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2014 Mac Mini virtual environment
- Thread starter Abdulhaq
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It completely depends on what apps you have running, as performance is directly impacted by workload. Generally speaking, you may wish you had more RAM than 4GB.
This should help: How much RAM do I need in my Mac?
Generally, pretty bad.
You should aim for at least a mid-range Mac Mini with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB Fusion Drive.
At the very least, get a Fusion Drive.
This is the correct answer. 4gb could not be an issue at all when running Win7 in VM or they could be a massive issue. This completely depends on the apps you are running. Also the 1.4ghz cpu could be an issue and obviously the standard hdd should be exchanged for an ssd in every case.
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This is good advice. If your plan is to always run VMs, the mid range mini with a fusion drive inside would be a much preferable option.
Your biggest bottleneck will be the RAM. Yosemite will be happiest with 4GB of RAM which means 0 RAM for the VM. You need 8GB.
Forgot to add one more thing.
If the OP is going to run databases and some pretty heavy stuff in more than 3 VMs, 16GB might also be in the equation as well, but this isn't a really common case.
Myself, I run about 12 bare-metal VMs on one of my nMPs (vSphere ESXi), and it utilizes almost every bit of the 64GB of RAM the nMP has.
But then, my use case is pretty rare.
Keep in mind that OP is thinking of a Mini with a HDD.
Yours will perform nicely on 4GB of RAM because you have an SSD.
The OP won't get that performance without at least a Fusion Drive upgrade.
There's a note in the last sentence of the second paragraph.
Well, that note would apply even without a VM running, because HDDs are just plain slow
2014 Mac Mini virtual environment
Thanks for your feedbacks. I realize that 4GB would be a limitation for virutual environment. I may settle for an older 2011 or 2012 Mac Mini which will allow me to upgrade the memory as and when required. I just hope than an older generation of cpu and an older version of graphic processor will not cause much performance problems.
Thanks for your feedbacks. I realize that 4GB would be a limitation for virutual environment. I may settle for an older 2011 or 2012 Mac Mini which will allow me to upgrade the memory as and when required. I just hope than an older generation of cpu and an older version of graphic processor will not cause much performance problems.
Note that 2011 and 2012 models have far slower graphics performance - the Intel HD series are just crap compared to the Intel Iris in the current ones.
Get a mid-range 2.6GHz i5 with 8GB RAM and a 1TB Fusion Drive (or 256GB SSD for even more pure speed), and off you go.
Also look for refurbs for such a configuration.
I would definitely get 8GB memory min for a virtual environment. 4GB will be eaten up just by the two operating systems.
And if you do the 8GB, might as well bump up from the 1.4Ghz to the 2.26Ghz - you'll get better clock speed and the 8GB comes standard. Plus a 1TB HDD.
The next performance upgrade would be a SSD. That'll help out with i/o for the VMs.
And if you do the 8GB, might as well bump up from the 1.4Ghz to the 2.26Ghz - you'll get better clock speed and the 8GB comes standard. Plus a 1TB HDD.
The next performance upgrade would be a SSD. That'll help out with i/o for the VMs.