[heboil]

I picked up an Apple Mac mini Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz with the stock 1gb of ram. I have used an old PPC mini at the office that we use for a demo machine. This is my first kick with a mac in a home environment. I like what I see so far, but the machine seems a little slow for my liking. I do most of my "heavy lifting" at the office, so I will just use this machine for web, photo and some home video work. It still seems slow when I have iTunes, Firefox with about 5+ tabs and maybe iPhoto running (or iCal connected to my Google calendar). I am assuming that these are ram related issues, but what kind of "jump" should I see moving to 2 gb... or 3 for that matter (2 +2 = 3 in this case)? I am a little hesitant about jumping up in ram because it leaves almost nowhere to go in the upgrade path (big PC upgrader in the past). Also, if I jump now, will the machine start slowing down in a year or two ala all my Windows machines? I thought maybe jumping to a Macbook with potential for even more ram, but I don't need a laptop... I am looking for a desktop replacement at home... and the laptop will be about $400-500 more. TIA.

[Jacke]

Definitely at least 2GB RAM. I got a 2GB stick that I put in my Mac mini shortly after I got it (leaving it at 2.5), it did make a significant difference. There wasn't much price difference between a 2GB and 2x1GB, and I figured I'd be better off with the extra 512MB than getting dual-channel boost of a matched pair.

[bpl323]

Might as well get 3GB if you're upgrading...

[Simon]

You can get a 2 GB DIMM for $36 at Newegg. Replace one of your 512 MB DIMMs with that one and you're good to go.

Add another $19 and you're at 3 GB. I'd go with that.

2 GB is highly recommended beyond the everyday word processing/low-end Photoshopping/etc. Even though I get by easily with just 1 GB in my MacBook and 1.25 GB in my iMac, most people will probably need the extra gig at some point, and RAM is pretty cheap nowadays, so go for the 2 GB.

[Andrew Stephens]

2. no question.