i was going to switch drives and post photos of how easy this is today On my mac mini ‘12.
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Mm 1,1-6,2 Upgrading my Mac Mini late 2012
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Just swapping a drive(top drive as you look at it from underneath) is simply
three screws to remove for fan and fan cable to free with spludger/plastic tool (you can just remove two bolts and free the fan from the post but i find it easier to just take the bolt out
one screw holding plastic cover. This is the hardest bit, don’t loose small screw and plastic cover only comes out in a certain direction. Case of fiddling with it. it’s a fiddle to get back in too
Remove 4 screws holding antenna plate (2 screws holding plate, two holding drive to plate). Lift plate gently and flip 180 degrees around its antenna cable (no need to remove for a simple drive swap). Position so it’s not yanking the coax while you work
remove drive connector with spludger/plastic tool
remove drive by wiggling. Sometimes helps to put screwdriver in upward facing bolt holes (to give you more control of positioning it, bit fiddly otherwise.
install is reverse. Be careful with the coax positioning (I find it difficult to see how one would trap it but I gather it happens)
swapping a drive in the second bay (when fitted) is the same as fitting the second drive first time (minus fitting grommets) full strip!
three screws to remove for fan and fan cable to free with spludger/plastic tool (you can just remove two bolts and free the fan from the post but i find it easier to just take the bolt out
one screw holding plastic cover. This is the hardest bit, don’t loose small screw and plastic cover only comes out in a certain direction. Case of fiddling with it. it’s a fiddle to get back in too
Remove 4 screws holding antenna plate (2 screws holding plate, two holding drive to plate). Lift plate gently and flip 180 degrees around its antenna cable (no need to remove for a simple drive swap). Position so it’s not yanking the coax while you work
remove drive connector with spludger/plastic tool
remove drive by wiggling. Sometimes helps to put screwdriver in upward facing bolt holes (to give you more control of positioning it, bit fiddly otherwise.
install is reverse. Be careful with the coax positioning (I find it difficult to see how one would trap it but I gather it happens)
swapping a drive in the second bay (when fitted) is the same as fitting the second drive first time (minus fitting grommets) full strip!
3440×1440@50Hz requires a slightly lower pixel clock than 2560×1600@60Hz (which the mini officially supports) …or 3840×2160@30Hz.
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I am not quite sure why you had a number of suggestions in favour of installing a no longer supported OS (Mojave) instead of one that is currently supported (Catalina).
Yes Catalina will not run 32bit apps, but unless this is a specific requirement for you then it seems a no brainier to me.
I’ve run them both on an identical Mac and they both work equally fine.
Yes Catalina will not run 32bit apps, but unless this is a specific requirement for you then it seems a no brainier to me.
I’ve run them both on an identical Mac and they both work equally fine.
I mentioned Mojave, but only if 32-bit "apps" are required. If they aren't... Catalina for this very reason.
Just wanted to hint at a possible alternative (UWQHD) to a 4k monitor3440×1440@50Hz requires a slightly lower pixel clock than 2560×1600@60Hz (which the mini officially supports) …or 3840×2160@30Hz.
Mojave still is safe and was not effected by the recent safari 15 tracking screw up from last November.
Useful if you still need to run actual iTunes and not Apple Music.
As mentioned elsewhere in the thread the old 2012 is very expandable but there are limits to its usefulness. It won't go past Catalina and as a consequence won't get security updates by the end of the year.
16Gb of RAM is the most you'll get out of it - but it's easy enough to fit (I have expanded mine).
You can also fit SATA3 SSDs - I have fitted a small one to mine back when they were reasonably expensive.
Got to consider an inexpensive M1 Mini is also there before you sink too much money into souping up a 2012 model. The USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports plus high resolution display support (via HDMI and TB/USB-C) is definitely worth considering along with the increase in horsepower.
It's not that messy you might think it is, just be carefull and don't loose the screws, get the right tools for it (for ex. iFixit). And while you are at it, why not change the thermal paste for CPU & PCH too. And absolutely the RTC battery too while it's open. In mine the paste was quite dry allready. Then I saw the paste I took my other one under surgery immediately too.
Ok, it looks messier than what it is.
CPU and PCH (Platform Controller Hub).
For RTC battery you would want a BR2032 instead of CR 2032 because it takes more heat pressure by design. Did not have one at the time, so put in a CR 2032. So it might need to be changed again sooner than the BR would need to.
