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Mac Mini 1.1 or 2.1 ?

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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
I recently bought a mac mini 1.1 with an 1.5Ghz core single processor and 60gb harddrive and 1Gb RAM, i have some parts i have been thinking of upgradeit with, i have a T7600 2.33Ghz core 2 duo processor, and a 160gb hard drive and 2gb RAM.

How ever, the upgrade processor and the hard drive will be good for what i need the computer for... BUT i am thinking of maybe its better to buy a cheap Mac Mini 2.1 to be able to put in 4gb of RAM even if only 3gb will be accessible...

Will it be a big difference between 2gb and 3gb.. ?

I only need this computer to record music on it and i used to have a 24" mid 2006 iMac with 2.16Ghz core 2 duo... so this mac mini will be a little better i think..

// Perkla
 
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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Perkla said:
I recently bought a mac mini 1.1 with an 1.5Ghz core single processor and 60gb harddrive and 1Gb RAM, i have some parts i have been thinking of upgradeit with, i have a T7600 2.33Ghz core 2 duo processor, and a 160gb hard drive and 2gb RAM.

How ever, the upgrade processor and the hard drive will be good for what i need the computer for... BUT i am thinking of maybe its better to buy a cheap Mac Mini 2.1 to be able to put in 4gb of RAM even if only 3gb will be accessible...

Will it be a big difference between 2gb and 3gb.. ?

I only need this computer to record music on it and i used to have a 24" mid 2006 iMac with 2.16Ghz core 2 duo... so this mac mini will be a little better i think..

// Perkla
Click to expand...

You can flash a 1,1 with the 2,1 firmware in order to use 3gb of RAM
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
You can flash a 1,1 with the 2,1 firmware in order to use 3gb of RAM
Click to expand...

Yes i know.. BUT i am not very good at those things, so is there an easy way to do this.. ? maybe a step by step tutorial ?

Cus if there is a way to flash this 1.1 to a 2.1 and i can put in 4gb of ram.. thats would be so god damn awesome.. :D
 
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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
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I posted step by step instructions in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1323715/
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
I posted step by step instructions in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1323715/
Click to expand...

Thanx.. i will try this, is it any danger with this.. ? can something go terrible wrong and my mac will never start again ?

Just wanna make sure...

I should do this BEFORE i upgrade the internal memory .. right ? i have a 2gb module in it right now.. ofter upgrade i will put in 2x2gb ...
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
It's also on Page 8. Archive.zip from mediashare
Click to expand...

Ok thanx..

Now i got the new 2.33Ghz core 2 duo processor, should i put in that first before i flash it to 2.1 ? and after its flashed i put in 4Gb ram ?
 
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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Perkla said:
Ok thanx..

Now i got the new 2.33Ghz core 2 duo processor, should i put in that first before i flash it to 2.1 ? and after its flashed i put in 4Gb ram ?
Click to expand...

I first installed the new processors before I flashed, but that was only because I didn't know I could flash my 1,1's to 2,1's until much later. I assume you can flash first before you do any of the updates, but I can't just say from personal experience.
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
I first installed the new processors before I flashed, but that was only because I didn't know I could flash my 1,1's to 2,1's until much later. I assume you can flash first before you do any of the updates, but I can't just say from personal experience.
Click to expand...

I see.. i thought i saw someone said that the computer needs a core 2 duo processor to be able to upgrade to 2.1...

But i will try to make the upgrade with just the 1.5 single core and before i do any of the other upgrades..

Is there any danger with doing this flash to make it a 2.1 ? Can something go terrible wrong and my mac mini will never start again ?
 
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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Perkla said:
I see.. i thought i saw someone said that the computer needs a core 2 duo processor to be able to upgrade to 2.1...

But i will try to make the upgrade with just the 1.5 single core and before i do any of the other upgrades..

Is there any danger with doing this flash to make it a 2.1 ? Can something go terrible wrong and my mac mini will never start again ?
Click to expand...

Sure, anytime you flash a device, there is always a chance something might go wrong. With that said, both of my 1,1's went fine. I even had a problem with one of them and the flash update just aborted and it stayed at 1,1.

