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Mac mini 2012 not that fast as I expected..

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antithema

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2010
37
0
Bought the i7 quad core mac mini last year and upgraded the RAM top 10GB and replaced the somehow faulty an noisy HHD with Samsung 840 Pro SSD (one of the fastest SSDs in the market now.

Somehow it didnt feel that fast from the beginning but a few weeks ago I replaced my 2009 13 inch Macbook pro with Asus Zenbook UX32A i5 Dual core and after upgraded the RAM to 10GB as well and replaced the HHD with the Samsung 840 SSD (not Pro this time but the cheapest one) it feels much faster than my mac mini (in Windows with Bootcamp).

I dont know why but does anyone else noticed that mac mini is not that great as it sounds? I bought it cause I thought it will be like a mini horsepower machine (the best at the market with those specifications and size).
 
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barkmonster

macrumors 68020
Dec 3, 2001
2,134
15
Lancashire
antithema said:
Bought the i7 quad core mac mini last year and upgraded the RAM top 10GB and replaced the somehow faulty an noisy HHD with Samsung 840 Pro SSD (one of the fastest SSDs in the market now.

Somehow it didnt feel that fast from the beginning but a few weeks ago I replaced my 2009 13 inch Macbook pro with Asus Zenbook UX32A i5 Dual core and after upgraded the RAM to 10GB as well and replaced the HHD with the Samsung 840 SSD (not Pro this time but the cheapest one) it feels much faster than my mac mini (in Windows with Bootcamp).

I dont know why but does anyone else noticed that mac mini is not that great as it sounds? I bought it cause I thought it will be like a mini horsepower machine (the best at the market with those specifications and size).
Click to expand...

You're not running it with matched RAM pairs for a start. 10Gb? You mean it came with 4Gb and you added an 8Gb? You add RAM in identically sized pairs. I'm only running a SATA 3Gb/s SSD on my Mac Mini and it's really fast so there's definitely something wrong if you're SATA 6Gb/s drive isn't.
 
A

antithema

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2010
37
0
1. About the RAM and the pairs I know about them. I had a pair of 8 GB of RAM until now, but took the one and placed it temporarely to the Zenbook and left the initial 2GB + the one 8GB dim. I have it like this for 10 days now and i havent seen any difference (better or worst). From the time that I upgraded the mini last year from 4GB to 16GB I saw a huge difference and therefore i will transfer the whole pair sometime in the future back to the mini.
2.Refering to the hard drive, there where clicking and spining noises at the initial HDD and wasnt happy with the speed so replaced it with the SSD and its now much faster without any noise and with less heating (the initial HDD must be faulty cause I am using it externally and it still makes some weird clicking noises from time to time and sometimes cannot be opened by the system and asks for format). THE 840 pro SSD is 6Gb/s but its compatible with 3G/s so i dont thing its a problem.
3.Finally I am not sure if the USB 3.0 ports work properly with Windows cause sometimes when i connect a usb 3.0 HDD i get the message that if i connect it to a USB 3 port it might work faster.

Considering all the above I concluded that the processor is not that what I expected, for a quad core processor.
 
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opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
antithema said:
1. About the RAM and the pairs I know about them. I had a pair of 8 GB of RAM until now, but took the one and placed it temporarely to the Zenbook and left the initial 2GB + the one 8GB dim. I have it like this for 10 days now and i havent seen any difference (better or worst). From the time that I upgraded the mini last year from 4GB to 16GB I saw a huge difference and therefore i will transfer the whole pair sometime in the future back to the mini.
2.Refering to the hard drive, there where clicking and spining noises at the initial HDD and wasnt happy with the speed so replaced it with the SSD and its now much faster without any noise and with less heating (the initial HDD must be faulty cause I am using it externally and it still makes some weird clicking noises from time to time and sometimes cannot be opened by the system and asks for format). THE 840 pro SSD is 6Gb/s but its compatible with 3G/s so i dont thing its a problem.
3.Finally I am not sure if the USB 3.0 ports work properly with Windows cause sometimes when i connect a usb 3.0 HDD i get the message that if i connect it to a USB 3 port it might work faster.

Considering all the above I concluded that the processor is not that what I expected, for a quad core processor.
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What are you running on the quad core processor that is not working as you expected? Can you give some examples of where the CPU is just not processing at the rate you wanted? Comparisons?

My 2.6GHz Quad runs Turbo Boost sustained at 3.40Ghz across all four cores - that is better than the 3.6GHz peak on just one core as advertised. (using Intel Power Gadget)

3.40Ghz sustained with all 4 cores for hours/days on end... I am not sure what you were expecting it to do? Break the sound barrier? Or Mark II?

The Mini is SataIII 6G so I am not sure what you are referring to with the Sata II comments?

Are you running TRIM on the SSD? If not that may be why it is slow.