Put in a couple of pretty normal Kingstons (KC600 I would remember), 2x8GB Kingston KTA-MB1600MHZ so-dimms, so the server can serve.
This i7 2,6GHz was my TV/HTPC Mac Mini earlier, but I decided to change places with some Macs.
Now it's been serving in this configuration about 1,5 years. Battery seems to be okay still, and everything else too.
Obviously MM 2018 and a M1 would be beefier, like a lot, but there's no need. This has been enough for what it does. At least until now. Now I would pretty much have to go bigger than Mojave with it. Catalina never convinced me, so I'd like to go at least Big Sur. That would mean hacking it a little, and it's another story. Just wanted to show you guys these 2012 oldies are in good use still. Yours can be too.
One word of causion only; be carefull with the little cable connectors in there, so you don't rip them of the board.
Ok, it looks messier than what it is.
CPU and PCH (Platform Controller Hub).
For RTC battery you would want a BR2032 instead of CR 2032 because it takes more heat pressure by design. Did not have one at the time, so put in a CR 2032. So it might need to be changed again sooner than the BR would need to.
Put in a couple of pretty normal Kingstons (KC600 I would remember), 2x8GB Kingston KTA-MB1600MHZ so-dimms, so the server can serve.
This i7 2,6GHz was my TV/HTPC Mac Mini earlier, but I decided to change places with some Macs.
Now it's been serving in this configuration about 1,5 years. Battery seems to be okay still, and everything else too.
Obviously MM 2018 and a M1 would be beefier, like a lot, but there's no need. This has been enough for what it does. At least until now. Now I would pretty much have to go bigger than Mojave with it. Catalina never convinced me, so I'd like to go at least Big Sur. That would mean hacking it a little, and it's another story. Just wanted to show you guys these 2012 oldies are in good use still. Yours can be too.
One word of causion only; be carefull with the little cable connectors in there, so you don't rip them of the board.
very impressive, looks like a project i did inserting a new display for a powerbook in 2007
anyways
how did you remove the fan screws?
i had to replace mine and cant get the far screw release from the old fan.
also
do you dual boot Mojave and Catalina/BigSur or run the same OS?
thanks in advance.
If I remember it right, one screw came out with the standoff. With both of the screws. You need to separate them later, the screw and its standoff. Or maybe you could screw it in without separating them at all, I can't remember exactly.
Think I found it, it's that long one; the standoff / supporting screw and the top screw on top of it.
Nope, not that one, please read later posts.
I've got couple of 2010 MMs, they are on the table next (again it is). They are almost the same design inside them (2010 and 2012), but not exactly, some minor differences in there, like the CD/DVD.
These jobs are not so intimidating to do to me, because of the help of iFixit community and their prior work, the tear downs and repair guides. If i needed to do this without those guides, it would be really really slow to perform, and extremely prone to errors too I think. A big thank you to them, I'll support the work with my purchases from them.
Nope, not that one, please read later posts.
I've got couple of 2010 MMs, they are on the table next (again it is). They are almost the same design inside them (2010 and 2012), but not exactly, some minor differences in there, like the CD/DVD.
These jobs are not so intimidating to do to me, because of the help of iFixit community and their prior work, the tear downs and repair guides. If i needed to do this without those guides, it would be really really slow to perform, and extremely prone to errors too I think. A big thank you to them, I'll support the work with my purchases from them.
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Ok. I just opened up a 2010 mini to change the RTC battery and CPU/PCH thermal paste.
The fan screw in question above was NOT a standoff construction (NOT two screws, but only one). It was just a long screw. And it came out pretty easily by just wiggling it out of the rubber holder / vibration dampener.
Better revisit those teardowns for checking out if there is a difference between 2010/2012 in this particular case.
btw. there are more logic board connectors in MM 2010 than in MM 2012 connecting to the motherboard. Seems they got rid of some thermal sensor sockets, as they gathered those thermals straight from the components (HDD, SSD, CPU etc.) without external sensors.
The fan screw in question above was NOT a standoff construction (NOT two screws, but only one). It was just a long screw. And it came out pretty easily by just wiggling it out of the rubber holder / vibration dampener.
Better revisit those teardowns for checking out if there is a difference between 2010/2012 in this particular case.
btw. there are more logic board connectors in MM 2010 than in MM 2012 connecting to the motherboard. Seems they got rid of some thermal sensor sockets, as they gathered those thermals straight from the components (HDD, SSD, CPU etc.) without external sensors.