And yes according to this post: http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,874.msg15441.html#msg15441 you will need to update to core2duo first....
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
Sure, anytime you flash a device, there is always a chance something might go wrong. With that said, both of my 1,1's went fine. I even had a problem with one of them and the flash update just aborted and it stayed at 1,1.

And yes according to this post: http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,874.msg15441.html#msg15441 you will need to update to core2duo first....
Click to expand...

Yes thats true, i will try to flash it tomarrow after i swapped to the 2.33 core 2 duo processor.. i will have to make an clone of my harddrive also cus i am putting in a 160gb after i have flash it.

I am kinda excited about doing this cus i think the upgrade from 1.5ghz single core to 2.33ghz core 2 duo will be a huge difference and + a little difference to be able to use 3gb of ram... efter the upgrade maybe it will handle video and such things much better also :D
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
Now i have upgraded the CPU and WOW what a big difference...with this new 2.33Ghz core 2 duo its awesome :D

It runs video much better now, and the Quick Time screen recorder is fluent as well, youtube videos at 1080p...no problem so far..

So i belive i have to flash it now to be able to use 3GB RAM, maybe that will make it a little faster... or so..

Also i am about to clone my harddrive the the 160gb and swap that as well, after the clone is done.. it should just start and boot like nothing ever happend ? .. with the new drive i mean..
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
It's been awhile, but yes I believe both have to be in there.
Click to expand...

Ok.. i am happy now cus i have just done something i have never done in my whole life, i have flashed a mac mini from 1.1 to 2.1 and i have put in 4GB 667Mhz ram in it.. and it shows up as 4GB but maybe just uses 3GB ?

As i said before i have swapped the processor as well and i can tell that this computer is ALOT faster now, i will run it for a few days now to see that it runs stable and that its all ok..

AND i made a clone of my hard drive and put in that 160gb in it, if it runs good now maybe i will buy a cheap 60gb SSD and put in it and run the 160gb as external..

This is fun..

Thanx for all the help and support Paulrbeers :D
 
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paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Perkla said:
Ok.. i am happy now cus i have just done something i have never done in my whole life, i have flashed a mac mini from 1.1 to 2.1 and i have put in 4GB 667Mhz ram in it.. and it shows up as 4GB but maybe just uses 3GB ?

As i said before i have swapped the processor as well and i can tell that this computer is ALOT faster now, i will run it for a few days now to see that it runs stable and that its all ok..

AND i made a clone of my hard drive and put in that 160gb in it, if it runs good now maybe i will buy a cheap 60gb SSD and put in it and run the 160gb as external..

This is fun..

Thanx for all the help and support Paulrbeers :D
Click to expand...

Congrats on the upgrade. You can upgrade it to Lion if you are interested, but does require another computer running Lion (or capable of running Lion). Then again, many are happy running Snow Leopard.

Yes it will say it has 4GB of RAM, but only 3GB (I think it's actually like 3.1GB) is addressable. I actually took a small (at best 5% hit) and just put 1 - 1GB and 1 - 2GB stick into my Mac Mini 1,1's. But either way. I did that simply because I already had 2GB (2 x 1GB) in them and just bought a 4GB (2 x 2GB) kit and split it.
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
paulrbeers said:
Congrats on the upgrade. You can upgrade it to Lion if you are interested, but does require another computer running Lion (or capable of running Lion). Then again, many are happy running Snow Leopard.

Yes it will say it has 4GB of RAM, but only 3GB (I think it's actually like 3.1GB) is addressable. I actually took a small (at best 5% hit) and just put 1 - 1GB and 1 - 2GB stick into my Mac Mini 1,1's. But either way. I did that simply because I already had 2GB (2 x 1GB) in them and just bought a 4GB (2 x 2GB) kit and split it.
Click to expand...

Would be cool to have Lion.. i have Snow Leopard on my mac mini now, but how ever i have a mid 2012 Macbook Pro.. i dont know what OS i have running on it.. maybe the newest ?

So how do i get Lion in my Mac mini.. and will it make it slower or cause any other issues that i dont have now.. ? will i be able to get updates like i do now.. ?
 
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Perkla

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2013
41
6
24hrs later my upgraded Mac Mini still runs perfect, its a little bit warmer than before though.. but not to bad after all.. :D

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734176_10151167612000964_1045900654_n.jpg
 
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