On windows... I have never liked Windows on a Mac unless it is in Parallels. There are always driver problems. If you want to run Windows permanently then maybe you are better off to get an SFF PC.
 
A

antithema

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2010
37
0
I mostly run cad and video processing programs, but it feels slow in everyday simple things like startup, waking from sleep, opening browsers and programs.

I actually use very often Windows because most of the programs I also need for my work are not available for Mac, so Windows with Bootcamp is the only/best way to do it.

I do not use TRIM so i guess I should give it a try and see.
Thanks
 
C

cjmillsnun

macrumors 68020
Aug 28, 2009
2,399
48
antithema said:
I mostly run cad and video processing programs, but it feels slow in everyday simple things like startup, waking from sleep, opening browsers and programs.

I actually use very often Windows because most of the programs I also need for my work are not available for Mac, so Windows with Bootcamp is the only/best way to do it.

I do not use TRIM so i guess I should give it a try and see.
Thanks
Click to expand...

If you're mainly using Windows, check for rogue processes and/or services running. Also make sure your drivers are the latest versions. (go get them from the vendor's websites). The bootcamp drivers are not always the most optimised for the hardware.
 
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ToomeyND

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2011
563
378
Especially at boot, my 2.5 i5 mini with a (slower) Crucial M4 is ready to be used 14 seconds after I hit the button. Every time.

After wake, the computer is up immediately, but I notice that whatever program is up and running at the time is sluggish for about 6 seconds or so.

Are these the types of times you are seeing? My computer feels fast enough for my needs, but I could see where it wouldn't be acceptable to someone else.
 
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Cape Dave

Contributor
Nov 16, 2012
2,298
1,567
Northeast
From what I hear, there is a big difference in the speed of a fast SSD from SATA 2 to SATA 3. ALso most say that ACHI mode is best. Not sure how that works with Boot Camp as I was not able to get Windows to install that way.

I have the 2.3 i7 mini with a Vector 512 SSD and it is FAST on everything. Boot, Parallels, although Win is flaky in parallels but I did migrate my already flaky install from my previous desktop so I cannot judge that. A fresh install is always best, and that is what I intended to do with Boot Camp but to no avail.

So I migrated" to Parallels and at least I have access to all my stuff. But it locks up way more than I want it to. I may move over to OSX for the additional speed and integrity of a native OS on the hardware it was intended.

Turns out although I would have to buy Office (Cheap on eBay/amazon) I can do my work which is WordPress without too much stress/change/etc.

Bottom line is I do think the mini has exceeded my speed expectations. I was coming from a desktop i7 with 16GB. I also Installed 16GB on the mini, of course.
 
P

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
antithema said:
I mostly run cad and video processing programs, but it feels slow in everyday simple things like startup, waking from sleep, opening browsers and programs.

I actually use very often Windows because most of the programs I also need for my work are not available for Mac, so Windows with Bootcamp is the only/best way to do it.

I do not use TRIM so i guess I should give it a try and see.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Have you checked to see if something is wrong with your SSD? Have you run any speed tests or the like?
 
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SoCalReviews

macrumors 6502a
Dec 31, 2012
582
212
Cape Dave said:
Win is flaky in parallels but I did migrate my already flaky install from my previous desktop so I cannot judge that. A fresh install is always best, and that is what I intended to do with Boot Camp but to no avail..
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Cape Dave, As I mentioned in another thread I use Parallels 8 with fresh installs of Windows XP Pro SP3 and Windows 8 Pro. My Windows installations have worked flawlessly. Windows in Parallels 8 works absolutely perfectly and I have not had a single lockup or any major problem for the past year since they were installed as virtual machines. I would suspect your problem is with your migrated Windows. Since you are working in virtual machine you could do a clean Windows installation and then install all your programs and data in that clean Windows VM installation. You probably won't have the same problems as with your migrated version. The only issue is your OEM licenses for Windows and the programs you use may only be able to be activated on one machine at a time. If activating Windows in a new virtual machine you could always purchase a brand new license (OEM) for using Windows 7 or 8 in Parallels and then you could run both Windows VMs.
 
D

dthree36

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2008
218
2
Well... interesting on your performance woes. I just picked up a mac mini i7 quad core server and have been very impressed with the performance. I upgraded my mid 2009 macbook pro with an SSD and its pretty fast now. This mini ins't as fast when it comes to boot times or opening apps at first start but I did setup the drives as raid 0 and am getting 200 Mbs a second transfer rates. Not as fast as SSD speeds but for a 5400 rpm drive setup, this isn't that bad. I can say that a movie conversion using Mac DVD ripper or even handbrake is at least 2 to 3 times faster on this mac mini. I would love to have a desecrate graphics option in the mini but it works for me out of the box.

I am very happy with it and would love to upgrade to SSD's but this sucker is used for work and I won't want to void the warranty just yet.
 