The ifixit guide is extremely helpful even for absolute amatuers. Follow it step by step is almost guaranteed to not fail. Personally there are only two steps that are subject to careful force: pulling out the board assembly with that U-shaped tool; and fully sliding in/out the power supply since it needs to be click perfectly.
I have two 2012's, one is updated to the latest Catalina as an audio server end point (Roon), another is a headless server stay at Mojave 10.4.6 for remote desktop + 32bit app launcher. Both had gone through dual drive slot "upgrade" with primary SATA SSD, fitted with 8+8GB RAM. As a low power requirement macOS device they are still more than fine, the weakest link being its Intel graphics which are not needed in headless usage.
I have two 2012's, one is updated to the latest Catalina as an audio server end point (Roon), another is a headless server stay at Mojave 10.4.6 for remote desktop + 32bit app launcher. Both had gone through dual drive slot "upgrade" with primary SATA SSD, fitted with 8+8GB RAM. As a low power requirement macOS device they are still more than fine, the weakest link being its Intel graphics which are not needed in headless usage.
Thanks for the replies
I posted a "how to" on ifixit asking about the screws and the fan, no responses yet.
i manage to remove on screw as photos and have to get 2 more somewhere.
the fan is solid on the logic board, and does the cooling task when needed.
I posted a "how to" on ifixit asking about the screws and the fan, no responses yet.
i manage to remove on screw as photos and have to get 2 more somewhere.
the fan is solid on the logic board, and does the cooling task when needed.
The fan has 3 screws. The standoff one is long and at the exhaust end of the fan and you can either unscrew it and remove it with the fan or simply pull the fan off the standoff (without unscrewing the standoff). The two other (rear) screws just unscrew and come out. You can see one of the two removed rear screws two photos up, bottom right (screw closest to the bottom right corner). Its a tiny torx (the same as the standoff)
In same photo you can see the poster took the unscrew-standoff-and-remove-with-fan option
In same photo you can see the poster took the unscrew-standoff-and-remove-with-fan option
Hi everybody, rather than start a new thread I thought I should bump this old one.
Earlier this year I purchased this monitor.
At the time I was interested in the display pilot software as I thought it would be useful for me to split screen etc for some studies I am doing. My Mac Mini 2012 was playing up once or twice it took ages to start and I figured as I would upgrade to m2 mac mini I would have this monitor. To be honest I was a bit silly and shouldnt have purchased it but i have it now. I figured I will run it 1080p with my existing Mac until I upgraded.
My Mac Mini 2012 has been fine for some time now so rather than upgrade I figured I would put a new hard drive in it and get a few more years. It already has 16gb of ram.
Specs as follows:
Mac mini - (Late 2012)
Processor -2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
Currently running Catalina 10.15.7. I only use it for office software, surfing, Pioneer Rekordbox and OBS to stream.
If I upgrade the HD is there a way I can get a better picture out of the screen for now.
Someone mentions above: You can get 2560×1440 at 60 Hz on your TV but only by using the Mac's Mini DisplayPort output, so you need an active DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter because I'm fairly sure your TV only has HDMI inputs. Important: Do not get a simple "passive" DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter or cable, because that will also limit you to 1920×1080.
Would this be of benefit to me? How can I use the screen to its best abilty? Any best suggestions for OS on new install?
Sorry if this is a silly question.
Thank you for all your help in advance.
Earlier this year I purchased this monitor.
BenQ PD3420Q Designer Monitor (AQCOLOR Technology, 34 inch, 21:9 Ultrawide, WQHD 1440P, P3 Wide Color, USB-C 65W, DisplayHDR 400, KVM, Compatible for MacBook Pro M1/M2), Black
BenQ PD3420Q DesignVue Designer Monitor with 21:9 WQHD, excellent 98% P3 color space and VESA DisplayHDR 400 for video editing and also Mac users.
www.amazon.co.uk
At the time I was interested in the display pilot software as I thought it would be useful for me to split screen etc for some studies I am doing. My Mac Mini 2012 was playing up once or twice it took ages to start and I figured as I would upgrade to m2 mac mini I would have this monitor. To be honest I was a bit silly and shouldnt have purchased it but i have it now. I figured I will run it 1080p with my existing Mac until I upgraded.
My Mac Mini 2012 has been fine for some time now so rather than upgrade I figured I would put a new hard drive in it and get a few more years. It already has 16gb of ram.
