What a difference quadrupling the RAM in a Mac mini makes

Wow. If you’re finding your mini to be pokey and it’s not maxed out, by all means max it out. And stand back. I bought a 1 Gb stick from OtherWorld Computing: shipped, it was less than $100 and I had it in hand in 2 days.

I won’t say it’s as fast as a dual G5 but it does make it noticeably more snappy. GarageBand is (more) usable and I am running some photo scans right now to see how that goes.

Results: scans that used to take 10 minutes now take about 4.

Item 6 scan started 4/12/06 4:29:52 PM
Item 1 scan started 4/12/06 4:34:07 PM
Item 2 scan started 4/12/06 4:38:34 PM
Item 3 scan started 4/12/06 4:43:07 PM
Item 4 scan started 4/12/06 4:47:20 PM
Item 5 scan started 4/12/06 4:51:33 PM
Batch scan completed 4/12/06 4:56 PM

That includes the scanning and some post-processing (that’s where I suspect the additional RAM is making itself felt).


The take part process is a little hairy. Something about sticking a couple of putty knives into that shiny case seems a little strange. But doing it carefully, gently, and not applying too much force once you work the blades in makes the difference.

Took me three times to get it back together — the shielding around the back panel is a bit fiddly, but eventually it all went together.

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