Bob T
Established
From what I understand Apple does not condone putting more than their max memory in their computers. The memory change for the mini is easy and it recognized the 16GB I put in right away and there's been no problems with almost daily use of the computer.
gilpen123
Gil
IMO the MBA 11" with 8 Gb RAM and 256 SSD will suit you just five. On the road and at home with the monitor. A 500 Gb USB 3.0 G Technology will suit all your filing needs.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I just recently upgraded to a new Mac mini with 2.6GHz i7 quad core, 16G RAM, 1T internal drive. It hooked up to my existing TB27", Apple keyboard and track pad. My data and backups are all on external FW800 drives (5 2T drive chain).
Currently I have 630G free space on the startup drive.
It sings right along processing 450Mbyte 6x6 negative scans in Lightroom without a hitch. I did a test of exporting 100 M9 raw files to full rez 16bit-zip compressed TIFFs and JPEGs simultaneously. Took a hair under 8 minutes total.
Great little system. Only remaining upgrade I might do with mine is to change out the 1T internal drive for a 500G SSD. Since I'll still have over 100G free on the 500G, that should be fine and a nice performance boost.
Strongly recommend it if you don't need the mobility of a laptop, joe. It replaced my MacBook Pro ... My mobility needs are now taken care of with a 64G iPad mini. (Or with the MacBook Air that they give me at my job, but I don't put much of my personal stuff on that.)
G
Currently I have 630G free space on the startup drive.
It sings right along processing 450Mbyte 6x6 negative scans in Lightroom without a hitch. I did a test of exporting 100 M9 raw files to full rez 16bit-zip compressed TIFFs and JPEGs simultaneously. Took a hair under 8 minutes total.
Great little system. Only remaining upgrade I might do with mine is to change out the 1T internal drive for a 500G SSD. Since I'll still have over 100G free on the 500G, that should be fine and a nice performance boost.
Strongly recommend it if you don't need the mobility of a laptop, joe. It replaced my MacBook Pro ... My mobility needs are now taken care of with a 64G iPad mini. (Or with the MacBook Air that they give me at my job, but I don't put much of my personal stuff on that.)
G
filmtwit
Desperate but not serious
You might look into Apple referbs.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac
imac 22" for a $1100 w/8gb of ram. It's an i5 though and it's a 2012, so fully expandible.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD093LL/A/refurbished-imac-27ghz-quad-core-intel-core-i5
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac
imac 22" for a $1100 w/8gb of ram. It's an i5 though and it's a 2012, so fully expandible.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD093LL/A/refurbished-imac-27ghz-quad-core-intel-core-i5
Bob T
Established
I have used the mini in hotel rooms, it'll fit in a laptop bag with the smallish keyboard and mouse and HDMI cable no problem. I hooked it up to the TV in the room with the HDMI cable and it's wifi hooked right up to the hotel's network. Not a bad solution for having processing power on the road. Be sure the hotel's TVs have the capability before hand. I used the SD slot for image transfer from my D7000 and could work on them right there while listening to my music and Pandora through the TV.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Current Mac mini RAM limit is 16G.
I bought mine max'ed out in processor, RAM, and the largest rotating media drive. I always upgrade in 2-3 years anyway, and the mini is cheap enough that it's not an issue. I'll easily get $1350 worth of use out of a Mac mini in two years.
G
filmtwit
Desperate but not serious
I have an early 2012. Max is 8gb.
All the modern macmini's are still only 2xprocessors too.
iMac's have 4xprocessors.
Then again I make a living using a Adobe Premiere and similar stuff.
All the modern macmini's are still only 2xprocessors too.
iMac's have 4xprocessors.
Then again I make a living using a Adobe Premiere and similar stuff.
gilpen123
Gil
8 Gb memory will work just fine if you are not processing video or heavy photoshop works with the CS 5/6. If I recall correctly, Joe is using Photoshop Elements for his processing works. A 256/512 Gb SSD will be a better option than maxing out the RAM for Joe's usage.
sykotec
Well-known
5 years - yeah, it might be time. if there's one thing apple does 'well', it's finding a way to have everyone gracefully accept planned obsolescence. my old g4 iBook is still running fine for a friend, but my my real-use machines it's nice to have something still supported. that said, both my macbook and mini are prob not on the list for the next os release..... and it's incredibly annoying that both are just ONE step too far back for AirPlay!
Apple generally builds good quailty hardware - i've got much better spec Dell and Cisco stuff at work, but it's all low grade quality-wise next to apple consumer level gear. heck, if anyone has a god use for it, there's a Mac SE (yes, 1980's style) with *2* floppy drives PLUS hard drive all internal sitting a room or so away from me at the moment. all original, full working order - actually says made in the USA even.
for what you're looking for - assuming it's the image processing that's getting you down most recently - i'm with the guys voting for a mini. the quad core processors on the recent and current models do alot better than my old core 2 duo beast, and RAM is definitely your friend. 3rd party memory upgrades are VERY easy on the latest (no optical drive) mini chassis, and prices are excellent compared to what Apple charges from the factory. as for drives, sure, an SSD would be faster, but they;re not cheap if you want alot of space. I've upped the drive in my mini once already, and have a 750gb sitting on the desk for it if i get time later this week. i've yet to try anything with the new 'fusion drive', but if you're batch processing, cache type schemes are of questionable value in my experience, as you're dealing with much more data than the cache will hold.
