RAM: A Crucial upgrade for my Mac Mini
You load sixteen gigs, what do you get?
Enough horsepower to fly a jet
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the Apple store.
It was Thanksgiving at the beach* this year when my wife first asked me what I wanted for Christmas. The only things I could point to were the items on my Amazon Wish List, which were a bunch of photography, printmaking, and art technique books with one exception: 16GB of Crucial RAM for my Mac mini. My mini had the original 4GB still in it from the original purchase.
She noticed the $130 price tag and had to ask: "So, why do you need that?"
Seriously? She didn't know that a single purchase of 16 glorious gigabytes of tasty RAM wouldn't be what any geeky boy would want for Christmas? Where has she been for the past 15 years?
I, of course, in my soft, sweet, non-threatening whispery voice, said, "You gotta be freakin' kiddin' me. 16 freakin' gigs of RAM will make that mini a new computer."
Her response was to offer me the first fermented beverage of the day and then tell me, "OK, I'll ask again later."
I mumbled something about her being like a Magic 8 Ball with that response, although I did appreciate the Texas Road Soda she'd just handed me.
Fast forward a few weeks to Christmas Eve at my in-law's house.
The mass gift opening at my in-law's house on Christmas Eve is a bit chaotic and rightly deserves its own story at some point, perhaps on my personal blog site. But, we go over there to open gifts from our in-laws and watch the kids open presents from all the siblings. It's very complicated and you probably would be glad to be spared the details.
I collected my presents and discovered that they were all from my Amazon Wish List. The Printmaking Bible and a few others filled my heart with joy that evening. Once my head cleared from the excitement, I pondered, "I wonder if I'll get my RAM tomorrow?"
The answer is "Yes, I did".
I was thrilled.
After all of our gifts were opened, I realize that my wife had bought me everything on my Amazon Wish List. She'd handed a few books out to various family members to give me, but I knew the truth. Who cares? I got my RAM.
I ran into my office, opened my Mac mini, removed the old RAM, and carefully snapped in 16GB of fresh new Crucial's heaven sent nectar. I put the mini's case back on, reattached the cables, and powered it on.
I rejoiced.
I rejoiced so much that my wife and one of the kids (can't recall who) came running in to see what was up.
My wife rolled her eyes and confirmed my excitement. "Oh, good grief, he's already installed that !@#$% RAM".
Indeed I had.
Back in days of old, when ships were made of wood and men were made of iron, we had something called Novell servers. To make one sing like the birds who help me get dressed in the morning, you had to add RAM. The more RAM you added, the better the singing. RAM was a Novell server's best friend.
That wasn't always true with Windows or Linux systems, but it certainly was with Novell. Sure, any computer will love you for adding RAM, but not in the same way a Novell server would. Add RAM to a Novell server and it would be your best friend for years to come.
I had the same rush from adding RAM to my mini.
Four gigs was no longer adequate with Yosemite, AVG antivirus, and many apps open. 16 gigs is way better. I don't know if it's four times better, but it feels ten times better and that's what I'd hoped for--a significant performance boost.
RAM is good again.
I swear that I saw my Mac smile at me after I booted it up with its new memory boost. Although now I think it could have just been a lingering after image of that Amazon smile from the box it came in. Either way, I was smiling and haven't stopped since that day.
Thanks to Melissa, Amazon, and Crucial...I mean thanks Santa Claus, it was the perfect present! The books are cool too.
Related Stories:
- The Mac mini transition week four: Saying goodbye to Windows isn't easy
- The Mac mini transition week three: trading pain for productivity
- Mac mini transition week two: mini-mizing problems
- My first week with the Mac mini: First and lasting impressions from a Windows user gone awry
- A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Apple store
*Port Aransas, TX beach (aka The Texas Riviera), that is. We typically go in the summer, but this year we waited.
@The lyrics were modified from the original "16 Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford.