Quick question from a someone not that familiar with upgrading/swapping out RAM. It's related to how the RAM is being described as not "additive". Let's make an assumption that there are 2 slots, simply for the purposes of this question. My plan is to purchase aftermarket RAM and replace it myself. If I purchase the base RAM option, in this case 8GB, and it is shipped with an 8GB stick in one slot, with the other slot empty, is it not possible to purchase another 8GB stick (matching specs of course) and place it into the empty slot? Do I have to purchase 2 new 8GB sticks to get to 16GB and thus forced to remove the original 8GB stick, or is that only in the case of both slots being filled from the start? I'm not sure if Apple or anyone does leave a slot open or not at purchase/original build. It's feasible they always fill up both slots (i.e., 2 sticks of 4GB in this example). Essentially, I want to make sure that if I purchase the Mini with the base option of 8GB, i can get to 16,32,or 64 or whatever I choose when I want. I don't want to land in a situation where you have to buy a minimum of 16GB or higher RAM from Apple at the start/original build in order to upgrade to 32 or 64 down the road.
Thanks in advance! Not that really knowledgeable/savvy with this effort. Much appreciated.
Quick question from a someone not that familiar with upgrading/swapping out RAM. It's related to how the RAM is being described as not "additive". Let's make an assumption that there are 2 slots, simply for the purposes of this question. My plan is to purchase aftermarket RAM and replace it myself. If I purchase the base RAM option, in this case 8GB, and it is shipped with an 8GB stick in one slot, with the other slot empty, is it not possible to purchase another 8GB stick (matching specs of course) and place it into the empty slot? Do I have to purchase 2 new 8GB sticks to get to 16GB and thus forced to remove the original 8GB stick, or is that only in the case of both slots being filled from the start? I'm not sure if Apple or anyone does leave a slot open or not at purchase/original build. It's feasible they always fill up both slots (i.e., 2 sticks of 4GB in this example). Essentially, I want to make sure that if I purchase the Mini with the base option of 8GB, i can get to 16,32,or 64 or whatever I choose when I want. I don't want to land in a situation where you have to buy a minimum of 16GB or higher RAM from Apple at the start/original build in order to upgrade to 32 or 64 down the road.
Thanks in advance! Not that really knowledgeable/savvy with this effort. Much appreciated.
I think it will be dual channel so base 8GB ram will be 2 4GB ram modules. So if you want to upgrade to 16GB ram then you need to buy 2 8GB ram modules and replace both. I don't think Apple ever shipped their product as single channel for ram.
Quick question from a someone not that familiar with upgrading/swapping out RAM. It's related to how the RAM is being described as not "additive". Let's make an assumption that there are 2 slots, simply for the purposes of this question. My plan is to purchase aftermarket RAM and replace it myself. If I purchase the base RAM option, in this case 8GB, and it is shipped with an 8GB stick in one slot, with the other slot empty, is it not possible to purchase another 8GB stick (matching specs of course) and place it into the empty slot? Do I have to purchase 2 new 8GB sticks to get to 16GB and thus forced to remove the original 8GB stick, or is that only in the case of both slots being filled from the start? I'm not sure if Apple or anyone does leave a slot open or not at purchase/original build. It's feasible they always fill up both slots (i.e., 2 sticks of 4GB in this example). Essentially, I want to make sure that if I purchase the Mini with the base option of 8GB, i can get to 16,32,or 64 or whatever I choose when I want. I don't want to land in a situation where you have to buy a minimum of 16GB or higher RAM from Apple at the start/original build in order to upgrade to 32 or 64 down the road.
Thanks in advance! Not that really knowledgeable/savvy with this effort. Much appreciated.
Based on Apple's history, it would come with 2 x 4 GB sticks, not a single 8 GB stick. Not sure if this is just Apple being cheap (2 smaller sticks are cheaper than on big one), or if there is some performance advantage (some systems give you better performance with matching memory in pairs of slots).
If there is no performance advantage to matching pairs of memory, or if the slight performance hit is acceptable, could you purchase a single 16 GB stick to replace just one of the stock 4 GBs and get 20 GB of RAM? My Beige G3 Minitower had 3 RAM slots (IIRC). No two slots had the same size RAM stick. Memory was quite expensive back then and I simply added what I could reasonably afford whenever I needed to add RAM. BTW: Loved that machine. There was hardly a single component that wasn't upgraded over the years that I owned it: RAM, hard drives, optical drive, GPU, drive controller, USB/FW controller, even the CPU was upgraded to a G4.
