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"all" Mac Mini CPUs soldered-in nowadays?

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J

jalyst

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 17, 2009
274
6
Has anyone come across the odd one that's still socketed?*

If yes, is there any way to determine that before purchase etc?

If no, has anyone heard of someone who's successfully de-soldered the CPU and soldered in a socket?

Cheers,
Jed
*I can't believe Apple's decided to ream us like that!
Getting greedy are we Steve?
 
Any mini sporting the ever so lovely 9400M G is going to have the processor soldered on.

I wouldn't try to remove the processor either unless you're an expert, expert.
 
Eidorian said:
Any mini sporting the ever so lovely 9400M G is going to have the processor soldered on.

I wouldn't try to remove the processor either unless you're an expert, expert.
Click to expand...

Probably wouldn't want to try unless you have a thermal rework station with an x-ray alignment.
 
You're saying this authoritatively, how can you be so certain?

Eidorian said:
Any mini sporting the ever so lovely 9400M G is going to have the processor soldered on.
Click to expand...


I do have some experience in this area, but it's always nice if someone has 'smoothed the way' already.
Whether it's been a success or an abysmal failure is not so important, so long as it's documented :D

I wouldn't try to remove the processor either unless you're an expert, expert.
Click to expand...


Cheers
 
jalyst said:
You're saying this authoritatively, how can you be so certain?
Click to expand...
What's the difference between today's standard mini and last week's? Nothing.

Apple could have dropped in any processor, RAM, and hard drive they wanted to last week like they could today.
 
I'm sorry, I'm not really following you?

Eidorian said:
What's the difference between today's standard mini and last week's? Nothing.

Apple could have dropped in any processor, RAM, and hard drive they wanted to last week like they could today.
Click to expand...
 
I'm not looking too deeply into anything...
I was asking how you know for sure that 'all' 09's are soldered.
Any reasonable explanation will do...

Eidorian said:
The "new" Mac mini is just a speed bump. Don't look too deeply into it. :p
Click to expand...

have you heard of anyone attempting a removal and then the placement of a socket? Cheers

Sun Baked said:
Probably wouldn't want to try unless you have a thermal rework station with an x-ray alignment.
Click to expand...
 
jalyst said:
I was asking how you know for sure that 'all' 09's are soldered.
Any reasonable explanation will do...
Click to expand...

A Google search answers your question. I searched for "2009 mac mini soldered cpu" and found a plethora of articles about mini teardowns and their inner workings. The members who posted above answered your question that, yes, all 2009 minis have soldered CPUs. If you want confirmation, it's freely available.
 
I'm sure there a plethora of stories about people playing with their inner workings but that was not my question.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts everyone.

Kate. said:
A Google search answers your question. I searched for "2009 mac mini soldered cpu" and found a plethora of articles about mini teardowns and their inner workings. The members who posted above answered your question that, yes, all 2009 minis have soldered CPUs. If you want confirmation, it's freely available.
Click to expand...
 
jalyst said:
I'm sure there a plethora of stories about people playing with their inner workings but that was not my question.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts everyone.
Click to expand...

If you look at the XBox 360 and Nvidia GPU repair procedures, you'll find the methods to replace the CPU.

Only reason I mentioned the x-ray is that unless you have the procedure and the timing down for the unit on your rework station, it might lead to some solder joints that aren't fully flowed or aligned correctly. These could be subject to eventual fatigue cracks and failure.
 
jalyst said:
Any reasonable explanation will do...
Click to expand...

2 minutes and google:
233.jpg
 
Thanks for some useful feedback Sun Baked,
Judging by your response you've not come across anyone attempting a removal of the CPU and the placement of a socket?
But as you say the Xbox360 commune should be a good resource to ascertain how best to approach this, thanks again!


Sun Baked said:
If you look at the XBox 360 and Nvidia GPU repair procedures, you'll find the methods to replace the CPU.

Only reason I mentioned the x-ray is that unless you have the procedure and the timing down for the unit on your rework station, it might lead to some solder joints that aren't fully flowed or aligned correctly. These could be subject to eventual fatigue cracks and failure.
Click to expand...

I'll answer myself :D

Doing some Googling thus far I've found no mention of the odd user with a socketed 09'.
Considering the device has been out since March I'd say that in itself is good evidence that they're not keeping some socketed.

And the rhetorical question needs to be asked...
Why would they keep a certain portion socketed anyway?! :)

jalyst said:
I'm not looking too deeply into anything...
I was asking how you know for sure that 'all' 09's are soldered.
Any reasonable explanation will do...
Click to expand...
 
I don't see any with 9400 m which are those. And mine is gma950 is that upgradable or not?
 
