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New Mini feeling sluggish

R

rca420

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 2, 2005
21
0
Hello all. I just bought the revision of the Mac Mini. After using it for the past hr or so, I have to say that it feels somewhat sluggish compared to my Pentium 4 1.6ghz. Is there anything I can do to make it faster? Perhaps partition the 80gb hdd or something? Other than that, I'm loving the new machine and OSX is wicked. BTW, those who do not have the apple wifi keyboard should definitely get one.
It's just so great.
 
rca420 said:
I have the 512mb version. Shouldn't 512 be enough?
Click to expand...

512 really is the lower threshold. The more RAM you have, the better it will perform. I'd recommend getting at least 1GB. Also the hard drive is pretty slow, there are other posts about replacing the hard drive and the like, but I believe putting a faster one in helps immensly.
 
Thanks for the replies. My Mini comes with an 80 gigs HDD. I would have bought the $499 model if I knew I had to replace the hdd too. :(
 
wrc fan said:
512 really is the lower threshold. The more RAM you have, the better it will perform. I'd recommend getting at least 1GB. Also the hard drive is pretty slow, there are other posts about replacing the hard drive and the like, but I believe putting a faster one in helps immensly.
Click to expand...

LOL.......so basically he should have bought an iMac.
 
The mini should be able to perform just fine with 512mb of RAM. Perhaps it is the limitation of the slow G4 processor that you are feeling? Exactly what feels "sluggish" to you, so that we might be able to help. It is also possible that some app has crashed or locked up in the background, and is sucking up all your CPU cycles.
 
It should definatly feel better than your pentium 4 1.6ghz, as mentioned before it is possible you have something which is running in the background draining your processor or RAM....

To check this go to "Go----->Utilities---->Activity Monitor" and check CPU usage and see if anything is using up your CPU if it is force quit it.......

512mb RAM should be fine and you shouldnt need to upgrade unless you want to do RAM intensive tasks....,...

ShadOW ;)
 
Jigglelicious said:
The mini should be able to perform just fine with 512mb of RAM.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The bump to 512 standard was good because 256 is unusable, but 512 is still the very low end for OS X. Yeah, it'll run, but not as well as it should.
 
rca420 said:
Hello all. I just bought the revision of the Mac Mini. After using it for the past hr or so, I have to say that it feels somewhat sluggish compared to my Pentium 4 1.6ghz. Is there anything I can do to make it faster? Perhaps partition the 80gb hdd or something? Other than that, I'm loving the new machine and OSX is wicked. BTW, those who do not have the apple wifi keyboard should definitely get one.
It's just so great.
Click to expand...


It sounds like maybe this is your first Mac? If so, what you are experiencing is pretty normal. The perception that it is slower than your Windows machine is probably because of how the windows are rendered and how applications are loaded. There are many threads about this but my advice to you is to just give it some time. I think you'll come to really appreciate it once you spend more time getting to know it.

I was the same way initially, many years ago, but now when I sit down to a Windows machine I get very frustrated. I click a window, it pops up immediately and then I wait while Windows thinks about what it is going to do next. On Mac, I click and a second or so later I have what I want and it actually is ready for me to work with it. Imagine that. :)

-Dave
 
rca420 said:
I have the 512mb version. Shouldn't 512 be enough?
Click to expand...


I noticed a signifigant speed difference when i went from 512mb to 1GB of ram. I think you would be well off buying some ram and getting it in to the machine somehow, i had a apple store do it for me.

Ed
 
I have an 12" 1.2GHz iBook with 768 ram and it feels as fast as my desktop 3.2GHz P4 for general use. I'm slowly getting addicted to the way MAC works and after selling the hot and noisy P4 i'm thinking about getting a MAC mini (although i've already ordered an Athlon X2 :) ) as my main PC. It was too late to cancel my X2 order when i realised i don't really need such a powerful machine.
 
Thanks all for the replies! I appreciate your inputs. I guess I'll just have to upgrade to a stick of 1 gig memory.

What feels sluggish? The time it takes to render a window on the screen and sometimes the machine waits for a few seconds before responding to my mouse click(s).

How do I configure my MS 5 button mouse to work with Safari w/o downloading any MS drivers? I've searched, but it seems the only solution is to install MS drivers.

Shadowmoses: The Activity Monitor is pretty neat. I see that ITuneHelper is sucking up 24 megs of my valuable memory. How do I stop it from starting up again in the future?

Thanks
 
AlmightyG5 said:
What are you doing that seems sluggish??
Click to expand...
Probably the usual Windows user complaint that the GUI feels sluggish.

But we all know that is a slight problem with the way Apple has implemented their GUI on to of unix, they are used to something happening the instant they click while OS X may lag slightly.
 
Whistleway said:
hey drison,

i am from columbus too.. and trying to switch ;)
Click to expand...

What's stoppin ya? :) You can go play with em at Microcenter, Compusa or the Apple store itself.

<subliminal-message>
You really, really want one of these. Go buy one!
</subliminal-message>

-Dave
 
I put the ibook in my sig on ebay for a new mini. Gonna go to the Apple store and buy it with a gig of ram. I know apple ram is expensive, but it's easier for an extra $50, and this iBook should sell with some change left over. I don't really need a laptop, and I need a bigger HD and a 1.42 processor won't hurt. If you want the link to the auction send me a PM.
 
Your half gig of RAM is plenty for most situations. If you're noticing a slowdown (as in, an actual degradation in performance as opposed to the "it's a little slow" feeling), try repairing permissions and rebooting before investing in a bunch of RAM. The reboot will delete any built up virtual memory swap files. This is a bit faster and slightly more cost-effective then buying a gig of RAM. ;)
 
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