Mac Mini Server

[solidsqual]

Hey Guys,

 

Can I get away with the $599 Mac Mini w/ 2gb of RAM or do I need to upgrade to 4gb? Will there be a marked improvement if I stream hirez via USB?

 

Regards,

 

Mike

 

[rockerz]

I bought the $599 Mini and I regret being a cheapskate. I decided I wanted to upgrade to 4G of RAM and the cheapest I've found it is around $140. For $799, I could have had the 4G plus a faster CPU and a larger hard drive.

 

[solidsqual]

I just a completely tricked out Mini per your recommendation.

 

Thanks,

 

Mke

 

[Mr.C]

He really twisted your arm eh?

 

[dongna]

Is a Mac mini with 2 GB sufficient to run a dedicated music server? I would have a hard time believing the answer would not be "yes".

 

[flatmap]

Running the older PowerPC chipset and Tiger 10.4.11, having more memory definitely makes a difference in audio playback. I'm not in a position to say if the same is true on more modern hardware. However it's common to read that people enjoy an improvement going to 4Mb RAM on the Mac platform. I'm not sure if I've seen this said about Windows.

 

As to why this might be true, I can only say that an operating system is seeking to optimize many parameters (such as speed vs. heat production) and that inevitably some things don't work as well as they can. Sometimes adding more memory helps the OS improve its attempt at optimizing all of its functions.

 

Did you read about the problems the latest Mac Pro was having? This is a furiously good machine.... but it was getting hot and slowing down when people were playing iTunes in the background. So they re-optimized the OS. Problem gone.