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Mac Mini Ram Success

DeSnousa

DeSnousa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
I was just curious on how installing ram in a Mac mini was like. I thought I would start a thread with success stories to motivate people, such as myself who is thinking of buying a Mac mini in the future.

What I am mainly curious about is the ease of the procedure and if the case was damaged in any way. I don't want scracthes
 
Well, if you have the right tools from the beginning, it is cake. I started with a razor blade and my finger nails. NO luck at all. Looked online, and people said you needed a putty knife. So i went out and got one at the store. $3.50. IT has to be a REALLY thin putty knife and you just pry the damn thing open from the back to front. IT pops open relatively easy. After opening it, the ram installation was cake. Closing it had one hitch. The back top, above the grates there are metal latch things. You have to make sure they are INSIDE the shell or the unit won't close. After that, all was well. Whole process, including going to the store, was about 30 minutes. Once i had the putty knife it took about 10. Im running 1GB right now, 1000 times better than 256. PAINFUL..lol
 
Calvinatir said:
Well, if you have the right tools from the beginning, it is cake. I started with a razor blade and my finger nails. NO luck at all. Looked online, and people said you needed a putty knife. So i went out and got one at the store. $3.50. IT has to be a REALLY thin putty knife and you just pry the damn thing open from the back to front. IT pops open relatively easy. After opening it, the ram installation was cake. Closing it had one hitch. The back top, above the grates there are metal latch things. You have to make sure they are INSIDE the shell or the unit won't close. After that, all was well. Whole process, including going to the store, was about 30 minutes. Once i had the putty knife it took about 10. Im running 1GB right now, 1000 times better than 256. PAINFUL..lol
Click to expand...

There's a video showing you how to do it with a putty knife
http://www.smashsworld.com/2005/01/taking-apart-mac-mini-how-to.php

try this, see if it helps! 😀
 
Calvinatir said:
Well, if you have the right tools from the beginning, it is cake. I started with a razor blade and my finger nails. NO luck at all. Looked online, and people said you needed a putty knife. So i went out and got one at the store. $3.50. IT has to be a REALLY thin putty knife and you just pry the damn thing open from the back to front. IT pops open relatively easy. After opening it, the ram installation was cake. Closing it had one hitch. The back top, above the grates there are metal latch things. You have to make sure they are INSIDE the shell or the unit won't close. After that, all was well. Whole process, including going to the store, was about 30 minutes. Once i had the putty knife it took about 10. Im running 1GB right now, 1000 times better than 256. PAINFUL..lol
Click to expand...


wouldn't 1gb of ram be more like FOUR times faster than 256 as appose to your claim of 1000? 🙄

hehe sorry I'm just being a smart***
 
dornoforpyros said:
wouldn't 1gb of ram be more like FOUR times faster than 256 as appose to your claim of 1000? 🙄

hehe sorry I'm just being a smart***
Click to expand...

haha well I can vouch for the 1000x betterness 😛 Seriously though, iPhoto now opens in one bounce, while I have iTunes playing music, Mail, Adium, and Safari open. Huge improvement over 256 which was starting to annoy me with spinny balls of doom. For the first time ever in my OSX experience, the volume clicker is a fluid motion. It took me about 7 minutes to upgrade my ram. I did have the problem that the previous poster did while closing the case. The metal emi metal tabs didn't want to go back on the inside of the case, and tried to sneak out which didn't let the I/O housing close onto the case. Took me about 3 times to get it right. I sanded one side of the putty knife first so it would be thin enough to fit in between the metal and plastic. It was well worth it to upgrade to 1GB
 
You've done exactly what I planned on doing - what brand of ram did you use with success? I read a bunch of folks from newegg's reviews that used like "PQI" brand (never heard of it) and it's only 150 for a gig, so I'm pretty interested.

This question is for anyone who's used third-party ram: what brand?
 
badhorsie777 said:
You've done exactly what I planned on doing - what brand of ram did you use with success? I read a bunch of folks from newegg's reviews that used like "PQI" brand (never heard of it) and it's only 150 for a gig, so I'm pretty interested.

This question is for anyone who's used third-party ram: what brand?
Click to expand...


hah good call. I bought that stick http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-198&depa=1

Price dropped too since i bought!
 
Just a warning before you start prying your mini's open. Under the terms of the 1 year Apple Limited Warranty and the 3 Year AppleCare extended warranty you the customer cannot perform memory installations without voiding the warranty. So if you do pry your mini open keep in mind that you better do a good job because if a (mean) Apple technician sees that you have pried it open he may choose not to honor your warranty if something goes wrong with your machine. So bare it in mind before you void your warranty, or you could pay a local tech $20 and have him do it for you. That way everything is nice and kosher.
 
RAM install fee

03MARCH05

Just phoned the Apple Store (Glendale, CA) regarding install fee of RAM for the MacMini.

They told me it would be $30... 🙄
 
This is one feature of the Mac mini that Apple really screwed up on and should be corrected in the next revision...it should be relatively easy to upgrade the RAM on any computer. And you certainly should not have to take it to Apple to have to do it. Very few people have easy access to Apple stores.
 
I bought 512Megs of PC 3200 RAM, the brand is Corsair, got it from Microcenter for 104.99$. Watched the video, used a thin metal spatula, and had it open and upgraded in 5 minutes, MAX, and back together.

Noticed the RAM, and runs just fine. I dont see a need for more RAM for me.

The mini is actually a very speedy little computer at 1.42 and 512Megs RAM.

Upgrade is simple.

trout
 
Trout74 said:
I bought 512Megs of PC 3200 RAM, the brand is Corsair, got it from Microcenter for 104.99$. Watched the video, used a thin metal spatula, and had it open and upgraded in 5 minutes, MAX, and back together.

Noticed the RAM, and runs just fine. I dont see a need for more RAM for me.

The mini is actually a very speedy little computer at 1.42 and 512Megs RAM.

Upgrade is simple.

trout
Click to expand...

Why did you order a mini with 256 MB just to pay $105 for a 512 MB stick? Apple only charges $75 as a BTO for this. I realize they wouldn't have used Corsair, but I don't think Corsair is that much better than Crucial or Kingston. Why not 1 GB?

I just got my mini yesterday and upgraded the RAM from the base 256 MB to a Crucial 1 GB stick that I got from NewEgg. Installation only took about 5-10 minutes and it worked great. I did make a very small nick in the white plastic underneath when trying to wedge the putty knife in. I'm not worried though, first of all you have to look for it to notice it, it's only about 1 mm in size and it's on the bottom of the mini. I feel that's worth the $125 I saved.
 
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