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New Mac Mini 64bit?

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Posted on June 16, 2010 at 11:27:17
Sordidman
Audiophile

Posts: 13665
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 Hello,

Perhaps I got my information wrong, - but is it true that the new Mac Mini's are 64bit? I thought that it was a combination of the chipset, app, and OS. A friend of mine just mentioned that Mini's from last year and the year before were 64bit as long as you're running Snow Leopard, but my understanding was different.

Cheers,


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

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RE: New Mac Mini 64bit?, posted on June 16, 2010 at 18:38:00
tlea
Audiophile

Posts: 579
Location: New Orleans
Joined: January 20, 2002
Contributor
  Since: October 29, 2006
 You and your friend each have it partly right. Every Mac Mini built since mid-2007 has included an Intel Core 2 Duo, which is a 64 bit processor. As you note, to utilize the 64 bit capability you need an OS and apps that can access it, meaning Snow Leopard. You also have to have the firmware updated so that the EFI (extensible firmware interface, whatever that is) is 64 bit capable. Snow Leopard on an EFI64 Mini does not boot into 64 bit by default; you have to press the 6 and 4 keys while rebooting. Maybe the new Mini does, which is really what you are asking, I think. Perhaps someone will answer this after some experimentation - keep in mind they have only been on the market since yesterday. But honestly, at this point in time the only significant benefit to a 64 bit OS is the ability to address more than 4GB of RAM. So unless you have that it really shouldn't matter to you. And if you have gone to the trouble of installing more than 4 GB of RAM in your Mini I'd be interested in knowing why you made that decision.




. . . in theory, practice and theory are the same; in practice, they are different . . .

 

Thank you much, posted on June 17, 2010 at 06:59:06
Sordidman
Audiophile

Posts: 13665
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 All of that makes great sense. I have one from the fall of 08. And, I installed 4GB of RAM and various analysis programs say that it can use about 3.2GB or something like that: which made it worth it to me. The machine is relatively speedy, but I don't do that much with it. Mostly I was just curious, and also wondering what was happening too with 64 bit programs that could take advantage of the processor. Of course, there are usually other issues involved.
With the new ones accepting up to 8GB of RAM, should be faster.

Thanks again for your help.


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

Benefits, posted on June 17, 2010 at 09:55:54
audioengr
Manufacturer

Posts: 6017
Location: Oregon
Joined: April 12, 2001
 Actually, users are reporting much better sound quality with 64-bit on the Mini. It's evidently not subtle either. I have not been successful in doing the patch yet myself however. Here are instructions:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82154.0

 

64-bit, posted on June 18, 2010 at 19:14:05
EmailTim
 Are the reported 64-bit audio benifits on just the Mac Mini or Win7-64 or Unix/Linux as well?

I am using a 64-bit Intel 2.53GHz QuadCore, Win7 Ultimate-64, SSDs, 12GB RAM and am pretty impressed with the initial results. I would like to test 64-bit Linux next (not a Mac person).

Thanks,
Tim

 

RE: 64-bit, posted on June 19, 2010 at 10:46:21
audioengr
Manufacturer

Posts: 6017
Location: Oregon
Joined: April 12, 2001
 I coudnt say. I think the main benefits are 64-bit with Amarra on Mac OSX.

Steve N.

 

RE: 64-bit, posted on June 19, 2010 at 13:54:29
EmailTim
 I know when I switch between 32-bit and 64-bit Fedora Core 10 for work, my compiles of the same source code and makefiles go from @ 80 minutes down to @ 28 minutes using the same hardware.

Neither of the builds use more than a couple of GB of memory even though there is more physical memory available. The system swap ar both virtually empty.

Don't know if it is just a difference in the word sizes or if the kernels have different timing configurations as well.

 

RE: Benefits, posted on June 22, 2010 at 20:48:27
classfolkphile
Audiophile

Posts: 533
Location: Florida
Joined: December 17, 2002
 Is that improved sound quality with a 64 bit system using more than 4GB of RAM? Or is the sound quality improved with still using 4GB?

TIA

 

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