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Cult of Mac: iFixit Teardown of The New Mac Mini

TWO2SEVEN

TWO2SEVEN

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3,531
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Plano, TX
T

theRAMman

macrumors regular
May 6, 2012
168
0
The Moon.
I sometimes wonder how ifixit can be bothered with basically disassembling an identical computer 3 years in a row. All the could really say is "erm, the RAMS green this year! and er, the fans slightly different..." i think apple are just being very slightly lazy...
 
Ice Dragon

Ice Dragon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2009
989
20
theRAMman said:
I sometimes wonder how ifixit can be bothered with basically disassembling an identical computer 3 years in a row. All the could really say is "erm, the RAMS green this year! and er, the fans slightly different..." i think apple are just being very slightly lazy...
Click to expand...

When I bought my Mini from Best Buy, I got Samsung (green) RAM. The modules of Hynix are blue. Both are fine.
 
Cisco_Kid

Cisco_Kid

macrumors 6502
Apr 24, 2005
270
111
British Columbia
theRAMman said:
I sometimes wonder how ifixit can be bothered with basically disassembling an identical computer 3 years in a row. All the could really say is "erm, the RAMS green this year! and er, the fans slightly different..." i think apple are just being very slightly lazy...
Click to expand...

The other side of the coin would say, why muck up something that works wonderfully as is; progress for the sake of progress is not always the best thing.
 
TWO2SEVEN

TWO2SEVEN

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Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
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MacSignal said:
Thanks for the post. Easy to replace HD and easy to add another is a significant change IMO. Nice that there are no proprietary screws or glued components to make replacements or additions more difficult.
Click to expand...

Not a problem.

I knew some around here were wondering about adding a second drive before upgrading.
 
B

BigRed1

macrumors 6502
Dec 13, 2011
291
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I don't know. Coming from an old G5 Mac Pro, this hard drive replacement hardly seems easy. Does one really need a logic board removal tool just to replace a hard drive, which in my experience is bound to fail at some point? I would gladly give the machine a few more inches of desk space in order to make that easier...
 
firestarter

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
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Green and pleasant land
BigRed1 said:
I don't know. Coming from an old G5 Mac Pro, this hard drive replacement hardly seems easy. Does one really need a logic board removal tool just to replace a hard drive, which in my experience is bound to fail at some point? I would gladly give the machine a few more inches of desk space in order to make that easier...
Click to expand...

This and the new iMac are the first two Apple desktop computers with interfaces that let external drives run as fast as internals (Thunderbolt and USB3). It's been a long time coming - but finally you don't NEED to run with internal drives.
 
bankshot

bankshot

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2003
1,367
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Southern California
BigRed1 said:
I don't know. Coming from an old G5 Mac Pro, this hard drive replacement hardly seems easy. Does one really need a logic board removal tool just to replace a hard drive, which in my experience is bound to fail at some point? I would gladly give the machine a few more inches of desk space in order to make that easier...
Click to expand...

I agree that it ought to be easier, and bumping up the size by an inch or two in one or more dimensions to accomplish that would be just fine.

But that said, this drive replacement (or addition) should be much easier than the surgeries I've done on some Apple notebooks - replacing dead drives in an iBook and a PowerBook 12", and replacing the screen bezel on a MacBook. Heck, it'll be a lot easier than installing memory or replacing the drive in my 2007-era Mac mini, which I did multiple times. Opening that one was always a big pain, requiring a putty knife and prone to causing scratches. This one looks super easy in comparison - just twist the bottom panel and take out a few screws. :cool:
 
B

BigRed1

macrumors 6502
Dec 13, 2011
291
63
bankshot said:
I agree that it ought to be easier, and bumping up the size by an inch or two in one or more dimensions to accomplish that would be just fine.

But that said, this drive replacement (or addition) should be much easier than the surgeries I've done on some Apple notebooks - replacing dead drives in an iBook and a PowerBook 12", and replacing the screen bezel on a MacBook. Heck, it'll be a lot easier than installing memory or replacing the drive in my 2007-era Mac mini, which I did multiple times. Opening that one was always a big pain, requiring a putty knife and prone to causing scratches. This one looks super easy in comparison - just twist the bottom panel and take out a few screws. :cool:
Click to expand...

Funny that you mention the mid-2007 Mac Mini - its my other machine and a nightmare to upgrade.

I also recal the bondi blue iMac that a friend of mine had. I remember needing to disassemble the whole thing to get at the hard drive. I suppose it could be worse...

My G3 Tower on the other hand was maybe the easiest machine I've ever had to upgrade.
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,367
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Howell, New Jersey
firestarter said:
This and the new iMac are the first two Apple desktop computers with interfaces that let external drives run as fast as internals (Thunderbolt and USB3). It's been a long time coming - but finally you don't NEED to run with internal drives.
Click to expand...

So very much this.

There are soooo many good low cost ways of an addon drive. use the internal as a backup and you are done.
 
bankshot

bankshot

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2003
1,367
416
Southern California
BigRed1 said:
My G3 Tower on the other hand was maybe the easiest machine I've ever had to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Yup. Apple's towers have always been really easy to get into - just flip a latch, swing the side panel down, and you're in. Of course, that probably worked against us when someone stole a hard drive out of the G5 Power Mac at work several years ago. :eek:

I still have my G4 Power Mac right here at home, though it only gets used a couple times a year now. Aside from the ease of upgrading, perhaps the best thing about that machine was that it only cost me $1200 brand new from Apple. That's a far cry from today's Mac Pro, which while just as upgradeable, is way too expensive and severely outdated.

If they still made a tower within the price range of that G4, I probably wouldn't have bought my 2007 Mac mini or the 2012 that's arriving this week. But we all know Apple has zero interest in that market. :rolleyes::(
 
B

BigRed1

macrumors 6502
Dec 13, 2011
291
63
Yeah, I'm really mad at what they're doing to the upgradability of the iMac. I just don't understand the calculus there. Is it really that essential to decrease the unseen and unheld portions of a computer at the expense of repairability and upgradability?
 
TWO2SEVEN

TWO2SEVEN

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Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3,531
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Plano, TX
BigRed1 said:
Yeah, I'm really mad at what they're doing to the upgradability of the iMac. I just don't understand the calculus there. Is it really that essential to decrease the unseen and unheld portions of a computer at the expense of repairability and upgradability?
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing about removing the optical drive. I know the fact that the iMac is so thin looks really cool, but at what cost?

We have two LCD TVs. One is about 6 years old and 3 inches thick, the other is newer and thinner. They both look the same from the front.

I can understand (and appreciate) making iPhones, iPads, and iPods thinner, but the it's not as if the iMac took up as much desk space as an old CRT monitor.

That being said, the new iMacs look pretty awesome :)
 
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