The Mini, The Tiger & The Ram.

[The Big D]

Hi, I'm about to buy a mac mini to replace my old G3 350 and I am waiting for tiger to be part of the OS. Now that 10.4 is around the corner, I've read that it needs at least a min of 256mb of ram to run and the mini only comes with 256mb of ram, which means that I will be only able to run the OS. Do you think Apple will increase the ram to 512mb for Tiger or should I buy more ram which I intend to do a little later in the year (cost of ram in Australia is between $350-$450 for 1Gb.) I was hoping to get some uses of the mini in the meantime. Should I wait a bit longer and save more money?

Thanks, The Big "D".

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"Do we have worm sign, Stilgar?"

"Usul, we have worm sign not even the likes of God has seen!"

DUNE- DL 1984

 

[stoid]

When Apple says 256 MB they are referring to basic computer use under Tiger. Tiger will probably require not much more than 100MB of RAM in operation. However, if you plan on doing more than E-mail word processing and iTunes, I would upgrade to at least 512MB. Otherwise iLife (iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto) aren't likely to run very smoothly.

 

[feakbeak]

Personally, for the mini I think your two best options are to order it direct from Apple with 512 MB of RAM or buy it with the stock 256 MB of RAM and install a 1 GB module yourself, or pay someone to do it. Here in the states, the 512 MB upgrade is 75 USD and the 1 GB upgrade is 325 USD. So the 512 MB is reasonable, but the 1 GB is irrational. Not sure how the pricing is down under.

My personal opinion is that it's best to just buy it stock and get the 1 GB yourself because if you get 512 MB now and want more later you have to pull the 512 out since there is only one slot. Might as well fill it to the max now and save the hassle.

I think ordering now is a good time, the Mac mini is only a few months old. If you want to wait, I would be prepared to wait as much 8 months for an update. One might come in autumn, but it might not be until MWSF '06.

 

[shadowguy]

On newegg.com you can get a 512MB ram stick as low as $35, and 1GB as low as $85

 

[bonk]

I have a mini (running panther) with the stock 256 - it's pretty slow.

 

[noel4r]

I want to buy a mac mini in a next month but I'm more concerned about the video card and how well it will handle Core Image. I know that if you pump enough ram in a mac mini, it will handle Tiger just fine.