Does the Mac Mini 2018 support running on 1 memory DIMM

Does the Mac Mini 2018 support running on 1 memory DIMM To cut costs, is it possible to use a single 16GB, or 32GB RAM DIMM for the 2018 model, and buy a matching one later, or even better buy one 16GB DIMM and use the 4GB Apple ship (to make it 20GB). Will it boot and work?
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 210

Total answers/comments: 3

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bert [Entry]

"Things work better in pairs!

Think it like this… You tie your left hand behind your back and you have this nice juicy steak in front of you, hard to cut it up in the smaller bites ;-} Even if you tied your arm to the side so you could still use your hand things are still not so easy.

While it may not seem to be the same RAM is similar! Which is one of the reasons Apple populates your system with two RAM modules and with rare exception so do other makers do as well in their newer systems.

Basically, this is how RAM memory is made to go faster! Interleaved memory.

So while your system should work in either configuration you are over stressing the one or larger DIMM and a second issue is the ability of the module to not overheat which is why two DIMM’s are also used as well."

bert [Entry]

Yes it does work with only a single stick installed. Perhaps not optimally (I didn’t test) - but it certainly boots and allows login to the desktop. That’s as far as I took the experiment.

bert [Entry]

I upgraded mac mini 2018 from 8gb ram to 32gb ram. I was surprised to only get 1 32 gb board instead of 2 16gb. But I was able to install and the machine works fine. EXCEPT. I cannot run updates. I am now stuck on OS 11.6, the update to 11.6.1 does not work, and updating to 12.xx also does not run.