Seeking Mac Mini advice/suggestions

[Hector]

Maybe I should get four more cards...and take out the paltry ones I have now...that way I can have a total of 32GB...



Thoughts?

P.S. That's Zoe Saldana up there, not porn pics, lol...

[Hector]

I'll be doing a lot of home movie editing too...I guess I need all the RAMs I can get.

I'll order more...for a total of 32GBs...

[Captain Big Trousers]

Photoshop, Illustrator, video editing...?

I'd get an iMac and run your old Cinema screen as a second monitor. Two words: Retina Display. And just think of all those palettes off on a second screen.

I used to be a tower guy but now I find treating my Macs as disposable, rather than upgradable, makes more economic sense. Currently on my 4th iMac (along with a small mountain of other Apple products).

[drquest]

More ram should help a lot, and I'd recommend buying an SSD and loading Lion on it, and using your HDD as your secondary(storage) drive. It will wake that Pro up and it will feel like a new machine.

[Hector]

I will, thanks.

My iPad Air is retina display.

But I don't like that glossy screen on iMacs...I prefer my Cinema Display for illustrator and Photoshop...plus why spend more money if my Mac Pro comes to life.

Much appreciate the help, Guys.

[Hector]

I'd recommend buying an SSD and loading Lion on it, and using your HDD as your secondary(storage) drive..

Can you guide me a bit further with that?

Which specific SSD?

Something like this?

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mac-Pro-Tower

[Hector]

Photoshop, Illustrator, video editing...?

I'd get an iMac and run your old Cinema screen as a second monitor. Two words: Retina Display. And just think of all those palettes off on a second screen.

I used to be a tower guy but now I find treating my Macs as disposable, rather than upgradable, makes more economic sense. Currently on my 4th iMac (along with a small mountain of other Apple products).

In a perfect world, I'd get the new Mac Pro...that awesome black cylinder looking one...but then I'll have to sell my Mustang, lol.

[Hector]

Mmm...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TzYZu4hiRKY

[Hector]

Is my Mac Pro a quad? I thought it was just dual...but it's says 2x dual core...I bought it from a local graphic designer seven years ago...and I just didn't know.

So here are all the specs in pics...remember...I just bought 32GB OF ram...so all eight slots are going to be filled.

Basing upon my specs...please advise what exactly extra I should get...I wanna really supe up this thing, lol.

Thanks!

[WannabeMego]

More ram should help a lot, and I'd recommend buying an SSD and loading Lion on it, and using your HDD as your secondary(storage) drive. It will wake that Pro up and it will feel like a new machine.

I agree with this 100%.

I'm not a Mac Pro by any stretch...but...Maxing your RAM with the Best Chipset it can handle (Speed & Size) WITH the Best SSD your system can take and you can afford...regardless of OS (Mac, Linux, M$)...you WILL see a very noticeable improvement...no doubt.

I personally revived otherwise labeled 'Door-Stop' systems by their owners using this simple HW Upgrade (along with some Heavy Duty Scrubbing of the HD & OS).

[drquest]

Based on your serial number, the last one on this list seems to be what you have.

http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac...ds=G86402MMUPZ

[Hector]

This one?

http://eshop.macsales.com/owcpages/ssd-bootest-mbp-101112.html

Also, do I have to back up everything before I remove all the current memory cards and add the new ones?

[Hector]

So this one is compatible with my Mac Pro 2.66...

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mac-Pro-Tower

So if I already have Lion. Why do I need to reinstall it?

Where do I place the SSD...in the first slot? Move the HDD to the next slot?

How about Applications and my Adobe software. Do they transfer automatically to the SSD?

So by HDD being backup...I work Illustrator/Photoshop through the SSD...and transfer to HDD as storage?

No deletion of my files will happen?

Sorry for my inane questions, I'm not a techie, lol.

Thanks!

[megoapesnut]

So if I already have Lion. Why do I need to reinstall it?
The SSD will be blank so you will have to install Lion on it. Just boot up your computer while holding down the option key (or command key, it's been while since I did this) and you will get a screen with several drive icons. Choose the recovery disk and it will boot from that. From there you can install Lion on the SSD.

Where do I place the SSD...in the first slot? Move the HDD to the next slot?
I don't think it really matters which slot it is in but you will need an adapter. Or if you are not afraid to get a little more technical, you can install it via the unused connection in your DVD drive bay (unless you already have two DVD drives in there). You have to slide the entire bay out and you will see the cables in there. You can just mount the SSD to the one side of the bay. That is where I have mine installed. This will save you a slot for drives and save you from having to buy the adapter.

How about Applications and my Adobe software. Do they transfer automatically to the SSD?
You could do a Time Machine backup of your existing drive and then do a TM transfer when you start from the freshly installed OS on the SSD. I'd recommend doing a fresh install of all your software instead. This will prevent any corrupted pref files from being transferred. These are the culprit of many system slowdowns.

So by HDD being backup...I work Illustrator/Photoshop through the SSD...and transfer to HDD as storage?
Yes, put your OS and all your Apps on the SSD and use the regular drive for storage.

No deletion of my files will happen?
Nothing will delete from the regular drive unless you manually delete it.

[Hector]

So if I already have Lion. Why do I need to reinstall it?
The SSD will be blank so you will have to install Lion on it. Just boot up your computer while holding down the option key (or command key, it's been while since I did this) and you will get a screen with several drive icons. Choose the recovery disk and it will boot from that. From there you can install Lion on the SSD.

Where do I place the SSD...in the first slot? Move the HDD to the next slot?
I don't think it really matters which slot it is in but you will need an adapter. Or if you are not afraid to get a little more technical, you can install it via the unused connection in your DVD drive bay (unless you already have two DVD drives in there). You have to slide the entire bay out and you will see the cables in there. You can just mount the SSD to the one side of the bay. That is where I have mine installed. This will save you a slot for drives and save you from having to buy the adapter.

How about Applications and my Adobe software. Do they transfer automatically to the SSD?
You could do a Time Machine backup of your existing drive and then do a TM transfer when you start from the freshly installed OS on the SSD. I'd recommend doing a fresh install of all your software instead. This will prevent any corrupted pref files from being transferred. These are the culprit of many system slowdowns.

So by HDD being backup...I work Illustrator/Photoshop through the SSD...and transfer to HDD as storage?
Yes, put your OS and all your Apps on the SSD and use the regular drive for storage.

No deletion of my files will happen?
Nothing will delete from the regular drive unless you manually delete it.

Man, I love you!!!!

I do have two DVD drives.

But only have two HD...two other slots are available to place a SSD.

Is this a good one?

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Extreme_Pro_6G/

The site has a click on your Mac Pro model...and it will display which SSD to place. That's the one that showed up.

Is this the adapter you were recommending?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/

What's a time machine backup? How you do that?

Sooooooooooooooooooooo glad you are helping me out...much appreciated...