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10.5 on a 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo

irishgrizzly

irishgrizzly

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 15, 2006
1,461
2
I want to upgrade someone from 10.4 to 10.5 so they can use an iphone with their mac: 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo (Early 2006 model). I know it reached the minimum specs, but does it run comfortably? I'd hate to install it and then for it to run like a dog :/
 
Yeah the RAM is only 512, but I'd think it better putting the money into a new mac before buying RAM on this one.
 
Yes, the RAM upgrade is pretty cheap, and if you bump that thing to 2GB, you will think you got a whole new Mini. Another upgrade you may also want to consider if you aren't squeamish about messing with the insides, is upgrading the CPU if you can find one. I have a 1.5 Core Solo, and got the 1.6Ghz Core Duo on eBay a couple or three years ago for very little, like $26. A little surgery, and I came out with a dualie Mini that's going strong ever since. I did that and the RAM, and like I said, it's as if I got a whole new Mac.
 
I picked up 2GB RAM from a friend who upgraded his MBP to 4GB for $20. I have a 1.66GHz Core Duo and it ran Leopard & runs Snow Leopard wonderfully.
 
I upgraded to leopard on a core solo mini along time ago. I do not remember any major issues. I also upgraded the ram to 1GB before the OS upgrade.
 
with max RAM + leopard, that mac mini will be a pleasure to use! my dad uses his 1.42ghz iBook + 1.25GB RAM and its still quite usable. things like flash are very glitchy but for general and everyday use its great!
 
Cant install Leopard 1.5 on 1.5 GHz

When I try to install is says that Mac OSX cant be installed on my MacMini, why?
 
You may want to consider upgrading your CPU.

I dont know exacts but I think its any Merom mobile CPU, up to around 2.33ghz.

Well worth the upgrade along with ram.
 
My current Mac mini is the same first gen Intel mini. Mine came with a Core Solo. However, I had a dead core2duo Macbook pro (pre unibody) with a socketed CPU. You can also find these CPUs on ebay all day long. I apologize but I do not recall the part number. But there are two version of the chip with slightly different packages. I believe it was a pin format, or possible one is a ball grad array and the other is zif pin. This is a super cheap upgrade ($30-40) which not only doubles the CPU under the hood, but gets you more cache and IIRC a few other performance enhancements.
The downside? Well, taking Mini's apart makes changing a spark plug on a subaru look easy!
Just watch as many how to videos as you can stomach. Be gentle. And keep track of all the parts.
Also, if you are going to upgrade the CPU and ram, may as well do a HDD swap too!

Even though I would like to say the CPU upgrade was most significant. Gettign from 512mb to 2gb was night and day. It got rid of teh constant beach balling and freezing.
The CPU upgrade completely eradicated the beachballing (well I also went to a Momentus XT at the same time).
 
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My MacBook Pro (2.16GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM) runs Snow Leopard just fine. RAM is cheap! You'll be amazed at the performance that little computer can give you.
 
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