What is the OPTIMAL version of the OS for a 2010 Mac mini?

Question

What is the OPTIMAL version of the OS for a 2010 Mac mini?

Searching for expert opinions on which is the optimal (not necessarily the latest) version of OS X to run on a 2.4GHz Mac mini 4,1 2010 model, built in Feb of 2011? It's currently on Snow Leopard 10.6.8. This is my wife's machine.

Additionaly, if it happens to be 10.7.5, are there any considerations when attaching an external FW800 2-GB hard drive regarding partitioning the drive?

Thanks in advance.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2.66GHzQuad 2006,16GB RAM,1GB VRAM

Posted on Aug 14, 2013 3:15 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,286 points

Aug 14, 2013 9:21 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

If you have no need to upgrade, such as access to iCloud, apps that require Lion or Mt. Lion, or otherwise, many users here recommend that you stay with Snow Leopard.

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Answer 2

Aug 14, 2013 10:15 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

Thank you for your response.

I suppose that's what I unconsciously felt and feared at the same time.

But my wife wants to have access to her iCloud in order to synchronize all her other devices, like her phone, her notebook, her iPad and so on.

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.

I'm fairly content with Lion 10.7.5 on my 65-lb Mac Pro, even though I don't use iCloud, but I still keep a Snow Leopard internal HD as an alternative boot volume. Mountain Lion doesn't run on that Mac Pro.

The PPC G5 Quad runs flawlessly under Tiger 10.4.11 and shares my dual monitors, keyboard, mouse and tablet with my aforementioned Mac Pro.

But, having no experience with a Mac mini myself, I'm seeking input relative to it.

Of particular interest to me is the question regarding the partitioning and formatting of the 2TB external FW800 HD I mentioned in the OP.

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Answer 3

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,286 points

Aug 14, 2013 11:48 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

If you search this forum, you will see there are ways to implement iCloud in Snow Leopard.

GOOD LUCK!

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 9

77,008 points

Aug 14, 2013 5:38 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

I'm incline to disagree, Mountain Lion runs great on my 2010 with 8GB of RAM.

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Answer 5

Aug 14, 2013 6:21 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for this information!

I assume you are satisfied that the worst bugs in ML have been fixed.

We're upgrading my wife's Mac mini to 4 GB and hope that will be fine for her, as she's not a Photoshop user, does not do video or play games. I hope the ML OS is not such a resource hog that it requires the *8GB you have.

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Answer 6

den.thed

Level 9

77,008 points

Aug 14, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Ramón G Castañeda wrote:

Thanks for this information!

You are welcome!

I assume you are satisfied that the worst bugs in ML have been fixed.

Yes, Mountain Lion runs as well as Snow Leopard.

We're upgrading my wife's Mac mini to 4 GB and hope that will be fine for her, as she's not a Photoshop user, does not do video or play games. I hope the ML OS is not such a resource hog that it requires the *8GB you have.

Mountain Lion and Safari are both pretty big RAM hogs and will pretty much use the better part of 4GB. If she plans on running Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, etc. at the same time, then your going to want to fix her up with 8GB.

For Example: besides the basic Mountain Lion processes, Safari and iTunes I'm using a little over 4GB.

However if I open other App's like iPhoto, OpenOffice, Google Earth for example's, I can easily use 6GB+

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Answer 7

Aug 14, 2013 9:16 PM in response to den.thed

Thank you very much. Your comments just about give me the necessary information we need to decide.

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Answer 8

den.thed

Level 9

77,008 points

Aug 14, 2013 9:20 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Your welcome!

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Answer 9

Aug 14, 2013 10:18 PM in response to den.thed

One last question:

Any thoughts on whether this is the correct type of 4GB RAM module for the Mac mini4,1 (2010, built Feb 2011?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001LGAKS4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1& smid=A2NDNAPHQ3UDKH

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 10

Aug 14, 2013 10:36 PM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Note:

I got the code numbers for the RAM modules from OWC originally, but there are two different numbers in the description of the item in the Amazon link above. That's why I'm double checking.

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Answer 11

Aug 15, 2013 3:26 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Personally, I would stick with purchasing RAM from OWC

or Newegg as both are very good when it comes to exchanging

bad RAM (it does happen now and then).

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Answer 12

Aug 15, 2013 7:28 AM in response to woodmeister50

Thanks for the timely reminder. 🙂

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Answer 13

Aug 15, 2013 8:06 AM in response to woodmeister50

In all fairness to Amazon, though, I need to mention that Amazon is second to none when it comes to exchanges and refunds for defective merchandise. With Amazon even the return shipping is covered by them, which is not the case with OWC.

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Answer 14

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Aug 15, 2013 8:39 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

FWIW my wife's Mac mini is older tha your wife's and it has been happily running Mountail Lion since the first day it was released. I should not that it is my long established custom to max out the RAM on any new Mac we purchase so my wife's Mac mini has 8GB of RAM.

In all fairness to OWC, I have used a lot of their memory over the years and the one or two times I got a bad stick they have simply shipped me a replacement, no questions asked and no return requested.

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Answer 15

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,286 points

Aug 15, 2013 9:16 AM in response to Ramón G Castañeda

Ramón G Castañeda wrote:

I assume you are satisfied that the worst bugs in ML have been fixed.

Be aware that Rosetta no longer comes with Rosetta, nor can be installed into Mountain Lion. Hence if your wife still using any PowerPC apps, they will not run in Mt. Lion on a native basis.

She should check About This Mac under the Apple Menu; System Reports; Software; Applications and look for PowerPC apps under Kind and let us know if there are any that she wants to continue to run and what they are. There are workarounds.

Most people running Snow Leopard have no idea if they are still running PowerPC apps because of the transparency of Rosetta.

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