| Joined: | Sun Apr 1st, 2012 |
| Location: | South Lakeland, UK |
| Posts: | 4066 |
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I came from a dual core Mac G5 2.7 Ghz liquid cooled tower (£2,000 in 2005) which was quick but tired. The first Mac mini (2009) was at least as fast, the second (2010) a bit faster but my i7 four core is very quick indeed.
There are a couple of things to consider, the current and next OS work much better with a trackpad, even if you don't like the idea (which I didn't) you will be surprised how well it works with the OS after a few days.
The other thing is, buy any extra memory from Crucial or some other reputable supplier, the Apple memory upgrade is a rip off. Extra RAM is very easy to fit, but please take proper anti static precautions, the damaged caused by short cutting this may not be immediately apparent but it can affect performance and reliability. This is one reason why the current range of laptops are not upgradable for RAM.
Equally, because of the way the OS balances RAM usage, if you are prepared for a tiny speed impact you can manage very well with the standard RAM configuration. I have done tests with and without the upgrades and the difference is negligible, especially if you don't have multiple major applications running simultaneously.
I find the Apple keyboard is best because of the placement of the option, control and command keys, they are more logically placed to enable single hand use but not essential to use for a start.
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Robert.