Maxed out Mac mini - A1176 - SSD and more - Benchmark results

[Sgtarky]

ok, I put 2gig of memory in it and installed SL, I think I will leave it at that. its a pretty sweet machine. I am giving to my 5yo daughter

 

[JohnnieBGood]

Hi Vandrederic, thank you for posting so many details! I also have an A1176 that I’m in the process of upgrading, but with much less lofty ambitions. The ram has been upgraded to 2GB, and I’m happy with that. I just updated to the OS to 10.6.8, which enabled me to access the app store, which is good news. However, the apps I want to install will not download because it says my mini is only 32-bit. I found a cheap Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 SL9SD 2.33 GHz Dual-Core CPU online, so my question is if installing this new processor will give me a 64-bit computer? Thanks so much for any advice! John

 

[Intell]

Yes, installing tat CPU will give you a 64-bit computer. You can then install Lion onto it as well.

 

[JohnnieBGood]

Wonderful, thank you so much!

 

[Celerondon]

Wonderful, thank you so much!

Intell saved you because Vandrederic is not likely to reply. That user's fourth and last post was in this thread more than four years ago. 🙁

You can mine other old threads for more tips on upgrading that vintage Mac mini. Although the search function at the top of the page works for thais purpose, the "Similar Threads" links at the bottom are even easier!

 

[JohnnieBGood]

Yes, installing tat CPU will give you a 64-bit computer. You can then install Lion onto it as well.

Thanks Intell! Do you know what about my antique still prevents me from going to Mountain Lion (10.8) after upgrading RAM to 2gb and CPU to 64-bit?

 

[jpietrzak8]

Thanks Intell! Do you know what about my antique still prevents me from going to Mountain Lion (10.8) after upgrading RAM to 2gb and CPU to 64-bit?

That would be Apple themselves. They've declared that the maximum allowed OS for the A1176 is 10.7.5. There is apparently a hack to work around this and install a later OS.

However, with just 2GB of RAM, I would not advise it. OS X started requiring a whole lot more memory for itself somewhere around the 10.8/10.9 updates, to the point that it now consumes almost 2GB just for itself. Modern OS X really needs at least 4GB of RAM for comfort, and probably more than that for serious workloads. 🙁

 

[JohnnieBGood]

That would be Apple themselves. They've declared that the maximum allowed OS for the A1176 is 10.7.5. There is apparently a hack to work around this and install a later OS.

However, with just 2GB of RAM, I would not advise it. OS X started requiring a whole lot more memory for itself somewhere around the 10.8/10.9 updates, to the point that it now consumes almost 2GB just for itself. Modern OS X really needs at least 4GB of RAM for comfort, and probably more than that for serious workloads. 🙁

Thanks jpietrzak8, brilliant!