Apple generally builds good quailty hardware - i've got much better spec Dell and Cisco stuff at work, but it's all low grade quality-wise next to apple consumer level gear. heck, if anyone has a god use for it, there's a Mac SE (yes, 1980's style) with *2* floppy drives PLUS hard drive all internal sitting a room or so away from me at the moment. all original, full working order - actually says made in the USA even.
for what you're looking for - assuming it's the image processing that's getting you down most recently - i'm with the guys voting for a mini. the quad core processors on the recent and current models do alot better than my old core 2 duo beast, and RAM is definitely your friend. 3rd party memory upgrades are VERY easy on the latest (no optical drive) mini chassis, and prices are excellent compared to what Apple charges from the factory. as for drives, sure, an SSD would be faster, but they;re not cheap if you want alot of space. I've upped the drive in my mini once already, and have a 750gb sitting on the desk for it if i get time later this week. i've yet to try anything with the new 'fusion drive', but if you're batch processing, cache type schemes are of questionable value in my experience, as you're dealing with much more data than the cache will hold.
gilpen123
Gil
And don't forget to get a drive cleaner i.e Mac Keeper and the likes.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Sorry, but your info is out of date:
Straight from Apple, I haven't even taken the access port off.
G
back alley
IMAGES
you guys know too much...lol..i need time to let it all sink in.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
It's interesting when you look at ownership statistics in the Windows vs OS X marketplaces. Windows users, overall, tend to turn over their hardware for new ones whenever they want to go for the latest major OS update, typically about an eighteen to twenty month cycle. OS X users, overall, tend to hold onto their hardware for on average two to three major OS updates, or about three to four years.
This has been a consistent trend for the past 12-14 years. Obviously, not everyone in either marketplace does it this way, but that's the average that the industry reports show.
G
f16sunshine
Moderator
Before you plan an expensive purchase do a bit of "house cleaning". It will likely spead things up again.
Back up all your files to an external drive and then re-instal the disk (take your hardware and OS system disk to the mac store if you need help. That is why they are there
)
I do this once a year or so. As my tech friend explained to me years ago..Downloading lots of Files and deleting many as well such as photographers do creates a lot of "spaces dust and crud" on your HD (sic).
Starting over at the beginning of the disk will make a big difference.
Also if you can keep the bulk of your music, media, and image library external you will save a lot of space and keep it safe from crashes as well. Setting up a RAID is not just for pros anymore. Anyone with serious library investments should have one.
Back up all your files to an external drive and then re-instal the disk (take your hardware and OS system disk to the mac store if you need help. That is why they are there
)I do this once a year or so. As my tech friend explained to me years ago..Downloading lots of Files and deleting many as well such as photographers do creates a lot of "spaces dust and crud" on your HD (sic).
Starting over at the beginning of the disk will make a big difference.
Also if you can keep the bulk of your music, media, and image library external you will save a lot of space and keep it safe from crashes as well. Setting up a RAID is not just for pros anymore. Anyone with serious library investments should have one.
filmtwit
Desperate but not serious
Note I wrote - "early 2012" and not the "late 2012".
They are not the same machine.
Specs on memory for a non "late 2012" are 8gb.
They are not the same machine.
Specs on memory for a non "late 2012" are 8gb.
Sorry, but your info is out of date:
Straight from Apple, I haven't even taken the access port off.
G
huddy
Well-known
FWIW, if you don't have an SSD, you might consider adding one to you machine. That makes a world of difference in my 5 year old 3GB RAM Thinkpad. It's sluggish with a 5400RPM HDD, but flies with a modern SSD (was pretty snappy with an older one too).
The Samsung 830 drives are really nice, and Amazon has the 500GB 840 model for only $300. That's a ton of fast storage...
Edit: I'm sure someone else has already mentioned this, but it's worth mentioning again either way...
The Samsung 830 drives are really nice, and Amazon has the 500GB 840 model for only $300. That's a ton of fast storage...
Edit: I'm sure someone else has already mentioned this, but it's worth mentioning again either way...
majid
Fazal Majid
Before you sink money into a new computer, if there is an Apple Store near you, you may want to book a free appointment with a Mac Genius there and have them look into it.
back alley
IMAGES
it might be time for an upgrade...no?
Godfrey
somewhat colored
What you said was:
which is incorrect, out dated information. That's why I corrected you.
G
willie_901
Mentor
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am about to replace my 2009 iMac and Zi am thinking hard about the same Mac Mini system. Is your internal drive the Fusion model?
I can see how going to all SSD could be a good move. My wife's MacBook Air flies with the SSD.
I am about to replace my 2009 iMac and Zi am thinking hard about the same Mac Mini system. Is your internal drive the Fusion model?
I can see how going to all SSD could be a good move. My wife's MacBook Air flies with the SSD.