Quick question from a someone not that familiar with upgrading/swapping out RAM. It's related to how the RAM is being described as not "additive". Let's make an assumption that there are 2 slots, simply for the purposes of this question. My plan is to purchase aftermarket RAM and replace it myself. If I purchase the base RAM option, in this case 8GB, and it is shipped with an 8GB stick in one slot, with the other slot empty, is it not possible to purchase another 8GB stick (matching specs of course) and place it into the empty slot? Do I have to purchase 2 new 8GB sticks to get to 16GB and thus forced to remove the original 8GB stick, or is that only in the case of both slots being filled from the start? I'm not sure if Apple or anyone does leave a slot open or not at purchase/original build. It's feasible they always fill up both slots (i.e., 2 sticks of 4GB in this example). Essentially, I want to make sure that if I purchase the Mini with the base option of 8GB, i can get to 16,32,or 64 or whatever I choose when I want. I don't want to land in a situation where you have to buy a minimum of 16GB or higher RAM from Apple at the start/original build in order to upgrade to 32 or 64 down the road.
Thanks in advance! Not that really knowledgeable/savvy with this effort. Much appreciated.
Based on Apple's history, it would come with 2 x 4 GB sticks, not a single 8 GB stick. Not sure if this is just Apple being cheap (2 smaller sticks are cheaper than on big one), or if there is some performance advantage (some systems give you better performance with matching memory in pairs of slots).
If there is no performance advantage to matching pairs of memory, or if the slight performance hit is acceptable, could you purchase a single 16 GB stick to replace just one of the stock 4 GBs and get 20 GB of RAM? My Beige G3 Minitower had 3 RAM slots (IIRC). No two slots had the same size RAM stick. Memory was quite expensive back then and I simply added what I could reasonably afford whenever I needed to add RAM. BTW: Loved that machine. There was hardly a single component that wasn't upgraded over the years that I owned it: RAM, hard drives, optical drive, GPU, drive controller, USB/FW controller, even the CPU was upgraded to a G4.
At present, it appears that the RAM is dual-channel, meaning you have to installed matched pairs
USB. Either a dedicated interface with input and output connectors, or for applications not requiring line input, just a microphone or headset with a USB interface.
Most Thunderbolt docks include 3.5mm audio inputs, or at least a combo jack. It's an expensive approach just to add a microphone, but if you're using one anyway it has you covered.
Video support for HDR? Wide color gamut? 10 bit? 4:4:4? Will it pass audio thru thunderbolt/usb/hdmi to monitor/tv.
How do do we get audio in or mic in?
How many ram slots? 2?
Don't know for sure own the video-out specs yet. Audio through Thunderbolt with a USB-C to HDMI cable, USB to some form of DAC, and HDMI for sure. Audio in or mic in via USB, either a DAC to a microphone jack, or a USB microphone or other input. Looks like two RAM slots.
Video support for HDR? Wide color gamut? 10 bit? 4:4:4? Will it pass audio thru thunderbolt/usb/hdmi to monitor/tv.
How do do we get audio in or mic in?
How many ram slots? 2?
Don't know for sure own the video-out specs yet. Audio through Thunderbolt with a USB-C to HDMI cable, USB to some form of DAC, and HDMI for sure. Audio in or mic in via USB, either a DAC to a microphone jack, or a USB microphone or other input. Looks like two RAM slots.
The chip can do 4K30 4:4:4 10 bit and the mini supports HDMI 2.0. 4K60 10-bit drops to 4:2:0 in the older Skylake ones and I think the UHD is the same. Don’t quote me on that one.
The odds are good it will do this but it’s also dependent on the drivers. I would be amazed if Apple screws this up. For anything that can use a dGPU I’d get one but for general displays on a UHD TV in 4:4:4 over HDMI it should be fine at 4K/30.
Video support for HDR? Wide color gamut? 10 bit? 4:4:4? Will it pass audio thru thunderbolt/usb/hdmi to monitor/tv.
How do do we get audio in or mic in?
How many ram slots? 2?
Don't know for sure own the video-out specs yet. Audio through Thunderbolt with a USB-C to HDMI cable, USB to some form of DAC, and HDMI for sure. Audio in or mic in via USB, either a DAC to a microphone jack, or a USB microphone or other input. Looks like two RAM slots.
