Best choice of 'upgradable' current mac mini

solidprosolidpro
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hi Guys



I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to Mac Minis - so I apologise in advance...



I've read on Wikipedia that the latest release of Mac Mini uses a type of glue to hold the CPU in and is not servicable/upgradable by the enthusiast - is this true?



I am looking to buy a reasonably cheap-end Mac Mini and upgrade the CPU, GFX, RAM and HDD (possibly to SSD) myself (half to achieve a better machine, cheaper and also to gain some experience with the layout of these units).



So...



1) Are the latest Mac Mini's different to the older generations? If so, what was the last Mac Mini which had an interchangable CPU?



2) Does anyone have any useful links to places that discuss potential user-upgrade paths for these units?



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solidpro View Post


    I've read on Wikipedia that the latest release of Mac Mini uses a type of glue to hold the CPU in and is not servicable/upgradable by the enthusiast - is this true?



    Yes.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solidpro View Post


    I am looking to buy a reasonably cheap-end Mac Mini and upgrade the CPU, GFX, RAM and HDD (possibly to SSD) myself (half to achieve a better machine, cheaper and also to gain some experience with the layout of these units).



    None of them have upgradable GPUs or expansion slots to add new ones in.



    There have only been two main updates to the lineup. The original model had Core Duo chips and the CPUs could be upgraded. These were switched to Core 2 Duo chips in an update but the same graphics and I'm not sure if these CPUs could be upgraded. The next update was to the Nvidia chipset and the 9400M integrated graphics and these chips can't be upgraded.



    The upgradability on the old models was only really to the chips we have now e.g. going from 1.66 Core Duo to 2.16 Core 2 Duo.



    For the best performance and least headache, I would recommend going for the latest Mini. The 9400M is 10 times faster than the GMA 950 graphics and it will take 4GB Ram. Add in the SSD and it will be a decent machine. The 2.26GHz model will give you a little CPU improvement.



    The ideal would include managing to fit a 2.8GHz or higher Core 2 Duo or mobile Core 2 Quad in there but Apple couldn't put those in a Mini without killing iMac sales completely and they'd be hard to cool down inside the tight enclosure.



    For proper enthusiast expansion, the only route is really a used original quad Mac Pro like this:



    http://cgi.ebay.com/APPLE-MAC-PRO-DU...ht_2967wt_1126



    This way you can buy GPU cards, 8GB Ram, add in up to 4 hard drives I believe and upgrade your CPUs:



    http://www.o0o.it/pro/



    It's certainly not a budget way to do upgrades starting out at $1300 but a new 2.26GHz Mini is $750.



    The budget way to do it is to build a Mac OS X compatible system from standard PC parts. You should be able to build a decent spec system under $1000 with full warranty on all the parts.



    http://lifehacker.com/348653/install...cking-required

    http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-...800-321913.php
  • Reply 2 of 2
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    The CPU on the current mini is soldered, not in a socket. You could remove and replace it with the right equipment. A well-equipped electronics repair facility would probably have that. It's not worth the effort.



    All of the minis that used an Intel chipset- all of the ones with GMA950 graphics, that is- have a socketed CPU. But they are very limited in what processors they can take. Socket M processors with 533 or 667MHz bus speeds. Dual-core only. Again, it's not worth it. All of the processors that would work are obsolete and won't offer much improvement.



    You can't upgrade the GPU in the mini. It's integrated in all versions (except the old PPC minis). Only the RAM and drives can be replaced easily.
Sign In or Register to comment.