It's always best to use matching pairs when installing RAM for best performance. If you don't need this much, simply grab a 16GB kit made up of a pair of 8GB RAM sticks.
Those aren't exactly easy to find.įor just over $200, however, you can get a Crucial 32GB SO-DIMM DDR4 RAM kit that will make a terrific upgrade to any 2018 Mac Mini.
The happier news is you can install up to 64GB of RAM in the 2018 Mac Mini, though as you only have two slots available, the only way to achieve this is with a pair of 32GB sticks. Luckily, this guide from iFixit+Replacement/115309) will walk you through every step of the process. The rewards will be worthwhile, but you'll basically be disassembling your Mac Mini in order to do a RAM upgrade. The RAM isn't easily accessible and requires a little know-how and a lot of patience to get at. While the RAM is a standard sized SO-DIMM module and replaceable by anyone who buys a 2018 Mac Mini, it's far from as simple to accomplish, at least compared to what it used to be back in 2012. You could upgrade to 32GB yourself and save about $400 in the process. When buying a new Mac Mini, increasing the RAM to 16GB costs $200, 32GB costs $600, and 64GB an eye-watering $1,400. That's never been close to as cheap as it is to make the same upgrade yourself. Apple still charges more for RAMĭespite the move back to DIY, if you want more RAM you're shouldn't be stuck paying what Apple wants to charge you for it. The 2018 Mac Mini arrived as a long-awaited follow up to Apple's tiny desktop computer and it came bearing good news: You could once again take out the RAM and upgrade it yourself.
However, after the late 2012 Mac Mini, Apple changed the internals, so you couldn't do it yourself anymore. It used to be a matter of unscrewing the bottom and swapping the RAM sticks, a process that took a matter of minutes. Performance was adequate, although I find that 16 GB works much better, especially when I have multiple apps running at the same time and especially with Lightroom.Īs of yet, I see no performance benefit from a graphics card perhaps that's because most Adobe products don't really use it much, or because I don't have a really high performance card.Changing out the RAM in the Mac Mini used to be a really simple process. Until earlier last year I used a late 2011 i5 Mac Mini, with an SSD I installed, with difficulty, and with 8 GB ram. PPS I have purchased this Mac Mini for about $420. This is very interesting indeed! I can perform incremental upgrades when I can afford each upgrade. PS I have just found out that I can upgrade the processor to a 3 GHz dual core i7 processor. Please see the images for any traces of usage and the general condition of the iMac, so you can form your own opinion. It has some traces of usage fitting for its age. Can I actually upgrade to 16 GB memory? At a later point in time, I will be upgrading to a SSD. Apple Mac Mini (Mid 2011) - Intel Core i5 2.3Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 120GB SSD - macOS Catalina The Mac is in good optical condition. Also, I have now read conflicting reports about the max memory possible with this computer. I checked and found out this graphics upgrade is with the AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR5 memory.
This model was updated with a separate and faster graphics card.
I think the addition of another 8 GB stick alone will make a difference. Actually I think that DXO will probably remain slow compared to the other apps.
Will I notice a significant improvement in software load time and responsiveness? I use OS, LR, CO, and DXO RAW processors. I read somewhere that even though the i5 is running at the same speed as the Core Duo, I should notice a significant improvement in my use of the newer system. The computer can be upgraded to 16 GB of RAM. I am thinking of purchasing a 2011 Mac Mini with an i5 2.5 GHz processor. My funds are very limited, but PS runs very slowly. The maximum memory I can upgrade to is 8 GB. Currently I have an older Mac Mini with a Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.4 GHz.