAM, and rely on virtual memory. Massive increases to be had there
