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1 Gb RAM enough with Mac Mini?

Am I good for ripping and playing with 1 Gb? Machine will be dedicated and run nothing but iTunes.

[I was using a Mac Mini as my digital transport, then decided I should just use one of the two MacBooks always in the area (mine & my wife's). I found that ripping to my 2 Gb 2 Ghz MacBook, Lossless with error correction, I get an average of one dropout every 2-3 tracks if the machine is running ANYTHING else at the time! What a PITA.]
paulfolbrecht
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,350 posts
 
In an absolute sense nearly any computer will work more efficiently with more RAM installed. The Mac OS X system can do more things quicker with the extra RAM. That said, if the computer is being used solely to run iTunes, then 1 Gb is more than sufficient for ripping and playback purposes. iTunes is not a RAM intensive program. But then again, I agree, RAM is cheap. If anyone can point to test(s) showing added RAM significantly decreasing rip times, please post.

One more time -- don't do anything else on the computer when ripping.
paulfolbrecht OP
603 posts
 
Machine will be dedicated with iTunes only, but once again I will order 2 Gb because there's no good reason not to.

I think it's worth the $700 to not have to stretch a USB cable to the couch anyway.
shazam
205 posts
 
Is the drive a CD only or a DVD-CD Combo? DVD drives tend to do a better job of ripping without errors, so consider getting an external usb drive just for ripping if the internal is CD only. Plextor drives are fairly acclaimed for ripping accuracy.
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