[smileLP]

Hi, I just transferred everything from my mom's old imac G4 to a new mac mini

we had no probs w/her imac; just didn't like the screen shape (wide screen)

(bought a viewsonic)

anyway, the mac mini - - the base model; $599, runs very slowly. very slow to open applications, slow to quit out of apps. even slow to shut down/restart! even the screen saver photos have a very slight "stagger" effect, instead of smooth.

for those of you familiar w/aol, changing the name of the user from [home] to "guest," which used to take half a second, now takes 10-15 secs. and gives the lovely spinning wheel.

is the prob. the limited memory/RAM that comes w/it. we really never have more than safari, aol and/or word open at once (is that a lot/too much?)

could be prob. be a defective unit?

any experienced mac mini owners out there w/any insight?

thanks mucho!

[CheesePuff]

Well AOL is still not a Universal application so that may be the cause, and if it's using Rosetta then it will take ALL of the RAM it can (and 512 MB is not much especially when you factor in the 80 MB right off the bat going to the GPU.)

What were the specs on the iMac G4 that she upgraded from?

[OreoCookie]

Open the Activity Monitor (located in /Applications/Utilities) and select the tab Memory on the bottom. Work a little on your Mac, in particular when it feels kind of sluggish.

Then copy and paste the `page ins/page outs' on the bottom right. But I can tell you right away that insufficient RAM is likely to be the cause -- in particular if you use Rosetta apps. You should put in another GB, memory is quite cheap these days.

[butterfly0fdoom]

Upgrade the RAM. Even if AOL has to run through Rosetta, it'll speed up a lot with more RAM. Our Mac mini too forever to open Word with the basic amount of RAM. We upped it to 1 GB, and now it's nearly as fast as our iBook.

[Peter]

Get more ram asap.
Over 1Gb is ideal

[jmiddel]

Go here for the lowest price, currently $94 for 1Gb:

ramseeker�: Memory and Ram prices. Apple, PC, Digital Camera

and select the mini from the pull down menu towards the top of the page.

[Blasphemy]

AOL has always had a horrible app

[Philip J. Fry]

Do you need the AOL app? You can setup Mail with IMAP access for AOL mail, and also just use Safari for her browsing needs, iChat for IM...

[Thinine]

You may try the beta of AOL's next generation OS X client. It's called Chesire, get it at greenhouse.aol.com. You may also try AOL Connect. It's not universal, but it's much smaller than the normal client, as it just dials up to their network. You use Safari and iChat instead of the built in stuff.

[CheesePuff]

AOL Greenhouse Product Info for Cheshire

This is the beta for the Universal (and appears to be a re-write from the current version) of AOL.

[smileLP]

thanks all; in your opinion(s), should i go up to 1 MB of ram or 2 MB of ram?

also, is it easy to install myself (never done this, sorry) or should i have a professional do it?

thanks again, all!

p.s. it's a little misleading of mac to imply that the basic amount of memory that comes w/the $599 version will suffice. they're up front about you needing to supply a keyboard and mouse; they really should feel a little guilty about being so chintzy w/the memory, esp. since, as one of you pointed out, memory is pretty cheap these days (and even cheaper for a computer manufacturer buying in bulk)

[monkeybrain]

It's hard to install RAM in the Mini. Unless you feel safe snapping open lots of little connectors. This site is great for mini owners: 123Macmini.com - A Mac Mini User Community

2 GB would be great, I think you won't have anything to worry about then.

It probably is a Rosetta issue, running Word really slows down my Macbook (not as much as the UB Pages though!).

[smileLP]

ok, thanks again. guess i'll have a pro do it

oh, to the poster who was curious about what the old computer's specs were:

imac G4
10.4.8
1 Ghz processor (mac mini is 1.67; theoretically faster, rt?)
1 GB ram - - aha!

i'm goin to 2 Gig; sounds like that'll solve everything

thanks again all

[turtle777]

It should under no circumstances (even with only 512MB) be slower than the G4.

It could be Spotlight indexing, if you installed the OS brand new. It will take a while to get done. After that, it should be flying compared to the G4.

