Can I install older RAM in a new Mac Mini?

[binba]

I have 2x2GB sticks from my MBP Mid-2010 (i5 2.4GHz). They're PC3-8500, 1066MHz. I'm getting my gf a new Mac Mini which usually takes PC3-10600 DDR3 (1333MHz).
Would that RAM be supported? I'm not too concerned about the small performance hit (video editing and rendering speeds are hindered mostly by HDD bandwidth, CPU and GPU speeds). Should still be a nice upgrade from her G5

Surprisingly I couldn't find any such question online - everyone either asks about putting faster RAM in a slower machine, or about mixing different RAM modules.

 

[philipma1957]

it will work. If you are short cash do it. I would suggest 8gb ram in that mini but times are bad and your idea is free. The 2011 mini will handle ddr3 1066 1333 1600 ram. It is good about ram.

 

[CausticPuppy]

It should work; assuming you're getting her the base 2GB version, then the speed boost from upgrading to 4GB will more than offset the performance loss of using slower memory. But for less than the cost of a night out you can give her 8GB of the fast ram.

Now, if it was a question of using faster 8GB vs slower 16GB, I'd say stick with 8GB.