Hacker Upgrades Mac Mini w/ Core 2 Duo

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Macenstein is reporting that a hacker with access to a Core 2 Duo "Merom" CPU clocked at 2.16 GHz has successfully upgraded his Mac Mini. According to the hacker's benchmarks, the upgraded Mini beat out a Dual 2.5 GHz G5 in an iTunes encoding test by 15%. Note that these benchmarks could not be confirmed by MacRumors, but are placed on Page 1 for interest's sake.

Both the Mac Mini and the iMac have socketed CPUs, which make them suitable for swapping with Intel's imminent Core 2 Duo chips, which are conveniently socket-compatible with Intel's current Core Duo chips. The MacBook and MacBook Pro however have their CPUs soldered to the motherboard, making upgradeability impractical.

[erockerboy]

Time to turn in my long-in-the-tooth 2x2.5 G5?

[shelterpaw]

Originally Posted by erockerboy

Time to turn in my long-in-the-tooth 2x2.5 G5?

yeah an and my blue and white G3 400.... Think I'll notice the difference?

[Stella]

Excellent as it may be, you are still limited by the ( relatively poor ) graphics card.

[A is jump]

Originally Posted by Stella

Excellent as it may be, you are still limited by the ( relatively poor ) graphics card.

Boy I was wondering how long it would take for someone to HAVE to point that out.

maybe someone should figure out how to add a dedicated Graphics card to the mac mini and macbook, and then everyone can stop whining about how their cheap computer isnt as good as the expensive models.

[Black Monolith]

I am a little excited about these Core 2 Duo chips not because of the fact that they will provide a significant speed improvement, but I am hoping they will solve some of the heat issues we have been having Apple's new Laptops...err I mean notebooks. While it is true that in the MB and MBP the CPU is not socketted, CPU swaps can still be performed. I know for a fact that there is a company out there that desolders the CPUs in the previous generation Powerbooks for 1.83GHz G4 replacements. While it might be a little expensive, I for one would be willing to do it if the service can be made available. I am sick of burning my damn hands.

[ImNoSuperMan]

Originally Posted by A is jump

maybe someone should figure out how to add a dedicated Graphics card to the mac mini and macbook, and then everyone can stop whining about how their cheap computer isnt as good as the expensive models.

That someone can be Apple only. I dont know why but apple hasn`t yet realized that there is definitely a BIG market for Minis with Dedicated GPUs. Whatddya say. Will you pay bout 900$ for a Merom Mini with 128MB(or at least 64MB) GPU.

[bbrosemer]

I want a pic then maybe I believe.

[p0intblank]

This is awesome. It makes me want to do it with one, but the Core 2 Duo chips are too expensive yet. And plus, I don't even have a Mac mini. This is still really cool news, though.

Okay... so who voted this Negative? There is always someone.

[swingerofbirch]

mmm . . . merom! they should actually call the chip that instead of just using it as the code name: Intel Merom sounds nicer than Intel Core 2 Duo

I want my next Mac:
to be a small portable
Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrom!
10.5
slot loading blu-ray player and burner
128 VRAM, capable decoding blu-ray HD
13" screen with built in isight

SAWEET

Sounds like the Macbook of next Tuesday? Next year? Never?

[Mechcozmo]

Apple is working for simplicity as well, it would seem. When they want to upgrade to the new CPUs, all they have to do is drop in the new CPUs. That's it. Very convenient, and the savings get passed onto the consumers. Well, part of the savings.

[Analog Kid]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

Intel Merom sounds nicer than Intel Core 2 Duo

I have to agree... The new trend seems to be staccato marketing names-- "Core 2 Duo", "Mac Book Pro". I like the smoother flowing names myself, but I've gotten used to MBP so I'm sure C2D will get comfortable with time.

[Collin973]

Man this makes my wait even more worth it. Bring me that MBP with merom baby!

[Oryan]

*Looks at Dual 2.0 G5

*Sobs

[johnthevulcan]

Are Still 10 Times Faster Than Their Pc Counter Parts, I Am A Bit Confuddled Because I Have A Dell Pc, Intel P4 Running At 2.8ghz, My Friends Ibook With Only 1.4 Ghz Is Twice As Fast Plus I Have Twice The Ram. Will My Macbook With 2 Ghz And 1 Gig Of Ram Be A Sprinter Compared To My System Or Will It Just Be Cuter, I Dont Care, My Heart Is Set On It.
And As For The Color Argument, I Think The White One Is Cuter And Glad Its Cheaper Than That Ugly Black One, If It Wasnt White, It Wouldnt Be A Mac!!!!!

