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Mac Mini FACTS: Warranty not voided

P

panphage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 1, 2003
496
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By installing your own RAM: http://www.tuaw.com/entry/1234000917027372/

Or HDD, or optical drive.

The source: The Mac Mini product manager (whatever that is, sounds official.)

Oh, and I was wrong elsewhere about the bluetooth and airport, if you get them later, you DO have to buy the kit because they need special connectors to hook directly to the mobo.
 
i dont know how reliable this is and i would consult with an apple certified technicial first. However, if its true, that would be great considering the Mac Mini has a mediocre 4200rpm 2.5" HDD.
 
All I want to know is what size HD do they use. It can't be a standard desktop drive which means the # of high cap 7400 RPM drives is going to limited.

I still think this sounds fishy. If they wanted it to be easily accessable by the user they would have made the shell more user friendly. As it stand it looks like its heald together the same way the PowerBook is - with clips.
 
Laurie Duncan is the owner and godess of http://www.cubeowner.com. If she isn't reliable we can't rely on the sun to rise tomorrow. Trust me, she's not making it up. AND she's an Apple Certified Technician. Or an apple authorized service provider. Or something like that, I forget which one it is.
 
SiliconAddict said:
All I want to know is what size HD do they use. It can't be a standard desktop drive which means the # of high cap 7400 RPM drives is going to limited.

I still think this sounds fishy. If they wanted it to be easily accessable by the user they would have made the shell more user friendly. As it stand it looks like its heald together the same way the PowerBook is - with clips.
Click to expand...

It's a 2.5 Someone (I forgot where, but I saw the screenshot) was at the show and got a screenshot of the system profiler with the HDD part # on it. It's a 2.5, 4200rpm
 
panphage said:
Laurie Duncan is the owner and godess of http://www.cubeowner.com. If she isn't reliable we can't rely on the sun to rise tomorrow. Trust me, she's not making it up. AND she's an Apple Certified Technician. Or an apple authorized service provider. Or something like that, I forget which one it is.
Click to expand...

No offence, but that doesn't appease me in any way. :p

I'd still rather have them install it, especially if the top cap was much too difficult to remove. I'd say the same thing if I owned an iPod Mini and I found some way of getting a 3rd party battery and installing it myself.....I wouldn't even know where to start.

If someone finds a very simple way to install RAM in a Mac Mini, then great, but even the methods described as "simple" for some seem difficult. Anyone ever read sites that discussed ways of "easily" changing/painting the colour of your iBook? ;)
 
panphage said:
It's a 2.5 Someone (I forgot where, but I saw the screenshot) was at the show and got a screenshot of the system profiler with the HDD part # on it. It's a 2.5, 4200rpm
Click to expand...

Woah. That's going to be the first thing I upgrade. A 4200RPM drive is going to kill performance. But at least it’s a 2.5” drive. It leaves some OPTIONS :D :D

Thanks for the info.
 
SiliconAddict said:
Woah. That's going to be the first thing I upgrade. A 4200RPM drive is going to kill performance. But at least it’s a 2.5” drive. It leaves some OPTIONS :D :D

Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the last rev of the Powerbooks has 4200rpm drives. I suspect this will perform darn close to a 1.25ghz Powerbook. That's my main machine that I use for everything and it serves me well. I think the Mini's will be fine performers for their price.

John
 
4200RPM drives don't "kill" performance. Just makes reading/writing a bit slower. And 60GB 7200RPM drives run close to $200 or so.

P.S. my 1Ghz TiBook has a 4200RPM drive and that hasn't slowed me down much at all.
 
When the stuff shows up here as a Customer Installable Part...

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/

Then you'll know it won't void your warranty.

Otherwise, what will you say when Apple voids the warranty for adding memory when it breaks?

"I read it on MacRumors."
 
SiliconAddict said:
Woah. That's going to be the first thing I upgrade. A 4200RPM drive is going to kill performance. But at least it’s a 2.5” drive. It leaves some OPTIONS :D :D

Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

It's an iBook in a different box. What do you expect?

It should not be awful, just right for the price. :) I'm glad they have decent processors in it and, with Motorola's latest pin-compatible E600 series, they should go much further.
 
A few interesting notes from the Apple kbase docs on Mac Mini:


Mac mini comes with a DVI to VGA converter

You can position the Mac mini on it's side vertically, but not on it's front because it blocks the CD slot, and not on its back because it blocks the ports. However if you mounted it to a wall with plenty of space around the front and back, I don't see how this would be a problem. I wonder how the heat inside the case would be effected if it was mounted verically with the cd slot facing up.

Mac mini can use PC3200 RAM, but only at PC2700 speed.

Stacking Mac minis can block the airport and/or BT signals.

Do not stare directly at Mac mini.
Do not taunt Mac mini.
Do not use Mac mini on concrete.
If Mac mini begins to smoke, back away quickly, crouch, and cover head.
Mac mini is made of an unknown substance that fell to eath from space.
etc
etc
etc
 
SiliconAddict said:
All I want to know is what size HD do they use. It can't be a standard desktop drive which means the # of high cap 7400 RPM drives is going to limited.
Click to expand...

From what I've read, the Mac mini uses a 4200 RPM laptop HD.

Dunno if the machine will overheat if you install a 5400 or 7400 RPM HD (is there such a thing as a laptop 7400 RPM HD?)
 