Specs as follows:
Mac mini - (Late 2012)
Processor -2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
Currently running Catalina 10.15.7. I only use it for office software, surfing, Pioneer Rekordbox and OBS to stream.
If I upgrade the HD is there a way I can get a better picture out of the screen for now.
Someone mentions above: You can get 2560×1440 at 60 Hz on your TV but only by using the Mac's Mini DisplayPort output, so you need an active DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter because I'm fairly sure your TV only has HDMI inputs. Important: Do not get a simple "passive" DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter or cable, because that will also limit you to 1920×1080.
Would this be of benefit to me? How can I use the screen to its best abilty? Any best suggestions for OS on new install?
Sorry if this is a silly question.
Thank you for all your help in advance.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
This monitor has 1 DisplayPort input according to its spec page there. In this case the above paragraph wouldn't concern you as that was meant for TVs or monitors with only HDMI inputs. Then on the mini side, the nature of its HDMI port is that it outputs inferior (bandwidth-wise) than the DisplayPort route. Therefore your best action is to get a miniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, which goes into the Mac mini's Thunderbolt 2 port. As far as I know it should enable the full 1440p 60Hz picture right away without need of tweaking. The drawback is of course you can't use that TB2 port for anything else, but you already noted you aren't gonna use it anyway.Hi everybody, rather than start a new thread I thought I should bump this old one.
Earlier this year I purchased this monitor.
BenQ PD3420Q Designer Monitor (AQCOLOR Technology, 34 inch, 21:9 Ultrawide, WQHD 1440P, P3 Wide Color, USB-C 65W, DisplayHDR 400, KVM, Compatible for MacBook Pro M1/M2), Black
BenQ PD3420Q DesignVue Designer Monitor with 21:9 WQHD, excellent 98% P3 color space and VESA DisplayHDR 400 for video editing and also Mac users.www.amazon.co.uk
At the time I was interested in the display pilot software as I thought it would be useful for me to split screen etc for some studies I am doing. My Mac Mini 2012 was playing up once or twice it took ages to start and I figured as I would upgrade to m2 mac mini I would have this monitor. To be honest I was a bit silly and shouldnt have purchased it but i have it now. I figured I will run it 1080p with my existing Mac until I upgraded.
My Mac Mini 2012 has been fine for some time now so rather than upgrade I figured I would put a new hard drive in it and get a few more years. It already has 16gb of ram.
Specs as follows:
Mac mini - (Late 2012)
Processor -2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
Currently running Catalina 10.15.7. I only use it for office software, surfing, Pioneer Rekordbox and OBS to stream.
If I upgrade the HD is there a way I can get a better picture out of the screen for now.
Someone mentions above: You can get 2560×1440 at 60 Hz on your TV but only by using the Mac's Mini DisplayPort output, so you need an active DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter because I'm fairly sure your TV only has HDMI inputs. Important: Do not get a simple "passive" DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter or cable, because that will also limit you to 1920×1080.
Would this be of benefit to me? How can I use the screen to its best abilty? Any best suggestions for OS on new install?
Sorry if this is a silly question.
Thank you for all your help in advance.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I had the cable in the box all the time Chancha! Thank you very much as its much better - silly me.
Any tips for upgrading HD as above? Any up to date tips for OS for the spec?
Thank you
Any tips for upgrading HD as above? Any up to date tips for OS for the spec?
Thank you
I have two 2012 minis, one was purchased already with 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD installed which I never opened, but another was a base i7 model where at some point I purchased a dual drive kit, installed a new SSD for it, and moved the original HDD to the new bay. I just followed ifixit guide which is quite straight forward. The tricks are in the details, like how much force it takes for certain tasks such as pulling the logic board out, and turning the AC socket sideways. Then the screws have to line up really well for the drive kit to mount, and then the power supply together with its cable mess has very tight space room when you re-insert it. If you are just changing one drive without adding a 2nd, these should be easier as you get to skip many steps.
I never bothered with unsupported Mac OS on these minis as they are used for minor tasks now, but I know some people have success in using OpenCore to run past 10.15. I myself use 10.14 on one, for 32bit apps launching abilities, and the Mail.app still worked with inline Time Machine rollback. The other I stay at 10.15 just because it‘s the latest officially supported, this one I use it as a AV room breakout box for multi-channel music playback via HDMI to AV receiver, and then using its audio pre-amp input for simple vinlyl ripping just for checking purpose (our work is music related).