The chip can do 4K30 4:4:4 10 bit and the mini supports HDMI 2.0. 4K60 10-bit drops to 4:2:0 in the older Skylake ones and I think the UHD is the same. Don’t quote me on that one.
The odds are good it will do this but it’s also dependent on the drivers. I would be amazed if Apple screws this up. For anything that can use a dGPU I’d get one but for general displays on a UHD TV in 4:4:4 over HDMI it should be fine at 4K/30.
Sure, it COULD do it, based on extrapolations. We're just not certain if it will just yet.
Hi all. I currently have a 27” iMac late 2012 with the Nvidia GTX 680mx graphics option. How would the new mini’s Intel Iris UHD 630 compare with this for general UI fluidity, photo manipulation and full screen, but casual, gaming (Diablo or Elite Dangerous for example)? Clearly the mini’s CPU is loads better, but not sure about the Intel GPU. Would I need to get an eGPU to make these use cases “acceptable” on a 5K screen ?
I use my Mac mini as a Home Theater/Music PC. But given the long wait I must future proof as much as possible.
WHat should I upgrade now.
1. Faster Ethernet? It will probably take 3 plus years for routers to be cheap and support that. Skip
2. Faster CPU. Hmm sounds tempting. But today I only need to view 1080p content I, um, acquire on the Web. Stick to the basic i3? Why should I go for the i5? The i7 is overkill for 4k/8k movies right?
3. SSD. From what I read here and my own research, the THunderbolt 3 ssd external are only slightly cheaper than Apple's internal SSD. Dropping to USB 3.1 saves a few bucks however, but I can wait. I will probably take the standard SSD for running the OS and wait a year or two for T3 SSDs to drop in price. I skipped the SSD bandwagon when they first came out and I am glad I did.
4. Ram. I agree Apple has always fu@#ed customers on Ram. I will upgrade myself, but I will wait for ram prices to drop. Of all commodities, ram looses its value the most. If there is anything I have learned is to wait a year or two and RAM goes through the floor. I think my HTPC mini can run just fine with stock ram. Or should I buy 3rd party ram right away?
Having written this post, I have actually convinced myself on a configuration. Unless you advise differently, I will pull the trigger on this
-3.0Gig i5 CPU
-8gig Stock RAM
-256 gig SSD
-Stock Ethernet
Total $1,099 Mac Mini Home Theater Mac
Hi all. I currently have a 27” iMac late 2012 with the Nvidia GTX 680mx graphics option. How would the new mini’s Intel Iris UHD 630 compare with this for general UI fluidity, photo manipulation and full screen, but casual, gaming (Diablo or Elite Dangerous for example)? Clearly the mini’s CPU is loads better, but not sure about the Intel GPU. Would I need to get an eGPU to make these use cases “acceptable” on a 5K screen ?
To the bolded part -- you absolutely would. The UHD 630 is slower than the 680mx.
I use my Mac mini as a Home Theater/Music PC. But given the long wait I must future proof as much as possible.
WHat should I upgrade now.
1. Faster Ethernet? It will probably take 3 plus years for routers to be cheap and support that. Skip
2. Faster CPU. Hmm sounds tempting. But today I only need to view 1080p content I, um, acquire on the Web. Stick to the basic i3? Why should I go for the i5? The i7 is overkill for 4k/8k movies right?
3. SSD. From what I read here and my own research, the THunderbolt 3 ssd external are only slightly cheaper than Apple's internal SSD. Dropping to USB 3.1 saves a few bucks however, but I can wait. I will probably take the standard SSD for running the OS and wait a year or two for T3 SSDs to drop in price. I skipped the SSD bandwagon when they first came out and I am glad I did.
4. Ram. I agree Apple has always fu@#ed customers on Ram. I will upgrade myself, but I will wait for ram prices to drop. Of all commodities, ram looses its value the most. If there is anything I have learned is to wait a year or two and RAM goes through the floor. I think my HTPC mini can run just fine with stock ram. Or should I buy 3rd party ram right away?
Having written this post, I have actually convinced myself on a configuration. Unless you advise differently, I will pull the trigger on this
-3.0Gig i5 CPU
-8gig Stock RAM
-256 gig SSD
-Stock Ethernet
Total $1,099 Mac Mini Home Theater Mac
What mini do you have now? If it's at least a 2010, it has more than enough horsepower to stream to an Apple TV 4K on iTunes, or other formats to the Infuse app. USB 3.0 is more than fast enough for 4K data.
