I'm not happy with the application startup delays on my Mac Mini 1.42 ghz with its stock 4200 rpm drive. The 5400 rpm 2.5" 80 gb drives that fit in the Mini are pretty inexpensive. There are also several models of external firewire cases that are made for the Mini and hold inexpensive 3.5" 7200 rpm drives. I'm debating which way to go. On the one hand, I don't really need extra drive space, but on the other, I would have to take apart the Mini to install an internal drive, plus I wouldn't end up with a 7200 rpm model (too expensive in a 2.5"). I would be interested in hearing what other people chose to do in a similar circumstance. By the way, my Mini came with 512 mb RAM, so I may upgrade that as well at a later date.
__________________
G4/1.3 ghz Cube, 20" iMac 2.16 ghz Core 2 duo, 1.42 mhz Mini, G4/1.33 15" AI PowerBook, G3/400 Pismo
Which apps start slowly? I ask because my 15" PB has pretty much the same specs as your Mini, though you have a faster processor. My apps all start very quickly, except Photoshop, which takes a bit longer but is certainly not irritating.
There is no doubt that faster drive will improve things, but by how much set against the hassle? Maybe up the RAM, and do you keep the Mac nice and tidy, maybe using Onyx etc? Just curious.
I have 1GB RAM.
__________________
A MacPro 2.66 Xeon, an iMac G5, a Uni MB, a wee PowerBook 12" 1.5, an eMac, a couple of cameras, a lens collection and a wonderful iPod. Oh, and a delicious wife.
"Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little." Tom Stoppard
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader".
Robert Frost
Pelao, virtually every application starts slowly on my Mini, including the MS Office apps and any web browser. It isn't specific to a particular application. I optimize my drive regularly with Disk Warrior, and I fix permissions regularly as well, so the slowness isn't due to either of these. The other thing that's irritatingly slow on the Mini is the fast user switching. It isn't slow all of the time, but sometimes, there seems to be a delay of 5-10 seconds before the switch, with nothing happening during the delay. I really don't think it's RAM, as I don't use a lot of apps at once and there always seems to be free memory.
__________________
G4/1.3 ghz Cube, 20" iMac 2.16 ghz Core 2 duo, 1.42 mhz Mini, G4/1.33 15" AI PowerBook, G3/400 Pismo
For what it's worth I got a Newer miniStack and am now using it as the boot drive for my mini. I experienced the same slowness you report with the stock 4200 RPM drive in the mini. Still do if I boot with that drive--even after wiping it and reinstalling all software.
OTOH with the miniStack I have a much more responsive machine, much faster launching of apps and a USB-Firewire hub as well--all for a price comparable to what I would have paid for a 7200 RPM 2.5 " drive with half my miniStack's capacity which I would have had to install in the mini myself (O, the agony!). I'm very pleased with the miniStack. Bought it from OWC.
Internal 5400 2.5s are not particularly expensive (and available with 16MB buffers). Even the 7200s are coming down, if you don't need the largest capacities.
I just ordered a 5.25" Bytecc 320F with the oxford 911 firewire chipset, together with a 300GB Seagate 7200.8 ATA100 drive. I'm going to use it as my primary drive with the Mac Mini. I may actually order a second one and mirror them.
__________________
Mac Mini 1.25, iPod Nano 4Gig Black, MacBook Pro 1.67GHz/1GB
I got an external drive with a firewire enclosure, and I'm using as my primary drive; the internal drive I use to keep my music and downloads. It made a big difference in performance... boot-up time is like cut by half running from the external drive.
Aw... PC Com! I came across their prices when looking for dual 17" flat panels -- which I ended up buying there. A pretty typical hole-in-the-wall PeeCee joint, but owners Raymond and Jennifer are really nice people!
__________________ 32GB iPad 1 WiFi. 2011 Mac Mini Server (used as a workstation) 2GHz quad-core i7/8GB/1TB, 24" BenQ LCD, 17" NEC LCD, Magic Trackpad. MacBook 2.4GHz Core2 Duo/2GB/200GB/DL-DVDRW. Apple TV 2, 32" flat panel TV, Logitech DiNovo Edge BT keyboard & trackpad. >5TB of FW drives, 16GB iPhone 4S. In memoriam: my Sawtooth "Frankenmac" with upgraded dual 1.3GHz G4/2GB/360GB striped RAID/DVDRW/ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Can anyone point me to a good review of Mini internal and external drive upgrades that includes speed tests? I remember finding a good one (not the limited one on OWC's website), but I can't seem to find it again.
__________________
G4/1.3 ghz Cube, 20" iMac 2.16 ghz Core 2 duo, 1.42 mhz Mini, G4/1.33 15" AI PowerBook, G3/400 Pismo
.
Linear Mode