Check the activity monitor (as Oreo) suggested.

-t

[butterfly0fdoom]

It's not that hard to disassemble the Mac mini, actually. My dad and I took apart my Mac mini and it was pretty simple and hassle-free. Mac Mini Disassembly: Installing RAM - It's for the G4 Mac Mini, but you get the idea.

[CheesePuff]

Originally Posted by smileLP 

ok, thanks again. guess i'll have a pro do it

oh, to the poster who was curious about what the old computer's specs were:

imac G4
10.4.8
1 Ghz processor (mac mini is 1.67; theoretically faster, rt?)
1 GB ram - - aha!

i'm goin to 2 Gig; sounds like that'll solve everything

thanks again all

Hmm, well the stock Mac mini even with 512 MB of RAM should run at least at the same speed on your old iMac G4, so something does not seem right. Maybe before installing the new RAM on the Mac mini you should do a complete reformat and see what happens?

[JKT]

How did you transfer over your data - did you use the migration assistant and a Firewire cable?

If so, the problem might be a driver or application that needs updating to be compatible with the Intel Macs. Run Activity Monitor as everyone has suggested (it's in the /Applications/Utilities folder) and see what processes, if any, are sucking up high amounts of CPU when the machine is idle.

Check that you have all the latest versions of e.g. printer drivers, third party system hacks, etc that you have on the computer.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by butterfly0fdoom 

It's not that hard to disassemble the Mac mini, actually. My dad and I took apart my Mac mini and it was pretty simple and hassle-free. Mac Mini Disassembly: Installing RAM - It's for the G4 Mac Mini, but you get the idea.

Big difference to the Intel Mac mini.

The G4 was a joyride in comparison. The Intel Mac mini is a total bitch to upgrade.

[smileLP]

fyi, the guy at the apple store said if i try to put the extra ram in myself, it "voids the warranty."

prob. just as well since i can get it cheaper than from apple, and then apple will install it free (since it IS under warranty)

it's int'ing, half of you say: more ram will solve your prob.

the other half say, no way it should be slower; try that [activity monitor] thing, which i must confess is a bit over my head, and i'm no slouch when it comes to macs (or am i?)

turtle:

>>It could be Spotlight indexing, if you installed the OS brand new. It will take a while to get done.<<

the mac mini came w/its own OS already installed, obviously. then i firewired over all the stuff from the imac G4 to the mac mini. is this item you've written here suggesting that over time the speed will improve? or does it require action on my part? (told you it was over my head)

thanks again all, for your input

[smileLP]

speaking of memory issues, my G5 (twin 2.5 processors) has 3 gig of memory and i still think it's a little slow at times

would anyone ever put more than 3 gig of memory in a G5 like mine or is that unnecessary overkill. thanks again all

[bkfilipi]

Hi
i bought a mac mini too with one gig memory ran fast at first..but slowed but slow to me is a few seconds anyway... i upgraded to 2 gigs mem and apple suggests freeing hardrive to 50% i have 100 gig in the mac... so i bought a 300 gig maxtor one touch 3 external drive moved files to it ... wow what a difference try it you will see
brian

[bkfilipi]

Hi
i bought a mac mini too with one gig memory ran fast at first..but slowed but slow to me is a few seconds anyway... i upgraded to 2 gigs mem and apple suggests freeing hardrive to 50% i have 100 gig in the mac... so i bought a 300 gig maxtor one touch 3 external drive moved files to it ... wow what a difference try it you will see
brian

[mikemako]

Sometimes when you move your account from an older computer to a newer one, it will cause the corruption of some of your "Preference" files. This can certainly cause your computer to hang and feel very slow.

An easy way to check if this is the problem is to create a fresh new user account by going into System Preferences, then Accounts, and then clicking on the + sign below the left column. Then login to the new account and try running your applications.

Although 512MB of memory is not optimal, your new Intel-based Mac mini should not feel slow compared to your previous G4 iMac. Try this technique to see if corrupted Preference files was the problem.