New to Mac as a desktop

[Contra1971]

I bought a mid 2011 Mac mini recently and upgraded from 2 gig RAM to 8 GiG Ram

wow, this is not just more RAM but faster too, the other was 1333, this is 1600

the 8 gig is huge difference



my question is should I be able to share with my iPhone 7 (AirDrop)?

it is "AirDrop Everyone" on my phone but how do I turn it on with my Mac?
and on my Mac Mini it says it has the feature
but it wont recognize my phone

 

[campyguy]

Sad to offer that Mini support for OSX>iOS AirDrop didn't start until the 2012 model.

How to tell if your Mac supports AirDrop

 

[Contra1971]

bummer, ok thanks

 

[Boyd01]

Sad to offer that Mini support for OSX>iOS AirDrop didn't start until the 2012 model.

I've never been interested in AirDrop, but this article from EveryMac says that the 2011 and even 2010 Mini is compatible... http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/os-x-lion-faq/what-is-airdrop-which-macs-are-compatible.html

Maybe it only works if you're running Lion or Mountain Lion?

 

[elf69]

maybe it depends on which wifi card is installed.

is it replaceable in a mini?

I know I need to change card in my imac to get air drop to work but do not care for it so will not swap my card

 

[Contra1971]

ok, I understand, but I think in my case I may need to activate it, when I open the "Finder Menu"
it is at the top "AirDrop"
the article states that it wont even show if it is not available...
but mine doesn't have the "buttons" or Text, at the bottom that will allow me to activate it
however if i right click on it and go to "GetInfo"
it says LOCKED, i think I just need to activate it right?

 

[Dave H]

ok, I understand, but I think in my case I may need to activate it, when I open the "Finder Menu"
it is at the top "AirDrop"
the article states that it wont even show if it is not available...
but mine doesn't have the "buttons" or Text, at the bottom that will allow me to activate it
however if i right click on it and go to "GetInfo"
it says LOCKED, i think I just need to activate it right?

I don't have a second Apple device to verify that it's really working, but after reading https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203106, I tried turning on the built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth together on our 2011 Mini, then turning them off again. Now when I open an Airdrop window, there is a button at the bottom of it that says "turn on Wi-Fi" (wasn't there before, and no errors when I click on it). Also, the system information now says Airdrop is supported. It had said "unsupported" before.

 

[Contra1971]

what year is you Mac?

 

[Dave H]

Me? 2011 (post updated).

 

[Contra1971]

Mine has both Bluetooth and Wife turned on and still wont shoe the buttons, unless it is broken I dont see why

 

[Dave H]

The button appeared after I turned WiFi and Bluetooth back off again, then tried Airdrop.

 

[campyguy]

I've never been interested in AirDrop, but this article from EveryMac says that the 2011 and even 2010 Mini is compatible... http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/os-x-lion-faq/what-is-airdrop-which-macs-are-compatible.html

Maybe it only works if you're running Lion or Mountain Lion?

The OP was asking about OS X-to-iOS AirDrop. OS X-to-OS X AirDrop compatibility goes back to 2010 Minis.

 

[Contra1971]

i tried turning them both ff then back on again




no luck
[doublepost=1499881553][/doublepost]if I turn off wifi and go to Airdrop it asks me to turn on Wifi

 

[campyguy]

maybe it depends on which wifi card is installed.

is it replaceable in a mini?

In my company we bought a few 2011s and tore one apart (didn't know about iFixit at the time) and brought them back, the 2012 units were just issued and bought several of them.

The AirPort/BT card is replaceable and several components were updated in the 2012. Check the iFixit teardowns for both units and you'll see the differences in the two boards. What I do know is that I can't find a replacement for my 2012 Minis aside from the occasional used units on eBay and I do not know is whether the boards are interchangeable. That's all I know about this. Cheers.

 

[elf69]

To get air drop to work on my 2007 imac I know I need to swap out the wifi/bluetooth cards.

maybe same is true for OP?
I know when I upgraded my friends 2007 imac to sierra with the patcher wifi stopped working and had to swap out wifi card.

I'm far from mac techie and am only picking up as I go

 

[opeter]

You can try, if it works with an 3rd party USB Bluetooth 4.x