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Mac Mini: Bump Cpu or Ram?

L

legaleye3000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
1,377
33
I'm looking to buy a Mac Mini. I don't need the 320hd on the $799 one. So I'm looking at the $599 Mini.

Which will give me more of a performance boost: 2gb ram to 4gb or the 2.26ghz to 2.53ghz? I know I can easily upgrade the ram, but I can't easily upgrade the cpu. So which is the better buy...?

Thanks
 
legaleye3000 said:
I'm looking to buy a Mac Mini. I don't need the 320hd on the $799 one. So I'm looking at the $599 Mini.

Which will give me more of a performance boost: 2gb ram to 4gb or the 2.26ghz to 2.53ghz? I know I can easily upgrade the ram, but I can't easily upgrade the cpu. So which is the better buy...?

Thanks
Click to expand...
RAM is likely to do more for you, as 2GB is rather small these days. ;)
 
RAM. You won't notice the difference in speed between 2.26ghz and 2.53ghz...RAM upgrade would be better for you...

cheers
 
I agree with the previous posts that you wont actually see that much of a speed difference between the two clock cycles. However, you can upgrade your RAM at any point (if you're willing to do it yourself that is) whereas you cannot upgrade your processer. If you are planning on keeping your Mac Mini for a while, I'd get the best processer you can, and then upgrade your ram later when you have more moneyz.
 
Was having the same debate that the OP was having yesterday evening when the Mac Mini refurbished computers were back. I usually go the cheapest route when in debate between models. But in this situation it was a little different because of the cost of the RAM upgrade. I knew I was going to be taking it from 2gb to 4gb and from a post I read, the cost was $100 anyways to do that. So at that point, it was $79 more for the faster processor and bigger HD too and that sort of seemed worth it. If the price difference was even a little larger I would have just cheaped out and updated the RAM on my own. The hard drive will probably be a waste since I plan on throwing an SSD in there.
 
Rizvi1 said:
Would my 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac Mini (Macmini2,1) be one of the socketed Intel ones? If so, I could upgrade the processor on here? I wanted to install Lion on here. The RAM should be maxed out once my 2gb Crucial RAM module arrives. There is one already in the the machine in one of the slots (the other slot is empty)
Click to expand...

If it's the Core 2 Duo then yes, Lion will install but not on the Core Duos. Lion requires a 64bit CPU. Also you can max that Mini out to 4GB or 3.3GB effective memory with 2x 2GB sticks.
 
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