I have my Mac Mini server setup in my office and when I connect from it at home it's very slow i.e. 5 minutes to download a 18mb file – using something like Dropbox is heaps faster... But I would really like to be using the Mac Mini. Should I get more RAM for it? Change my ISP?
When you ask a question like "should I get more RAM for it", it is generally a good a idea to have first stated how much RAM the Mini currently has.
Putting that aside, the problem is likely not RAM, however.
The real issue is probably the upload speed that your ISP provides at the office -- and perhaps the download speed available from the ISP you use at home.
Most ISPs provide an asymmetrical download and upload. For example DSL might provide 1.5 Meg download and only 256 K upload.
Dropbox is probably using much faster "pipes" than what your ISP provides to send the data to you.
If you want to see if memory will make a difference for what you run, bring up the Activity Monitor (on your hard drive in applications/utilities). Click on system memory and look at page ins and page outs. If your system is doing alot of page outs, it means there isn't enough physical memory for the tasks you run. When the system does a page out, it writes a page of memory to your hard drive - lots of this activity can slow down overall performance, too. So, compare page ins to out. If the page outs are 10% to 15%, or greater, of the page ins, you would benefit from additional memory for what you run. Note, the values reset when you reboot.
