Does replacing the RAM on 2011 MacMini improve performance?

No, 8gB of RAM should be more than sufficient.

How have you been doing "periodic clean ups" of the hard drive?

Try running this and posting the results here:

EtreCheck

Faster RAM will do absolutely nothing to speed up the computer, and in most cases will cause it to not boot. Please follow the link posted above by lllaass and post an EtreCheck report.

If the Mini you have is running a hard disk drive of 5400-RPM, you may wish to consider

an upgrade to a faster spin-rate hard disk drive, with suitable cache, of 7200-RPM. You

could also consider a slightly larger capacity and that would still run faster than 5400.

The bottleneck in a Mini can be traced to the system using hard drive space and the

rate of which the read-write to that location can take. And then, more RAM may help

if you happen to use applications that prefer to use more. Look into the HDD/SSD.

In any event...

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

When you upgraded to Yosemite, did you also update Parallels

as well?

Also, you need to make sure all other software and drivers are up to date

and compatible with Yosemite.

Hi all,

I have the same problem, my mid2011 Mac mini has never work properly (in my opinion) and now after upgrading Yosemite it is just absolutely unworkable, so I was wondering my-self if more RAM could help.

As requested, I post my report below. Thank you very much in advance for your help

Problem description:

Very very low performance.

EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

Report generated 7 de marzo de 2015, 18:51:57 CET

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Adware! - Remove] links for help removing adware.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

Mac mini (Mid 2011) (Technical Specifications)

Mac mini - model: Macmini5,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

2 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

1 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ℹ️

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 288 MB

ASUS VS239 spdisplays_1080p

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 2:38:20

Disk Information: ℹ️

Hitachi HTS547550A9E384 disk0 : (500,11 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 499.25 GB (334.28 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ℹ️

Dynastream Innovations ANT USB-m Stick

General USB Flash Disk 4,01 GB

NO NAME (disk2s1) /Volumes/NO NAME : 4.01 GB (1.68 GB free)

Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0

Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v5.0

Western Digital External HDD 320,07 GB

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

TOLEDO - HD (disk1s2) /Volumes/TOLEDO - HD : 319.73 GB (132.23 GB free)

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

MediaTek Inc MT1887 1,44 GB

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Adware: ℹ️

Geneio [Adware! - Remove]

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Library/Application Support/Kaspersky Lab/KAV/Bases/Cache

[loaded] com.kaspersky.kext.kimul.44 (44) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.kaspersky.kext.mark.1.0.5 (1.0.5) [Click for support]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.kaspersky.kext.klif (3.0.5a45) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.kaspersky.nke (2.0.0a12) [Click for support]

Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️

[killed] com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist

[killed] com.apple.bird.plist

[killed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.cloudd.plist

[killed] com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist

[killed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist

[killed] com.apple.EscrowSecurityAlert.plist

[killed] com.apple.gamed.plist

[killed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist

[killed] com.apple.recentsd.plist

[killed] com.apple.SafariNotificationAgent.plist

[killed] com.apple.scopedbookmarkagent.xpc.plist

[killed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist

[killed] com.apple.spindump_agent.plist

[killed] com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist

[killed] com.apple.xpc.loginitemregisterd.plist

17 processes killed due to memory pressure

Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[killed] com.apple.awdd.plist

[killed] com.apple.ctkd.plist

[killed] com.apple.findmymac.plist

[killed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist

[killed] com.apple.nehelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist

[killed] com.apple.periodic-daily.plist

[killed] com.apple.spindump.plist

[killed] com.apple.systemstats.analysis.plist

[killed] com.apple.tccd.system.plist

[killed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist

[killed] com.apple.xpc.smd.plist

12 processes killed due to memory pressure

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[running] com.kaspersky.kav.gui.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.kaspersky.kav.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[running] com.cinemapro1-2.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.extensions.updater69337.agent.plist [Click for support]

[unknown] com.extensions.updater69337.ver [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.download.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.ltvbit.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.update.plist [Click for support]

[unknown] UpdateDownloader [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

Garmin Express Service Aplicación (/Applications/Garmin Express.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Garmin Express Service.app)

iTunesHelper Aplicación (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Garmin ANT Agent UNKNOWN (missing value)

WDSecurityHelper Aplicación (/Applications/WD Security.app/Contents/WDSecurityHelper.app)

WDDriveUtilityHelper Aplicación (/Applications/WD Drive Utilities.app/Contents/WDDriveUtilityHelper.app)

Safari Aplicación (/Applications/Safari.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

GarminGpsControl: Version: 4.1.0.0 Release - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.0.0 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

searchme [Adware! - Remove]

GoldenBoy

URL Advisor

Virtual Keyboard

defaultsearch

macfest

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 164.97 GB

Destinations:

TOLEDO - HD [Local]

Total size: 319.73 GB

Total number of backups: 17

Oldest backup: 2015-03-01 00:03:18 +0000

Last backup: 2015-03-07 17:45:05 +0000

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 319.73 GB < (Disk used 164.97 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

5% WindowServer

1% sysmond

0% ocspd

0% MemoryKeeper

0% kav

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

64 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

50 MB kav

41 MB Safari

28 MB WindowServer

24 MB mds

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

64 MB Free RAM

411 MB Active RAM

400 MB Inactive RAM

802 MB Wired RAM

15.15 GB Page-ins

303 MB Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Mar 7, 2015, 06:17:33 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2015-03-07-181733_[ redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Click for details]

Mar 7, 2015, 04:11:14 PM Self test - passed

Yes, in your case, more RAM would definitely help. However, you do have junk software (Kaspersky) and Adware that needs to be removed. See below for instructions to remove the AdWare. Consult the developers website to remove Kaspersky.

Please review the options below to determine which method is best to remove the Adware installed on your computer.

The Easy, safe, effective method:

http://www.adwaremedic.com/index.php

If you are comfortable doing manual file removals use the somewhat more difficult method:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203987

Also read the articles below to be more prepared for the next time there is an issue on your computer.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7471

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-8071

http://www.thesafemac.com/tech-support-scam-pop-ups/

Remove [running] kaspersky by following their instructions.

Also in your EtreCheck results click on Support for these and see if yo need them

[loaded] com.extensions.updater69337.agent.plist [Click for support]

[unknown] com.extensions.updater69337.ver [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.download.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.ltvbit.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.Installer.completer.update.plist [Click for support]

[unknown] UpdateDownloader [Click for support]

Thank you very much Illaass and Stedman1,

I am really desperate with this so that helps a lot... in fact Kaspersky is not really junk software, I have just bought one yearly "Kaspersky total security" license trying to clean my Mac from virus.

I will definitely buy more memory for that and I have read in other posts of this foro that you have recommended some shops like, spemacsales.com. However I live in France right now and it is not is to deliver here. So please, if you can provided some more details about the specification I will try to find a shop able to deliver here. I also wondering if 16Gb will be supported by my mid 2011 mac mini or if 8Gb is the maximum.

Thanks again for you support