[Keytonez]

Ok. I am thinking of buying a macmini - where to purchase on-line? Also, do I need to buy the 4 gig ram kit to max out on the ram? The article wasn't clear on how Ram upgrade is to be performed. I think I'll leave the HD alone and buy an extenal.

Thanks,
Keytonez

[macmutt]

Try Newegg or OWC, even eBay has Mac stuff.

[fellaintga]

The new Mac Mini will tinkle all over your G4 and you can have 2 displays. Unless you are a hard core gamer I think the upgrades in the article show what a little beast this machine can be. I barely max out my MBP CPU's so most users will never see the benefit of a powerful CPU but will notice more RAM and faster hard drive.

[svend]

Great article!
here is a way to save even more!
go to apple's store... go to SPECIAL DEALS
buy a refurbished mac mini... save approx 20%!!
AND you get the full 1 year warranty. I have bought all my macs this way for over 7 years!
svend.com

[drdaved]

The concept of an Apple store advocating user work as within Warranty, is simply against all tenents of how the warranty structure has to be to function.
You can't have it both ways.

[henrycole]

Can the new Mini up grade a G5 by plugging it back into the monitor? I would like to run XP on the cheap. Are there other ways to upgrade a G5?

[nitewing98]

There's another type of upgrade that fills the "mac medium" tower form factor - a used Mac tower. I've bought 3 so far (a digital audio 466, a dual 1ghz quicksilver, and a MDD dual 1ghz). I'm sure at some point the tower G5 and Intel Pro tower (used) will be available on ebay for a reasonable price. These used towers are upgradeable (and despite the notion that "most people don't upgrade" I've upgraded DVD drives, memory, added USB 2.0 and wireless 802.11g capability to mine), reasonable, and often more powerful than this mythical "mac medium" would be.

Just a thought...

[macmutt]

Unfortunately, you still have the problem of those units being predominately IBM based, meaning they will not be compatable with most new software and hardware, for that matter. Unless you want to take a retro unit like a G4 Cube, gut it, and fill it with Mac Mini components, you'll end up with an obsolete machine like my PowerMac G4. There are so many things out there the new Macs can do the old one's can't, it's really more cost effective to save your nickels and buy a new one, or a slightly used Intel-based unit off eBay or the like. I just happen to like the retro plastic look of the G4 Cube...and the fact I can stuff a lot of Mini in it, or I'd be doing the same thing. Frankly, I'm doing it for the shock value. Show someone a beaup G4 that can whip their best PC and it'll freak folks out.

[billd6]

Make sure you understand how to disconnect the ribbon cable from it's connector. The connector is very fragile and easily pulls away from its circuit board. You're screwed when that happens.

[mogil]

so i did all that, i personally have the 599 version 07 made model and my friend has 07 799 version i stuck 2gb of ram in mine and 2 gb in his now his fan sounds like its off to the races , any suggestions...

[rhettwinslow]

which upgrades [processor vs ram vs hd ect) are the most important for speedily viewing internet content like real estate searches with lots of pictures? Thanks

[JohnWDIII]

Thanks Dan - your article has solved a great problem with our backup office mini (w/only 256 RAM)which was so slow it was almost unusable!
Articles like this remind me of MacWorld's terrific value - keep up the good work!

[rhettwinslow]

would it make sense to overclock a mac mini?

[hmurchison]

rhettwinslow said:

which upgrades [processor vs ram vs hd ect) are the most important for speedily viewing internet content like real estate searches with lots of pictures? Thanks

RAM. Your browser LOVES RAM. Anything coming off the HDD is going to be orders of magnitude slower than if it can reside in RAM.