Mac Mini Very Slow...

keithw1975

We have a Mac Mini we bought a while back with the dual core 1.83GHz CPU. It has 2GB of RAM and this thing is extremely slow in CS4. I have an older G5 1.6GHz machine with 2GB of RAM and a WD Velociraptor that just tears this thing up when it comes to speed. Any suggestions? I have been thinking about getting a new HD and see if that helps.



Thanks,

Keith

abilstein

CS4 on an older Mac Mini is gonna be slow no matter how you slice it I think. That's a new pro app and an older consumer machine, and the two just aren't made for each other. I suspect you're going to be hampered by the onboard video no matter how much RAM or what HD you through at it. Good luck though, and let us know if you get any significant increase in speed.

keithw1975

I was wondering if CS4 used the video card. I think I may just sell it and get a used G5 DP.

leafy

Quote:

Originally Posted by keithw1975


I was wondering if CS4 used the video card. I think I may just sell it and get a used G5 DP.

Does CS4 use the "scratch-disk" feature a lot? If so, the slower Mac Mini internal harddisk may be the bottleneck in this case.

keithw1975

Yes it does use the HD quite a bit. I have an external Fire Wire 320GB HD that I use for storage and scratch disks.

aizmov

Quote:

Originally Posted by keithw1975


Yes it does use the HD quite a bit. I have an external Fire Wire 320GB HD that I use for storage and scratch disks.

FireWire is your bottleneck.

Try adding a faster internal storage, maybe SSD? Not sure if it would help much though.

outsider

You're better off getting a newer machine. The new $799 mini would be miles better. Better yet, BTO a mini with all the specs as base (1GB RAM, smallest HD) but get the 2.26GHz C2D. Then get a 4GB kit and 500GB 7200rpm drive from newegg.com for around $150 and install it yourself.