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Upgrading Mac Mini

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mags631

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Original poster
Mar 6, 2007
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While I wait to buy my new mac, I'm going to take on a small project to upgrade my Mac Mini. I have a few questions before I buy the parts and start on it. Any help/input is appreciated.

Hard Drive Upgrade
I'm seriously considering buying a HITACHI Travelstar 7K100. It is a 100GB, SATA 150 drive. (newegg link:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822146053).

Any known issues with this drive? I'd like to have at least 100GB and as fast as possible so that we can browse our large iPhoto library with minimal photo load times.

Memory Upgrade
I'm debating upgrading to either 1.5GB or 2GB. I currently have 1GB through 2x512s.

Any significant performance hits if I were to have a 1x1GB and 1x512MB, as opposed to 2x1GB? I'm not concerned about the difference in memory, but the difference in memory sizes...


Processor Upgrade
OK, this is the strangest part of the upgrade. I currently have a Sony VAIO VGN-SZ110, which has a 1.83GHz Core Duo. My Mini has a 1.5GHz Solo. I only do Excel, Word, and PowerPoint on the laptop, so I'm seriously considering swapping the two. (Yes, the laptop is my personal machine.)

Will the performance improvement on the Mini be noticeable? We primarily use the Mini for watching DVDs, listening to music, browsing the web, browsing our iPhoto library, and soon, I will install CrossOver to run Office XP on it.

Thanks in advance.
 
jsw

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
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Andover, MA
mags631 said:
Memory Upgrade

Any significant performance hits if I were to have a 1x1GB and 1x512MB, as opposed to 2x1GB?
Click to expand...
No. The performance of paired RAM isn't much better at all then unpaired RAM (like, 5% at best, and usually less). You'd see a performance improvement because of the 2GB, not because it's paired (i.e., more RAM trumps paired RAM).
mags631 said:
Processor Upgrade

Will the performance improvement on the Mini be noticeable?
Click to expand...
Yes - the duo is much better at video than the solo. Not that the solo is bad, but things that choke the solo don't choke the duo. And a second processor is never a bad thing.

That said... it'd be really easy to brick both CPUs if you aren't careful. If the solo works now, why risk it?
 
M

mags631

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Mar 6, 2007
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That said... it'd be really easy to brick both CPUs if you aren't careful. If the solo works now, why risk it?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply! I've done processor upgrades, so I'm not terribly worried about the risk. Beyond controlling static electricity, lining up the pins, and getting thermal grease between the processor and the heat sink, is there something else that I should watch for?

The reason to risk it is that I want to get this machine up-to-snuff before I leave it with my wife for 9 months and we both have to rely on it for video-conferencing (forgot to mention that as a reason/use case in the original post).

Cheers!
 
M

mags631

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Original poster
Mar 6, 2007
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Complete

Quick follow-up.

I installed 2GB of RAM and the new 100GB 7K RPM drive. My word -- the Mini is tightly packed!!! I opted to not install a new processor.

Everything is running well... including Parallels with all the new RAM.
 
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
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Yeah, definitely tight in there. Good job. RAM and HDD upgrades are a little work, but not too hard. Same with the optical drive. CPU on the other hand would be a little trickier.
 
MacBass

MacBass

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Aug 12, 2005
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La Crosse, WI
It would also be a challenge if the laptop's processor was soldered to the motherboard. I wouldn't attempt a swap if that was the case.
 
janey

janey

macrumors 603
Dec 20, 2002
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sunny los angeles
Woah, I almost got that drive. I sprang for the Seagate one instead.

Was it just me or is it really hard to screw in the black frame thing after replacing the hard drive? Popping it open and the actual act of inserting the hard drive took all of one minute, but it was the screwing everything back that took me over an hour. Some screws wouldn't even fit for some bizarre reason, so now I have 3 leftover screws I couldn't do anything with.

It was my third hard drive change on my mini, shrug.
 
M

mags631

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Original poster
Mar 6, 2007
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MacBass said:
It would also be a challenge if the laptop's processor was soldered to the motherboard. I wouldn't attempt a swap if that was the case.
Click to expand...
After trying to pry it off with a screwdriver, I decided against it.:rolleyes:
 
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