new mini runs sloww

Fox · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:29 am Post subject: new mini runs sloww

The specs of the new mini were too much to resist, so I took the plunge. I got the base model, as low energy use at idle was important to me. (Mid-level model uses lots more electricity at idle due to independent video card.) I tested it at the Apple Store and updated Lion to 10.7.1. Yesterday I transferred my applications and documents. However, it runs dog slow, with applications taking twice as long to open as with SL on my 2009 mini, and spinning wheels for everything. I checked with Activity Monitor and nothing is using heavy CPU cycles, but unused RAM is about 0.12 gigs on the 2 gb installed. I have 8 gb on order, but shouldn't 2 be enough to run a mini with only one or two programs going? Maybe the RAM isn't the issue?

Anyone else have this experience with the new mini?
_________________
Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2: 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate
Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu & openSuse

iMav · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 6:06 am Post subject:

Interesting. Was it "dog slow" from the get go or only after you transferred your apps and data?
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http://geekhack.org

philiparcario · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:43 am Post subject:

lion is a ram hog 2gb is not practical. when you put in 8gb it will be fine.
_________________
2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

Fox · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:21 pm Post subject:

iMav, the only time I observed the operation before loading my apps and docs was in the Apple Store. I didn't notice any slowdown then.

I'm testing it right now, and I did notice an improvement today, so maybe something was going on in the background. The only extreme slowdown I noticed today was when I ran VirtualBox. This jacked the used RAM right up to 1.99 gb, and resulted in marked slowdowns for anything. Clearly that will be fixed by more RAM.

I think Philip is right and the RAM will fix things. I'm also wondering about the Toshiba 5400 rpm 320 gb drive that comes standard. I have a Seagate 500 XT available and I'm thinking of installing it with the new RAM. I'll report back in a week when I'm back home and the RAM is installed. I do have to say, however, that Apple shouldn't be selling a Mac running Lion with only 2 gigs of RAM.
_________________
Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2: 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate
Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu & openSuse

mdgm · Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 319

driso9 · New Member Joined: 22 Aug 2011 Posts: 6

I totally agree, i just bought the entry level mac mini a few days ago and i get the color wheel when im doing simple task. It must be that lion is a memory hog, id like to upgrade the ram and see what happens. I know in the manual it says that you can update the ram to 8gb, but im curious if the motherboard will accept more.

philiparcario · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:17 pm Post subject:

driso9 · New Member Joined: 22 Aug 2011 Posts: 6

philiparcario · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:55 pm Post subject:

just started to test. I am doing a 255 pass rember memory test. 1 pass down 254 to go so far so good.
_________________
2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

driso9 · New Member Joined: 22 Aug 2011 Posts: 6

cool i hope all goes well!

philiparcario · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:21 pm Post subject:

one thing is the max the intel 3000 graphics pulls from ram is 512mb. so adding this 16gb no extra ram is pulled. at 8gb ram the video intel 3000 graphics pulls 512mb.

so

16 gb is 15.5gb + .5 gb video = 16gb

8gb is 7.5gb + .5gb = 8gb

this is all with the 2011 server..
_________________
2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

driso9 · New Member Joined: 22 Aug 2011 Posts: 6

How fast is it with the 16gb of ram? Also when you go to about this mac does the 16 gb of ram show.

philiparcario · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:12 am Post subject:

yes the ram does show and is fully addressed.

I am still running the remebr test full length test is more then two days long.
_________________
2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

driso9 · New Member Joined: 22 Aug 2011 Posts: 6

I went out and bought 8gb of Patriot ram from frys and the mini runs way faster, it almost seems like a different computer.

iMav · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:24 pm Post subject:

I ended up cloning my drive and the new mini was dog slow with Lion. Ran Onyx and it speeded right up. Still want to do a fresh install. But seems to be having issues getting the installation image properly burned onto DVD or flash drive.
_________________
-=iMav=-
http://geekhack.org


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