Mac Mini To The Max?

Discussion in 'Buying Tips and Advice' started by maxthedrummer, Jun 21, 2009.

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  1. maxthedrummer, Jun 21, 2009

    maxthedrummer macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2008
    #1
    Hey I want a Mac Mini and planning on getting the latest mini with 2.26 GHz. I will upgrade it to 4GB of RAM but was wondering how much is it worth it to upgrade the hard drive from a 5400 rpm to a 7200 rpm internal drive? How much added speed and performance will I see? I don't use any intense apps just the usual Apple ones and Photoshop and Microsoft Office. I'm looking for faster boot speeds and snapy performance but I'm wondering if its worth it given the time and price. Also will my fan turn on that more will the added heat? Any personal experiences or opinions are appreciated. Thanks.
     
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  2. Dr.Pants, Jun 21, 2009

    Dr.Pants macrumors 65816

    Dr.Pants

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2009
    #2
    Upgrading the HDD from 5400RPM to 7200RPM will have a benefit. Ho many times? 1.33x the performance, if the platter densities on the drives are the same - NCQ also might make this number larger as well (which is standard on hard drives, but it scales on a non linear factor as far as I know*). And although Apple doesn't tell you, if you get a drive with a large cache it will also add to the performance.

    *Can't visualize the math currently.
     
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  3. Hellhammer, Jun 22, 2009

    Hellhammer Moderator

    Hellhammer

    Staff Member

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    Dec 10, 2008
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    Finland
    #3
    I wouldn't buy 2.26 Mini, you won't notice any difference. Spend your money on RAM and I highly recommend SSD, use it as your boot drive and store your files into external. SSD will get your Mini to boot in 10 seconds and all apps opens immediately.
     
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  4. The Hammer, Jun 22, 2009

    The Hammer macrumors regular

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    Jun 19, 2008
    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    #4
    The 2.26 CPU will be about 13% faster.
     
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  5. J&JPolangin, Jun 22, 2009

    J&JPolangin macrumors 68030

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    Thule GL @ the TOW
    #5
    ...but the faster processor isn't worth the cost of the upgrade... get a 20" iMac from the refurb section.
     
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