Mac Mini C2D 2.0 Memory Upgrade?

[haze]

A buddy of mine brought his Mini over complaining of slowness. He was going to take it to Staples for some kind of $39.99 diagnostic. Hahaha.

Anyhow, he has a previous gen Mac Mini w/ 1GB DDR3 that can be upgraded to 8GB. I checked everything else out looked fine. He says it is mostly on the Internet with multi-tabs, hence my rec to get more memory. Crucial has 8GB for $45 and I was going to install for him and then looked on-line and noticed it wan't very user friendly to do so. The local Mac shop wanted $150 to do it. Seems a bit steep.

Anybody else pay to have the memory upgraded? How much did it run you?

 

[paulrbeers]

Nope. Did it myself. Not the easiest upgrade but ifixit walks you thru. I just had my Macbook Pro sitting next to my mac mini and walked slowly thru the process.

 

[steve2112]

Yeah, the iFixIt guides are good. Macsales.com also has instructional videos on how to install a HDD/RAM in that gen Mini. If you are comfortable taking apart computers and working on them, you should be ok doing it. You will need some specialized tools, mainly the putty knife to pop the case. The trickiest part to me was making sure not to damage any of the tiny cables and such and making sure everything is re-attached after you finish.

 

[paulrbeers]

You will need some specialized tools, mainly the putty knife to pop the case.

I used a big metal pizza cutter (most of the big ones have tapered edges so they do a good job).

 

[steve2112]

I used a big metal pizza cutter (most of the big ones have tapered edges so they do a good job).

I hadn't even thought of that. I'll have to try that when I replace the dying hard drive in my Mini.

 

[surroundfan]

Definitely a DIY job. It takes about 10 minutes and (unlike earlier Intel models) lacks anything really fiddly. Buy yourself a decent putty knife, follow the iFixit guide, take photos while you work and you'll be okay. Your mate may want to do a HDD upgrade while he's at it though...

 

[paulrbeers]

Definitely a DIY job. It takes about 10 minutes and (unlike earlier Intel models) lacks anything really fiddly. Buy yourself a decent putty knife, follow the iFixit guide, take photos while you work and you'll be okay. Your mate may want to do a HDD upgrade while he's at it though...

Ummm The 2.0ghz core2duo model is the earlier intel model.....

The alternative is to pay someone $100+ to do it.

 

[The-Pro]

like "surroundfan" said, its definitely a DIY job. I upgraded the RAM on a 2007 mac mini. That upgrade was the first ever upgrade I did to a computer and also the very first time a ever took one apart. I used ifixit and those instructions are a charm. So if I was able to do it on a 2007 model with NO computer repair/upgrade experience I think pretty much anyone can do it.
Just follow the steps in this guide: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1283-RAM/1058/1
and you will be good.
I recommend taking sticky notes, writing step 1,2,3, etc on to them. Then you place the screws and pieces from every step onto that sticky not corresponding the the step in the ifixit guide. This way you wont get the screws mixed up.