Apple's Mac mini - Tempting PC Users Everywhere
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 25, 2005 7:39 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
Upgrading the mini
Now that you've seen the innards of the Mac mini, it's pretty obvious that there are only a few things that you can really upgrade in this machine. You can replace the hard drive; however, you're going to want to make sure that it lines up with Apple's custom connector in order to work properly.
Memory installation is pretty easy, considering it uses regular desktop 184-pin DDR DIMMs (you still need to buy Mac specific memory - G4 or G5 memory will work because the motherboard is quite sensitive to the SPD on modules). The first thing I noticed was that the left latch on the memory slot can't be extended all the way. Apple definitely did their best to not waste a single centimeter in here:
The default memory that ships with the Mac mini comes from Hynix and features no heatspreader (not that one is needed, as there are obviously no memory overclocking options on the machine). Unfortunately, all of the Mac memory that we had in the lab came with heatspreaders, but to our amazement, our OCZ G5 modules actually fit in the system. It was a tight fit as you can see below, but it worked:
Original 256MB stick installed on the left.
OCZ 512MB stick installed with heatspreader on the left
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karlreading - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#23:You kick up against mac bashers and then u have a pop at AMD fans. HOW RUDE. It's quiet obvisouse your a intel fan. your no better than the people you try to show up, claiming they do things whilst you do exactly the same things yourself.
Im a AMD fan, but i dont find that i have to have a pop at intel, mac, or anyone else. AMD make fine products. Intel make fines products. Apple make fine products. just each ones products match diffrent peoples expectations and needs.
as for the mac mini, i think its a excellent little machine. As Anand says, more appliance than computer. i think they will do well.
karlos
Dranzerk - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#2 in response to #1 Im talking about how lots of people will buy these because it's the "it" thing to do, and I will be looking on Ebay for when they are sold cheaper.How was that hard to understand?
michael2k - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Well, if it's within the return period, you can technically 'return it' and get another, with the Tiger CDs/DVDs, or just tell the Apple person, "It would be better for you to send me the Tiger CDs, wouldn't it, than to return this one to CompUSA and get a new one with the new OS right?"So within two weeks I would expect it free, basically (though it takes some social engineering). I don't know about the 'heavy discount' however.
bupkus - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Perhaps Apple should have offered the mini with 512MB as standard and then offered a downgrade option rather than their upgrade option.bob661 - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
If you want Tiger, just wait till it's released then by the Mac.msva124 - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
You say if tiger comes out right after you buy your machine, it is heavily discounted. Define "right after".Draco - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Great article. Very refreshing to see so much Mac coverage. Look forward to more.Ecgtheow - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#59: If Tiger comes out right after you get your machine, you can get it for $30 through the "Up-to-date" program.sluramod - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#57: good news for apple then ... $499 now + $100 or so laterBurbot - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#40: Thanks for correction.#53: Very true. A lot of people do not understand the connection between memory amount and performance. I've seen that more then once - folks have a machine with 128 megs of RAM that is just dying under load, and when I suggest them a memory upgrade they say "But isn't Ghz the thing that makes it go faster?".