Upgrading 2010 Mac Mini: Need "Proper" Tools Where to Buy?

[Lady Clara]

Good Day All!

My Mac mini died and I found it was 2010 Mac Mini and not a 2008 Mini as I had previously thought. I slummed it and went on GumTree a British website that I think is similar to "Craigslist" where I found a broken 2010 Mac Mini for sale for £50.

I haggled and got the price down to £20 and off I popped with my Mini hoping to bring it back to life. Having watched my brother do it countless times I was fairly certain I could handle it. However there was nothing wrong with the machines hardware the HDD had been corrupted and a clean install of Mavericks which I had on USB fixed everything; I felt kind of guilty actually...

You can see the specs above I've removed the serial number for obvious reasons:

Processor - 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: - 4GB DDR3 RAM
Graphics - Nvidia GeForce 320M 256 MB
HDD - 500GB Toshiba Hard Disk Drive
OS - OS X 10.9 Mavericks

I know I can't do anything about the CPU and GPU and I am not sure that upgrading the RAM would be worth the £60 it would cost me (your thoughts?) I do have a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB 2.5 inch SATA III SSD that my Brother left at our house. He said I was free to use it for Linux purposes so I will try to install it to my new Mini.

I don't have any of the tools and the tools kits on Amazon have mixed reviews. Does anyone know where I can get a "proper" set of tools that would be suitable for Apple products and or most computers? I don't minding paying a little bit more say £30-50 if I had to as it would be an investment.

Thank you.

Clara

Edit:

I do have an external Blu-ray drive that I use with Macs but as I'm opening up this Mini anyway would it be possible to replace the disc drive with another slimline slot loading drive that isn't riplocked?

 

[Che Castro]

you can get a tool kit at ifixit
but i would just get something cheap like this
http://www.amazon.com/Silverhill-Tools-ATKMMI-Computers-newer/dp/B00GKNK47A
your only going to use the tools one time
you have to be careful with the 2010 mini, it has a lot of thin cable sensors connected to the drive , unlike the 2011 or 2012 mini


I upgraded the ram to 8gb it was only $60, you have to buy the 1066 ram not the 1600
unofficially you can get 16gb ram thats 1066 buts too expensive over $100
if you plan on keeping the mini for a long time, maxout the ram and put an ssd in there
but be very careful with the hard drive swap



if you have any problems with the disc drive in the mini like dvds not playing, the lens might be dusty, get a can air spray and shoot some air in there to clean the lens, also dvd lens cleaners work

i got my 2010 mini for $200, the guy told me the dvd drive was not working,spitting the disc out
using the air can fixed that

 

[Lady Clara]

you can get a tool kit at ifixit
but i would just get something cheap like this
http://www.amazon.com/Silverhill-Tools-ATKMMI-Computers-newer/dp/B00GKNK47A
your only going to use the tools one time
you have to be careful with the 2010 mini, it has a lot of thin cable sensors connected to the drive , unlike the 2011 or 2012 mini


I upgraded the ram to 8gb it was only $60, you have to buy the 1066 ram not the 1600
unofficially you can get 16gb ram thats 1066 buts too expensive over $100
if you plan on keeping the mini for a long time, maxout the ram and put an ssd in there
but be very careful with the hard drive swap


if you have any problems with the disc drive in the mini like dvds not playing, the lens might be dusty, get a can air spray and shoot some air in there to clean the lens, also dvd lens cleaners work

i got my 2010 mini for $200, the guy told me the dvd drive was not working,spitting the disc out
using the air can fixed that

Thank you for your reply I would like something good quality as I like computers; Fixing/building them with my brother. Finding this Mini for this price has made me think I could even get a MacBook!

I'm also looking into putting together a little Linux box so good tools would not go to waste.

I have pressurised air cans thank you for the suggestion, the drive works fine it's just rubbish...

I didn't know it could handle 16GB of RAM interesting.

Take Care,

Clara x