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by Stella

Excellent as it may be, you are still limited by the ( relatively poor ) graphics card.

Yes, if your main goal with a Mac Mini is to be a 3D gaming rig

If, on the other hand, you have processor-intensive NON-OpenGL needs, Merom is a great boost to a great Mini.

[knackroller]

I'm very sure the new (official) intel mac minis are due anytime now...!

[dextertangocci]

This is old news, I saw this about 2 weeks ago already.

[ezekielrage_99]

This gives the Mac Mini some more good selling points because lets face it Macs in the past haven't always been upgrade friendly. Being able the upgrade the CPU, RAM and HDD would appeal to quite a few people out there.

[BornAgainMac]

Since I already have a Core 1, I'll wait for the Core 3. I'll stick with odd numbered cores. Core 1 gave me the biggest jump from the G4 compared to Core 2 vs Core 1 so it made sense to start with Core 1.

I think the naming is going to be like G3, G4, G5. You will get use to it.

[milo]

Originally Posted by Stella

Excellent as it may be, you are still limited by the ( relatively poor ) graphics card.

Only on apps that need 3d acceleration. Most apps don't need that, the integrated graphics are fine.

Originally Posted by ChrisA

the "Core 2 Dual" is only 20% faster than the "Core Dual" 20% is hard to notice without a stopwatch and is unnoticable for many tasks. Also after the upgrade the Mini stil only holds 2GB of RAM. I doubt many people will spend almost $300 for such a small increment of performance.

Most people doing this will probably start with a core solo mini, which means more than double the performance. Even the duo mini is only 1.66G, so that's a 30% boost in clock speed. And I don't agree that 20% is nothing to sneeze at.

Originally Posted by Analog Kid

Yeah, it feels good to laugh doesn't it? Nothing like outpacing a 3 year old chip to really get out the giggles though...

Wow, that's so weak. That three year old chip is still the best IBM can do right now. And we're talking about a $2500 machine versus a $599 machine plus an upgrade of a few hundred. And a portable chip/compact configuration versus a full-blown desktop. I have to admit, I'm laughing pretty hard.

Originally Posted by macidiot

Merom is a quality upgrade from the Yonah. But installing one in a Mac mini seems really stupid. Spending 3-500 to upgrade a $800 computer to get a ~20% speed boost is a waste of money imo.

The solo mini is $599. Add a $500 upgrade and you're at $1099. You think THAT is the bad deal...not the $2499 G5 tower that loses to it? And GPU is only a limiting factor on 3d apps.

Originally Posted by Dont Hurt Me

So here we have a Mini that can outdo a Quad

Read the article again, it beat a DUAL G5. The quad will still spank any of the dual machines, PPC or intel. I agree that buying a dual G5 in the last few months is a bad deal, but the quad is still unmatched at this point, no other mac even comes close.

[macidiot]

Originally Posted by milo

The solo mini is $599. Add a $500 upgrade and you're at $1099. You think THAT is the bad deal...not the $2499 G5 tower that loses to it? And GPU is only a limiting factor on 3d apps.

Yes, because in a couple of months, merom cpus will be appearing all over the place. And within 6 months, those G5 desktops will be replaced by Conroe or Woodcrest cpus. So, to use your example a $2500 (guess at the cost of an intel mac pro desktop) will blow the doors off your $1099 mac mini. And the G5 desktops. And you'll probably get some things like slots, a real gpu, much faster drives, more ram slots, etc.

So again, YES it is a bad deal.

Just because the G5 desktops happen to be incredibly bad deals doesn't make upgrading the mac mini (and almost doubling the cost) a good deal.

[Piarco]

Beat a dual G5 by that much?!?
I know I'm holding out for Merom like so many others, but I'll wait until official benchmarks come out to have that stat verified...

But nice to know we can upgrade easily all the same!

[AoWolf]

Wow thats really fast can't wait for the new MBP's and maybe MB's :-)

[treblah]

*chuckles at the PowerPC fanboys*