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COrocket

macrumors 6502
Dec 9, 2012
485
12
Running non-pairs of ram probably doesn't help, especially if they are different speeds. If you are running video and cad programs, a computer with a discrete video card would improve performance. The processor isn't to blame for slow startup and program opening, sounds like a windows software/firmware issue since the mini has SATAIII interface which should allow the SSD to run at full speed. From what I've read most people have been impressed with the speed of SSD equipped minis, at least running OSX.
 
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Cape Dave

Contributor
Nov 16, 2012
2,298
1,567
Northeast
SoCalReviews said:
Cape Dave, As I mentioned in another thread I use Parallels 8 with fresh installs of Windows XP Pro SP3 and Windows 8 Pro. My Windows installations have worked flawlessly. Windows in Parallels 8 works absolutely perfectly and I have not had a single lockup or any major problem for the past year since they were installed as virtual machines. I would suspect your problem is with your migrated Windows. Since you are working in virtual machine you could do a clean Windows installation and then install all your programs and data in that clean Windows VM installation. You probably won't have the same problems as with your migrated version. The only issue is your OEM licenses for Windows and the programs you use may only be able to be activated on one machine at a time. If activating Windows in a new virtual machine you could always purchase a brand new license (OEM) for using Windows 7 or 8 in Parallels and then you could run both Windows VMs.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I think the migrated Windows was the issue. Ironically, I have decided to go full Mac and see how that goes. So far, it is awesome.

If I ever do need Windows, I will boot my buggy Parallels install or install a fresh.In the mean time I am rather enjoying the finer points of OSX :)
 
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SoCalReviews

macrumors 6502a
Dec 31, 2012
582
212
Cape Dave said:
I totally agree. I think the migrated Windows was the issue. Ironically, I have decided to go full Mac and see how that goes. So far, it is awesome.

If I ever do need Windows, I will boot my buggy Parallels install or install a fresh.In the mean time I am rather enjoying the finer points of OSX :)
Click to expand...

Dave, Good luck with going full OS X. I would like to do the same thing but I am still taking my time acclimating to the Mac coming from a lifetime of using computers mostly with MS Windows. I like being able to utilize Parallels. I also really like the Mac OS X experience so far. :apple:
 
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opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
Cape Dave said:
I totally agree. I think the migrated Windows was the issue. Ironically, I have decided to go full Mac and see how that goes. So far, it is awesome.

If I ever do need Windows, I will boot my buggy Parallels install or install a fresh.In the mean time I am rather enjoying the finer points of OSX :)
Click to expand...

Go the full monty Dave. You might get some cold sweats for the first few nights but after that you should be fine...

Seriously though...

The beauty of parallels is that you can leave your migrated win OS file in place and build a brand new one 'parallel' to the bad OS. Once you have the new clean windows OS built you simply remove/delete the crappy one. Or drop it onto an archive drive. I currently have (although rarely use) win 7, 8 and Linux Mint in Parallels, plus I have the original base builds of these on a backup drive in case I want to 'retro-fit' my Parallels back to the original OSs.

So what I am saying is don't just leave the bad migrated OS in place. Build a new one and remove the old.
 
C

Cape Dave

Contributor
Nov 16, 2012
2,298
1,567
Northeast
opinio said:
Go the full monty Dave. You might get some cold sweats for the first few nights but after that you should be fine...

Seriously though...

The beauty of parallels is that you can leave your migrated win OS file in place and build a brand new one 'parallel' to the bad OS. Once you have the new clean windows OS built you simply remove/delete the crappy one. Or drop it onto an archive drive. I currently have (although rarely use) win 7, 8 and Linux Mint in Parallels, plus I have the original base builds of these on a backup drive in case I want to 'retro-fit' my Parallels back to the original OSs.

So what I am saying is don't just leave the bad migrated OS in place. Build a new one and remove the old.
Click to expand...

I understand. Parallels provides excellent flexibility. Truth is, I am 100% moved over tho Mac and able to do everything I need to do. They are enough the same I do not really sweat anything. There are some things I like better about the Windows interface, and vice versa :)

When I really get brave, I may even try Boot camp again :) In theory, it SHOULD work!

In the mean time, I am liking the mini just fine. Such a good size for a computer.
 
A

antithema

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2010
37
0
I have done a lot of research last year before I buy the mini. The truth is that there was no other pc with a quad core prossesor at that size and that price. That is why that even if i mostly use Windows I ended up with a mac.
 
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C

Cape Dave

Contributor
Nov 16, 2012
2,298
1,567
Northeast
antithema said:
I have done a lot of research last year before I buy the mini. The trouth is that there was no other pc with a quad core prossesor at that size and that price. That is why that even if i mostly use Windows I ended up with a mac.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same thing for me. I looked for a LONG time and there was nothing even really close. A few things sort of close. But the Mac mini won out for me. It was not an easy decision for me but I am quite satisfied with my choice!
 
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