Yes the older Mini's with the integrated Intel graphics have socketed CPU's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini:

With the switch to the Intel Core Solo and Duo line, Apple initially used a socketed CPU in the Mac Mini that allowed the processor to be replaced, however they switched to a new glue process with the 2009 model that does not allow for an easy upgrade.

Not sure what the author means by "an new glue process" LOL
Guess that's just another way of saying soldered..... :D

Apparently the glue doesn't hold the CPU down, the array is still soldered directly to the board.
It probably just helps to dampen any flexing, had me excited for a little while there :D
 
If you knew anything about production techniques, you'd know that Apple wouldn't randomly produce some machines with a socket and others without. The CPU mounting techniques require a different board layout for socketed or the different types of direct mounting. How or why would Apple socket a CPU when one single board design will accept the one or two different CPUs offered. It doesn't make sense.
 
Yes this was the kind of explanation I was seeking as a basis for knowing that they are definitely all now soldered, before things got personal.

I kind of suspected it myself but was seeking validation from others whom might have a more solid rationale as to "why".
I am somewhat surprised at how you could possibly be in agreement with 300D that I'm a troll/moron, but it looks like that's the way you've read it.

Thank-you for your thoughts, you must be knowledgeable in this area...
Particularly considering you know there's no precedence for changing designs so dramatically in the middle of a products life cycle.
 
It's not economically viable to change a layout during a product cycle - only reason a company would do so is to address some problem, or to work around a change in major components. As we know neither Intel or nV have changed anything, then it's safe to assume that the Mini's board has stayed the same since inception. There's no reason for them to socket the CPU on current machines - it was only done on the original Mini because that's the format the chosen CPU came in.

Hope this helps. ;)
 
HellDiverUK said:
It's not economically viable to change a layout during a product cycle - only reason a company would do so is to address some problem, or to work around a change in major components.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know this to be true.

Part of me was wishing upon a star that there was more than one layout from inception.
Although I'm not certain why on earth they'd do this, common-sense tells me they "just wouldn't".

There's no reason for them to socket the CPU on current machines - it was only done on the original Mini because that's the format the chosen CPU came in.
Click to expand...

Intriguing could you possibly elaborate?

I think the problem was I was not clear enough with why I was unsatisfied with the continual statements of fact.
And so I just came across as being rude/terse. It was 4/5am in the morning so I was rushing my responses somewhat.
Eventually I just said 'Forget it, thanks for your answers', but then this blatant abuse came out of left field & I was like WTF?!%*#@ :D

Apologies again to those whom I may have offended in those earlier posts, who were simply trying to help.
 
jalyst said:
Intriguing could you possibly elaborate?
Click to expand...

I don't fancy researching it any further (I'm nursing a bad cold at the moment), but what I will say is that during that time the chips used were the same ones in laptops which used Socket M, the only format the Core Solo and Core Duo chips came in, so by necessity the Mini had a socket on the board.

This allowed the Solo machines to be easily upgraded to Duos using a chip out of a laptop.

The more modern Intel chips are available as solder-on chips, which means on the production line the only thing required to change the speed of the finished product is to load a different pile of chips in to the machine that populates the boards with components.
 
300D said:
2 minutes and google:
<image>
Click to expand...
That's the early 2009 Mac mini (the late 2009 models do not have the 2.0 GHz cpu) so that only proves something we have known for the past 6 months. The question is if the all 2009 minis (early 2009 AND late 2009 models) have the same setup with the soldered cpu. The only real prove would be someone showing pics from the 2,53 GHz or 2,66 GHz mini model. The problem is that no one has done a tear down which showed the cpu. The only tear downs that actually show the cpu are the early 2009 model and the earlier versions of the mini. Until someone shows a pic with a cpu from the new late 2009 models people can not tell for sure that all Mac mini models as off early 2009 have a soldered on cpu. However it's not unlikely as the late 2009 mini upgrade is just a speed bump plus a new model (the server version). So that leaves us with a lot of assumptions that may or may not be true.

In other words you just wasted 2 minutes searching Google and could have prevented that if you interpreted the search results you got. I also did a search and the closest I came was the following tear down: http://www.macminicolo.net/state2009.html As you can clearly see they don't show the cpu so the thread starters question is still unanswered and confirmation is not available at this moment (assumptions, estimates, predictions, etc. on the other hand...).

Please people interpret the search results properly as clearly no one in this thread did. People are forgetting there is an early 2009 and a late 2009 model so searching for something like "2009 mac mini" is the most stupidest thing you can do as it will return results for the early 2009 mini as well. Searching for "late 2009 Mac mini" will give you results containing about 90% of news and blogposts about Apple releasing the new model and the macminicolo.net article above. So stop flaming the thread starter because you can't search properly. Flaming is lame anyway.

Something useful: http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25061
 
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