[pln]

dochogan said:

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?

No, you'd know if the temperature sensor was detached. If the Mini doesn't detect the sensor, it fires the fans full blast - just in case. I know, I forgot to reattach a sensor cable when I upgraded my older Mini's RAM a couple of years ago.

[hmurchison]

The Scorpio Black isn't even the fastest 2.5" drive either. Had you put in a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 the benchmarks for disk would have been even better or best...slap in an Intel X-25m SSD and really watch things pop.

This test confirms to me that I need to be looking at the 2Ghz base model and then apply some surgery.

There is one thing that somewhat worries me. The 2Ghz chip in the the 09 minis doesn't have explicit support for virtualization but I belive the 2.26Ghz chip does. I don't know if this means squat for Parallels or Fusion performance but that will need to be tested.

[Dan Frakes]

Oneota said:

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

Good catch; fixed.

[willhoyt]

Good article, but what I was really hoping to see was some information about CPU upgrades. I've opened lots of minis to upgrade memory and hard drives but I've never touched the cpu. I've got a Core Duo mini and a Core2 Duo mini, so I am interested in what CPUs are compatible and whether or not it is worthwhile to upgrade it.

[Dan Frakes]

dochogan said:

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?

Al pln noted, if they'd forgotten to attach the sensor, the fans would likely be going full-blast, which is quite loud. It could just be the temp; the same drive can run at higher or lower temps.

[Dan Frakes]

davekriss93 said:

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.

No idea why some stores continue to insist it voids your warranty, but we've confirmed the policy with Apple many times now over the years. Apple's official position is that as long as you don't break anything in the process, your warranty is valid.

[Dan Frakes]

buzglyd said:

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.

True, although that's the case with any hardware you upgrade on any Mac.

[hmurchison]

willhoyt said:

Good article, but what I was really hoping to see was some information about CPU upgrades. I've opened lots of minis to upgrade memory and hard drives but I've never touched the cpu. I've got a Core Duo mini and a Core2 Duo mini, so I am interested in what CPUs are compatible and whether or not it is worthwhile to upgrade it.

The Mac mini 2009 models have the CPU soldered so no upgrades are going to happen there unless you are handy with a soldering iron. The previous minis could be upgraded quite easily by purchasing Core 2 Duo chips for Socket 479 motherboards (667Ghz FSB) I've got a 2Ghz chip at home just ready to install into my 1.66Ghz mini but i'm also going to do a HDD upgrade to 7200rpm 320GB. I'm going to love the speed increase.

[davekriss93]

Dan, thanks for your diligence on the warranty issue! I recently bought a previous gen mini for my wife and plan to upgrade it myself sometime soon. These kinds of articles are very helpful!

[funkright]

i think it's called a hackintosh.. I don't want to go that way either, but sometimes it does look appealing.. I don't need the biggest boy, but the small runt aint what I am looking for.. :(

[Dan Frakes]

pfindon said:

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.

Hey, I've been advocating for just such a Mac for years.

[gugy]

Just a simple question.
Is it important to upgrade the Mini just to use it as media center?
I will have an external hard drive plugged on firewire.
Is the RAM that important for playing videos and browsing it using front row or plex?
Thanks for any input.

[softweyr]

pfindon asks "why-oh-why can't Apple just make a Mac box that sits in between the tiny mini and massive Mac Pro?"

They do, it's called iMac. It even comes with a really pretty monitor pre-installed. You should try one, they're pretty nice.

[hmurchison]

In the overall scheme of things a midrange Mac serves little purpose.

The people that need the expansion for their business generally can afford the Mac Pro and write off the product after some time.

Consumers really don't upgrade their computers as much as they think beyond adding a larger hard drive and more RAM. The frugal Tech in me wants a midrange Mac but the realist in me knows that few people upgrade their computers significantly.

Over the years there have been many attempts to make upgrades easy. There once was a specification called Socket-X which aimed to make GPU upgrades easy as popping a chip out and a new one in. Didn't fly.

The standard rule of thumb is to purchase the most expensive computer you can afford and it'll last longer and give you better performing parts.

The mini is the perfect computer for people that know they have relatively meager computing needs and want a small quiet desktop. I love mine.