[Macworld]

Post your comments for Maximizing your Mac mini here

[Oneota]

The Western Digital drive has a 16 MB cache, not 16 GB.

[pfindon]

The hands-on, build-it-myself PC-side of me thinks great article, but my Mac side thinks why-oh-why can't Apple just make a Mac box that sits in between the tiny mini and massive Mac Pro. Stick in a 7,200 rpm drive, a bay for another, 4 GB of memory, a good video card, and a bunch of additional ports and many, many Mac users around the world would be very, very happy.

[deemery]

3rd party upgraders - please take note and offer 7200 RPM Mini upgrade services!!!
dave

[fithian]

I opted for the 2.26 320 4GB option. I noticed that the new 500GB 7200 2.5 drive is now available. That would make it even better. Better yet would be a processor upgrade if I could find someone to solder it in.

[davekriss93]

I know we've talked about this before, Dan, but my local Apple Store insists that user upgrades to the mini voids the warranty. Is this just a matter of trying to find a store that doesn't think that way? I have to assume that it's their official stance to frighten users into bringing in their mini for upgrades so they can make some money.

[dochogan]

Thanks Dan for a great article. I got my local shop to install the same drive in my 2009 mini. It works great but the fan constantly spins at 1500rpm which, like you say, is barely audible. Do you think they forgot to reattach the temp sensor?

[buzglyd]

Something to consider regarding the warranty: This upgrade may not void your Apple warranty, but if your new hard drive (or RAM) fails, I'm sure Apple is not going to replace it for you. You'll be responsible for taking it apart again.
On the other hand, paying for the Apple upgrade covers everything for the entire warranty period. The small difference in price/performance would be worth it for me and I don't have to go to Home Depot and buy putty knives.

[polaris20]

The loaded 2.26Ghz shows how much the Mini's price needs to be adjusted. It's barely cheaper than the base iMac, and with that you get the screen and a faster processor, not to mention the ability to drop in a 2TB drive and 8GB of RAM down the road.
Still, call me sick but I'd love to get the Mini and drop in a fast SSD like a Corsair. That'd be a sweet (but absurdly expensive) little box.

[DrRippStudwell]

I was wondering what effect the extra video ram of the $799 model has on performance. Was that covered in another article?

[durandal343]

The video memory is determined by the amount of total RAM. The system shares its memory and with 2GB or more of system RAM the video memory is automatically bumped up.

[SFrawley]

dochogan said:

Do you think they forgot to reattach the temp sensor?

The upgrade never involves the temp sensor. If you got a 7200 RPM HD, it is probably just the higher heat generated. I wouldn't worry.

[durandal343]

The article said that the temp sensor had to be peeled off the original HD and re-attached to the new one.

[DrRippStudwell]

durandal343 said:

The video memory is determined by the amount of total RAM. The system shares its memory and with 2GB or more of system RAM the video memory is automatically bumped up.

Thanks for the answer. I knew the video ram was shared but did not know that simply adding another 1 gig of ram bumped it up from 128mb to 256mb automatically. I'm glad I asked.