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Best Upgrade from 2010 2.4GHz C2D Mac Mini?

Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
As the title suggests, my HTPC hooked up to my TV is a 2010 Mac Mini - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 320M 256MB.

It mainly runs Plex which works fine, with no slowdown on video although sometimes this can happen if it starts doing things in the background. I'm generally happy with that but in an ideal world I'd like a better one to address the following problems:

  • Very slow running other day to day apps (Chrome takes forever to load)
  • Cannot stream AirPlay videos to it smoothly (using AirServer) while Plex is running
  • Cannot smoothly run Plex on one user account and log in to a second using the multiple account logon feature of screen sharing

Currently if I want to stream a video to it via AirPlay I have to load up Rowmote or screen sharing and quit Plex, which is a pain. It doesn't seem to have enough oomph (don't know if CPU or GPU) to do both simultaneously.

What sort of upgrade would I need? I'd love to be able to play games on it but that's not a major requirement. I'm looking at the 2012 2.5GHz Core i5 model, but if feels odd upgrading just for what looks like a smallish CPU upgrade (and GPU?). I could sell my old one of course but I'd still need to put a couple hundred pounds in so it would need to be a decent upgrade.

This is probably window shopping, but would do you folks reckon would be a good upgrade?

P.S. What about the quad-core version? Quite a lot more expensive and just seems like overkill for my needs...
 
M

macleod644

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2012
7
0
I mean u could always just get the new Mac mini which IMO is pretty impressive. Then there's the Mac Pro if u got the $$. How much u tryna spend?
 
Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
macleod644 said:
I mean u could always just get the new Mac mini which IMO is pretty impressive. Then there's the Mac Pro if u got the $$. How much u tryna spend?
Click to expand...

This sits under my TV so not interested in the Pro. I could sell my Mac Mini for about £350 ($560) if lucky and so I'd need to put in another £150-£200 ($240-$320).

If the base model would fix the problems I mentioned, that would be ideal, as I don't NEED to upgrade, but would be nice! Hard to justify too much investment in something that basically isn't broken!
 
S

StevenT42

macrumors 6502
Jun 9, 2010
371
0
I went from a 2010 C2D mini with 8 gigs of RAM to the system in my signature. The speed difference is night and day.

If you ever plan to transcode high-definition video (using HandBrake), I would definitely go with the quad core i7.
 
P

Primejimbo

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2008
3,295
131
Around
I have the same one and no issues. I use it to rip movies all the time, stream movies to my Apple TV and it only has 2GB of RAM also.

What OS are you running? I'm still on SL on mine.
 
Yebubbleman

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
5,785
2,377
Los Angeles, CA
Pinksteady said:
As the title suggests, my HTPC hooked up to my TV is a 2010 Mac Mini - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 320M 256MB.

It mainly runs Plex which works fine, with no slowdown on video although sometimes this can happen if it starts doing things in the background. I'm generally happy with that but in an ideal world I'd like a better one to address the following problems:

  • Very slow running other day to day apps (Chrome takes forever to load)
  • Cannot stream AirPlay videos to it smoothly (using AirServer) while Plex is running
  • Cannot smoothly run Plex on one user account and log in to a second using the multiple account logon feature of screen sharing

Currently if I want to stream a video to it via AirPlay I have to load up Rowmote or screen sharing and quit Plex, which is a pain. It doesn't seem to have enough oomph (don't know if CPU or GPU) to do both simultaneously.

What sort of upgrade would I need? I'd love to be able to play games on it but that's not a major requirement. I'm looking at the 2012 2.5GHz Core i5 model, but if feels odd upgrading just for what looks like a smallish CPU upgrade (and GPU?). I could sell my old one of course but I'd still need to put a couple hundred pounds in so it would need to be a decent upgrade.

This is probably window shopping, but would do you folks reckon would be a good upgrade?

P.S. What about the quad-core version? Quite a lot more expensive and just seems like overkill for my needs...
Click to expand...

Have you not considered a RAM upgrade and maybe swapping your 320GB hard drive for an SSD of similar capacity? That'll make it feel substantially faster at a fraction of the cost of a new Mac. That said, you might be able to sell your Mac mini and use the money towards a 2011 model or even one of the new 2012 models and not be spending all THAT much when all is said and done. But yeah, throw in a RAM and/or hard drive upgrade before you completely dismiss a machine that's barely three years old. Also of note, your hard drive is a 5400RPM drive; even a bump to a 7200RPM drive ought to make a difference if you're not able to spring for the full SSD treatment.

Though if after that, you're dead-set on replacing your computer, I wouldn't get the low-end version, but rather the higher-end version (2.3GHz Quad-core Core i7 vs. 2.6GHz really doesn't matter all that much given that they have the same cache, but if you have the extra $100 to blow, why not) with a Fusion drive; though definitely max out your RAM this time and do it with after-market RAM so you don't spend more than you need to.
 
Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
Yebubbleman said:
Have you not considered a RAM upgrade and maybe swapping your 320GB hard drive for an SSD of similar capacity?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, its a good one. I've ordered a 8GB kit for £30 which is a no-brainer upgrade really. SSDs are a bit pricier so I'll see how I get on with the RAM.

----------
Primejimbo said:
What OS are you running? I'm still on SL on mine.
Click to expand...

I'm running Mountain Lion
 
K

kappaknight

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2009
1,595
91
Atlanta, GA
I've also found that running the Plex Media Client slows down the computer drastically. Whenever I need to do something on my 2009 mini, I turn Plex off. You can leave the Plex server on if other people are streaming from it, but the Plex client does slow the computer down a lot with older minis.
 
Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
kappaknight said:
I've also found that running the Plex Media Client slows down the computer drastically. Whenever I need to do something on my 2009 mini, I turn Plex off. You can leave the Plex server on if other people are streaming from it, but the Plex client does slow the computer down a lot with older minis.
Click to expand...

Don't suppose you know what it is about the Plex client that slows the computer down? Is it memory utilisation, CPU, graphics, disk, something else?
 
Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
Well, I think I've found out why my Mac Mini is running slow!!!
 

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mdgm

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2010
1,665
406
Pinksteady said:
Well, I think I've found out why my Mac Mini is running slow!!!
Click to expand...

Looks like it. More RAM would help. Also if you install a SSD if you do run out of RAM, with a faster disk the resulting slowdown isn't going to to be as bad as it would be if you have a hard disk installed.
 
Pinksteady

Pinksteady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
590
3
mdgm said:
Looks like it. More RAM would help. Also if you install a SSD if you do run out of RAM, with a faster disk the resulting slowdown isn't going to to be as bad as it would be if you have a hard disk installed.
Click to expand...

I've got the RAM on order, now toying with SSD, either as a replacement to the current disk or as an additional drive instead of the CD (probably the former).

Its a bit expensive though and the girlfriend wants a holiday...
 
K

kappaknight

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2009
1,595
91
Atlanta, GA
Pinksteady said:
Don't suppose you know what it is about the Plex client that slows the computer down? Is it memory utilisation, CPU, graphics, disk, something else?
Click to expand...

Can't say for certain. The clients runs great on my MBP, even remotely - but it does run slower when it's on the same machine as the Plex server, or maybe that's just a coincidence since that mini is also older.

Closing it does produce a drastic different in speed though - from typing to scrolling in Safari, etc.
 
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