SiliconAddict said:
Woah. That's going to be the first thing I upgrade. A 4200RPM drive is going to kill performance. But at least it’s a 2.5” drive. It leaves some OPTIONS :D :D

Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

I already asked in another forum, but wouldn't an external 3.5" 7200 RPM HD in a FireWire enclose be faster than even an internal 2.5" 5400 RPM HD?

If so, me and my brother will surely buy the basic Mac mini (no point in paying for 170MHz and 40GB of laptop-speed HD), upgrade the RAM ourselves (to 512MB, 1GB is way too expensive for now), and add an external 80GB or so HD in a FireWire enclosure (if I buy a Mac mini, my gaming PC won't ever need anywhere near 80GB... I have lots of HDs around, it'll probably get a 40GB, or two 20GB or even four 10GB... Who cares, it's only for gaming). :D
 
daveway00 said:
I thought Apple would have used the larger drives considering they are cheaper.
Click to expand...

The Mac mini uses a 2.5" laptop hard disk, which are a lot more expensive than regular 3.5" desktop drives.
 
Sun Baked said:
When the stuff shows up here as a Customer Installable Part...

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/

Then you'll know it won't void your warranty.

Otherwise, what will you say when Apple voids the warranty for adding memory when it breaks?

"I read it on MacRumors."
Click to expand...

Except for the fact that the Mac mini isn't in the drop-down list...
 
wordmunger said:
This apple support document indicates that memory "should" be upgraded by an apple-authorized service provider.
Click to expand...
Aw, you beat me to it. :p Just read this on Accelerate Your Mac. If it is should and not must, I may consider this after all. Newegg has some 1GB sticks for around ~$160, and a new laptop drive isn't that much. Either a big 5400 or a faster 7200. I'd go external firewire for DV anyway, but a nice Seagate 100GB drive would be nice as a startup disk. I can overlook the crappy gfx card since I don't game, and would do little beyond iMovie and the basics. I'm already convincing a friend to get one, as the basic model will do fine for her needs. But I might still wait to see what happens with the next P'Book or eMac.

Who's going to be the first to say they're waiting for rev. B (if it hasn't already been said)?

Edit: almost forgot, I have a friend who's a developer. He has a last gen 1GHz iBook and Tiger. Says it's getting faster with each new release. He's got 768MB of RAM, but it's the same video card and slower FSB. So I'm still interested. Most of Core Image may work after all, kinda like how Apple said QE was for 32MB cards, but then they said it would work on 16MB Radeons.

We shall see...
 
I really hope we'll see a port replicator type thingie for this new mini.

I'd love to have a 1" or less tall device in the same shape and style as the mini, that gives you 1 FW, 2 USB, and 1 audio port on the front side. Similar to the iMac G4 "UFO". Just run very short "jumper" cables from the back of the device to the mini, and make the device replicate those ports on the front side. Use a tiny blue LED for each port (except Audio) that lights up when something is plugged in. You could even go so far as to put a memory card reader on the side, or a hard drive in the inside of the device. Maybe even an audio in port on the front. Kind of a device that does it all.

Hmmmm I've got a 24 x 24 x 1" slab of aluminum in my garage....if I only had a CNC mill.
 
7on said:
4200RPM drives don't "kill" performance. Just makes reading/writing a bit slower. And 60GB 7200RPM drives run close to $200 or so.

P.S. my 1Ghz TiBook has a 4200RPM drive and that hasn't slowed me down much at all.
Click to expand...

Umm yes they do. Go to any site that benchmarks hard drives. Even www.barefeats.com I can tell you from practical experience that that I/O you are taking about can and DOES hit a system hard. I routinely upgrade users home systems. These are the $300-$500 PC's you hear about. They generally use 4200 drives. Ditto with cheaper low end PC laptops. In every case upgrading to a 5400 or 7200 (Thank you god.) drive kicks up the performance a notch. What? You think your entire OS, every program, every data file, resides in RAM? If you looking for the best performance on any system, be it PC or Mac, stay away from 4200 drives. They WILL drag your system performance down. Period.
If you want to talk sexy though try one of the new SATA 10,000 RPM drive. Trust me. Once you go 10K you won't ever want to go back.
 
Peyote said:
Do not stare directly at Mac mini.
Do not taunt Mac mini.
Do not use Mac mini on concrete.
If Mac mini begins to smoke, back away quickly, crouch, and cover head.
Mac mini is made of an unknown substance that fell to eath from space.
etc
etc
etc
Click to expand...

Pokemon Mac mini?


Peyote said:
I really hope we'll see a port replicator type thingie for this new mini.

I'd love to have a 1" or less tall device in the same shape and style as the mini, that gives you 1 FW, 2 USB, and 1 audio port on the front side. Similar to the iMac G4 "UFO". Just run very short "jumper" cables from the back of the device to the mini, and make the device replicate those ports on the front side. Use a tiny blue LED for each port (except Audio) that lights up when something is plugged in. You could even go so far as to put a memory card reader on the side, or a hard drive in the inside of the device. Maybe even an audio in port on the front. Kind of a device that does it all.
Click to expand...

I'd prefer a 6.5" square FW case that would fit one or two 3.5" HDDs (and of course stack perfectly underneath the Mac Mini). The drives could be oriented east-west with the bridgeboard and fan(s) to the south.
 
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