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Woo-Hoo - Upgraded the Mac Mini to 2GB

mac-convert

mac-convert

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2006
608
0
Are we there yet?
Wow! I was in a CompUSA store last night and they had 1GB sticks of Centon memory on sale for $100US (actually $125 with a $25 rebate). They said they would install it in my mini for $30 and if it didn't work - no sale. I asked them if I took it home and installed it and if it didn't work, would they take it back. When I got a yes answer I gladly pulled out my card and got two sticks. Well, I put them in today and they work like a charm.

A few glitches putting it back together. Don't drop a black screw on a dark carpet where there is very little light. Also, remember where the long screw goes. There are three shorts, and one long. A short screw will not engage the threads in the long screw location regardless of how long you spin the screwdriver!

Also, on the rebate - it's one per household - so the keen lady at the register said she would ring them up separate and I could find a friend to mail in the second rebate. Oh - I already found the friend!!!

Anyway - now I have a screaming little system here now. Will put Dreamweaver and NeoOffice to the ultimate of tests over the next few days.

:D :D :D :D :D and two thumbs up!!!
 
pianoman

pianoman

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2006
1,963
0
congratulations. i didn't know the mini had two slots; i thought it was just one. sounds like you've got yourself a powerful little machine!
 
Eidorian

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
I got 3 of the 4 screws back into my Mac mini. It's the one in the front right in the hole. It fell out and I can't wiggle it back into it's screw hole.

But hey it works? :rolleyes:

I'll need a magnetic #0 Phillips for it! :(
 
mac-convert

mac-convert

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2006
608
0
Are we there yet?
Yeah, that happened to me a few times (well, more than a few). I just turned it upside down, and tap-tap-tapped it a few times and it would spit the screw back out at me. That's where I lost in on the floor once.

The trick I ended up with was to turn the unit upside down, get the screw balanced on the screw stick, and gently slide it into the slot - voila! Another trick is to NOT tighten each screw as you get it installed. Run it down till it starts to get snug, then back it out a turn or so. That way you can wiggle the unit around a little to get all the screws started, and then go back and snug them down. Snug - not tighten!

The easiest part of my installation was prying the case off and putting it back on again. A friend had a filed down metal putty knife and a filed down plastic one. Worked like a charm. But I also watched him do it a while back when he upgraded his.
 
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,152
My screw from the back corner, opposite power button fell between the usb ports and got wedged in there, took a lot of shaking and a long toothpick but eventually I got it out.

Get yourself a newertech Ministack v2 from OWC and plop one of your drives in it, it is a great add on to a Mini, gives you extra Firewire and USB ports.
 
mac-convert

mac-convert

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2006
608
0
Are we there yet?
Markleshark - do it - upgrade the memory. It's the best thing you can do for one of these sweet machines! If you elect to go with non-Apple memory, as I did, make sure you do some research at least on Google on the brands. I have seen where some of them are just a little to thick for the mini (the pins) and won't insert. And there are others that just have problems.Mine are the Centon, and so far so good. They have a web site - http://www.centon.com

So far I have re-tested Parallels, and I can now do what I could not with only 512MB. Before I could not even get a new VM past the stage of loading the ISO file. I even let it run overnight once and then gave it some more time - still couldn't finish. I loaded a test setup last night, and in 45 minutes or so I had it running - Linux, not Windows. I have a machine for that OS already. I have two USB drives, with ISO's on one and the virtual machines on the other, and performance is exceptional. But over the next few days, it will be a shake-out of neoOffice and learning Dreamweaver 8.
 
California

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Upgrade the hd when you upgrade the memory on the mini. I just did this on my PPC mini. 100gb 7200rpm hard drive plus *sigh* only could max out the memory to 1gb. But love the mini.
 
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,152
California said:
Upgrade the hd when you upgrade the memory on the mini. I just did this on my PPC mini. 100gb 7200rpm hard drive plus *sigh* only could max out the memory to 1gb. But love the mini.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother with the HDD, they are too expensive for the lack of extra space. I just ordered a 500GB Seagate 7200.10 IDE from Newegg.com - Thanksgiving special, $149 down from $229. I will replace the 120 in my Ministack case. Those run $75 plus it is a nice hub. Or you could go with a cheaper case. Still a 500GB HDD with case for $224 isn't bad.
 
California

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
roland.g said:
I wouldn't bother with the HDD, they are too expensive for the lack of extra space. I just ordered a 500GB Seagate 7200.10 IDE from Newegg.com - Thanksgiving special, $149 down from $229. I will replace the 120 in my Ministack case. Those run $75 plus it is a nice hub. Or you could go with a cheaper case. Still a 500GB HDD with case for $224 isn't bad.
Click to expand...

Yes but I think you lose speed when you firewire an external drive. Right? Better if you are going to bother opening the case to get a fast hd in there, methinks. But I could be wrong. For my silent upgrade 1.5ghz PPC Mac Mini, speed and maxed out memory are a premium. Can't wait for the 200gb 10000 rpm laptop drives with hopefully 16mb caches!
 
SkyBell

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
Lol, I was going to get 2 GB, but I finally said screw it, and went to the AS and bought a stock. 512 is a little slow, but I think 1GB would do nicely for me.
 
mac-convert

mac-convert

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 2, 2006
608
0
Are we there yet?
stumper said:
External FW is faster

http://www.barefeats.com/mini01c.html
Click to expand...

I run two external drives on USB 2.0 and use one for data files and iTunes music primarily, and the second I use for backups and a quick storage area. The speed is more than satisfactory for me.

I really believe the best upgrade for a mac mini is to go straight to the 2GB memory upgrade. Since there are only two slots available, it never made sense to me to upgrade first to 1GB and then spend the money and time to upgrade again later. I am extremely happy with this setup.

Oh - I am not debating which is faster - just stating that I have found no issues with the USB drives. Speed becomes a relative thing when computers operate as fast as they do these days. Can I wait a few seconds, rather that getting results immediately? Certainly! The mini is a development platform, not a real-time system.
 
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