Had a buddy give me a great deal. He sold me a late 2012 Mac mini with a keyboard and mouse for $100. What’s the most ram I can upgrade to? 16 or 8? And what else can I do to make it the fastest I can?
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Just bought a Mac mini 2012
- Thread starter Davidhedge
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16GB RAM is max supported (2x8GB DDR3 1600MHz SODIMM).
Replace the HDD with an SSD.
Those are the only upgrades you can do, but it'll make it run better than new.
Replace the HDD with an SSD.
Those are the only upgrades you can do, but it'll make it run better than new.
Thanks man! Also do I buy an external ssd or do I change something internally?
You could do either. Speeds will be a little slower via USB but will still make a positive difference compared to a standard HDD.
If you're comfortable with replacing the internal one, you can find the guide to do this here: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716
Just to expand a bit on that.... a RAM upgrade is trivial and only takes a couple minutes. Apple intended that users upgrade RAM themselves, and they even have instructions on their website.
But Apple clearly did not want users to upgrade the internal disks and designed the mini in a ridiculous way that makes it difficult to open, with fragile parts inside that are easily damaged. Plenty of threads in this forum where users messed up their mini by opening it. Not saying it can't be done, but there is a definite element of risk.
Regarding internal vs external SSD's, I have a 2012 quad Mini with the original internal Apple 256gb ssd. This is how it performs
But I now primarily boot that machine from a 1TB external Samsung T3 USB SSD. This is how it compares
So there is a definite speed advantage to an internal drive, although more with read than write speed. But I really don't notice the difference in everyday use. It is still very fast running from the external SSD. The only difference that stands out is that the internal drive boots in about 15 seconds vs 30 seconds from the external. That really doesn't matter to me. I use this machine exclusively for video/audio editing, so it gets a good workout.
Also consider that if you have the base Mini with the original Apple 500gb hard disk, any ssd will make a huge difference. That hard drive only has a read/write speed of about 100MB/sec.
But Apple clearly did not want users to upgrade the internal disks and designed the mini in a ridiculous way that makes it difficult to open, with fragile parts inside that are easily damaged. Plenty of threads in this forum where users messed up their mini by opening it. Not saying it can't be done, but there is a definite element of risk.
Regarding internal vs external SSD's, I have a 2012 quad Mini with the original internal Apple 256gb ssd. This is how it performs
But I now primarily boot that machine from a 1TB external Samsung T3 USB SSD. This is how it compares
So there is a definite speed advantage to an internal drive, although more with read than write speed. But I really don't notice the difference in everyday use. It is still very fast running from the external SSD. The only difference that stands out is that the internal drive boots in about 15 seconds vs 30 seconds from the external. That really doesn't matter to me. I use this machine exclusively for video/audio editing, so it gets a good workout.
Also consider that if you have the base Mini with the original Apple 500gb hard disk, any ssd will make a huge difference. That hard drive only has a read/write speed of about 100MB/sec.