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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bob661 - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
#4The Mac mini isn't just targeted at Mac users that's why there is a comparison with Dell. There WILL be PC users that buy this thing and at $499 people primarily at price. The $499 crowd IS NOT the techie, computer-savvy group. Most of our arguments for buying computers don't apply.
mickyb - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I would wait for the turbo mini. It sounds like it needs a faster drive and better video.Aileur - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
A thought comes to mind.Could apple get sued by other online music stores because osx comes with itunes preinstalled? Isnt that kind of like microsoft ie/windows?
Oh and, i want a mac mini. I bought an ibook g3 800 a couple of months ago, on an impulse to actually try out osx. Sold my toshiba 2410 1.8GHZ (p4 not pm) and let me tell you, ive been advocating macs ever since. I believe if you're everything but a gamer, a mac is a great buy.
On this note, let the whining begin.
downtowncb - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I'll never understand why people insist on comparing the Mac mini to Windows based systems from a hardware standpoint. Getting a "more powerful" CPU from a similarly priced Dell doesn't matter to the target demographic of the Mac mini. I can tell you that neither Grandma Claire nor Joe iPod-owning-college-student can tell you the speed of their hard drive and probably couldn't tell you three things about their graphics processor either. They both want a computer that works and won't break. The hardware is actually quite trivial to most of the users of this machine. Enthusiasts know they aren't buying a high-end machine, and the others don't know and/or don't care.bob661 - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
Good article. Why?3) To the user that this type of computer is targeted at, do either numbers 1 or 2 matter? The answer is no, all that matters is price and whether or not the thing works. If that statement weren't true then you would never hear the phrase "I've had my computer for 5 years, I need a new one", instead everyone would be a performance fanatic like the rest of us and upgrade every year at worst.
jtntwozz - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
no.1 what are u talking about?!?!?nice article.. i love all 3 of ur mac articles..
Dranzerk - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
I'll wait till you can find half a million on Ebay for $200 fully upgraded in a few months..thats the sweet spot when people say "Why did I buy this!".JacobAppler - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
You can also save some real money on the Mac Minis by shopping safely. Go to a comparison site like Apple Sliced.com and you won't need to worry about your Mac Mini costing too much.The Mac Mini can be the redheaded stepchild of Macintosh land, but it's worth looking at.