The fact that you can bring your own RAM is crucial (no pun intended) in keeping the true cost of this machine down for many of us.
. . .
Since all my storage needs are external, I will be happy with a 512 GB boot volume just for an OS and some applications.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high yet. Firstly, there is no confirmation if the RAM chips can be upgraded or only replaced. In the latter case, buying a 16GB machine will only allow using chips not exceeding this amount.
Secondly, macOS Mojave’s new APFS file system is not fully compatible with external or non-Apple SSD. Users are reporting extremely slow boot times.
The fact that you can bring your own RAM is crucial (no pun intended) in keeping the true cost of this machine down for many of us.
. . .
Since all my storage needs are external, I will be happy with a 512 GB boot volume just for an OS and some applications.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high yet. Firstly, there is no confirmation if the RAM chips can be upgraded or only replaced. In the latter case, buying a 16GB machine will only allow using chips not exceeding this amount.
Secondly, macOS Mojave’s new APFS file system is not fully compatible with external or non-Apple SSD. Users are reporting extremely slow boot times.
Tech specs state the memory is of 2666MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM memory (small outline dual in-line memory module). SO-DIMMs are modules that slot into memory slots on things like laptops etc. i.e. it is not soldered in memory.
The fact that you can bring your own RAM is crucial (no pun intended) in keeping the true cost of this machine down for many of us.
. . .
Since all my storage needs are external, I will be happy with a 512 GB boot volume just for an OS and some applications.
I wouldn’t get my hopes too high yet. Firstly, there is no confirmation if the RAM chips can be upgraded or only replaced. In the latter case, buying a 16GB machine will only allow using chips not exceeding this amount.
Secondly, macOS Mojave’s new APFS file system is not fully compatible with external or non-Apple SSD. Users are reporting extremely slow boot times.
Certainly not the majority of SSD users. I've had an APFS boot drive since High Sierra when it launched on a Crucial 2.5 in a 2012 Mac mini, on a USB 3.0 Ventura Ultra SSD media flash drive, and about three different externals. I'm sure you're right about a drive here or there, given that the OWC Aura Pro suffered until a firmware update, but far and away not a majority, and not a majority of externals.
BKKcanuck got you on the rest of that. Two slots, dual-channel. If you get 8GB, you can't re-use them in the mini if you want to go to 16GB.
So, I can run three 4K-ish displays. How many 2K (or 1K) screens can I run?
If if this number is less than six, is there any advice somewhere on how to use an eGPU to expand the number of displays? eGPU articles only ever seem to talk about improving the performance of the current displays, not how to add extra displays.
Comments
Thanks in advance! Not that really knowledgeable/savvy with this effort. Much appreciated.
If there is no performance advantage to matching pairs of memory, or if the slight performance hit is acceptable, could you purchase a single 16 GB stick to replace just one of the stock 4 GBs and get 20 GB of RAM? My Beige G3 Minitower had 3 RAM slots (IIRC). No two slots had the same size RAM stick. Memory was quite expensive back then and I simply added what I could reasonably afford whenever I needed to add RAM. BTW: Loved that machine. There was hardly a single component that wasn't upgraded over the years that I owned it: RAM, hard drives, optical drive, GPU, drive controller, USB/FW controller, even the CPU was upgraded to a G4.
Video support for HDR? Wide color gamut? 10 bit? 4:4:4? Will it pass audio thru thunderbolt/usb/hdmi to monitor/tv.
How do do we get audio in or mic in?
How many ram slots? 2?
Most Thunderbolt docks include 3.5mm audio inputs, or at least a combo jack. It's an expensive approach just to add a microphone, but if you're using one anyway it has you covered.
The odds are good it will do this but it’s also dependent on the drivers. I would be amazed if Apple screws this up. For anything that can use a dGPU I’d get one but for general displays on a UHD TV in 4:4:4 over HDMI it should be fine at 4K/30.
What mini do you have now? If it's at least a 2010, it has more than enough horsepower to stream to an Apple TV 4K on iTunes, or other formats to the Infuse app. USB 3.0 is more than fast enough for 4K data.
Secondly, macOS Mojave’s new APFS file system is not fully compatible with external or non-Apple SSD. Users are reporting extremely slow boot times.
If if this number is less than six, is there any advice somewhere on how to use an eGPU to expand the number of displays? eGPU articles only ever seem to talk about improving the performance of the current displays, not how to add extra displays.
Thanks.