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Mac mini Late 2009 SSD and RAM upgrade
- Thread starter a4ex
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I have a mid-2009 machine, so it is similar. I have twice bumped the RAM in it. I watched the OWC online video of my generation Mini a few times over the course of a couple days before the upgrade. Now, even two years after the first time, I wouldn't have to re-watch the video.
Get a good, correct putty knife. My mini doesn't have any damage from opening it, but mileage might vary. Honestly, I think it's fun opening it up and less scary than putting the 12 screws or whatever in and out of a MBP.
The HD always looked easy to upgrade too, I might also put a SSD, but using it as a home theatre PC right now, I haven't felt too pressured to do so yet.
The original design mini is still my favorite and the 2009 machines were great. No reason not to keep them around too!
As suggested above, the 2009 Minis certain MacBook Pros from that era, need a 3G SSD (not 6G) due to some compatibility blotch, it won't downgrade to 3G properly.
Since money is a problem lately, I think i can keep the mini for 1-2 years more if i install an SSD and RAM.
I have now concluded to 115GB Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G SSD and 8.0GB (4.0GB + 4.0GB Kit) PC-8500 DDR3. All that for the price of $260.
Enough space for my OS + boot camp (15 GB should be more than enough).
Cheers for the comments. Once i get the hardware I'll post an update.
I might also get a FireWire 800 enclosure to use the current HDD as a second drive.
I have now concluded to 115GB Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G SSD and 8.0GB (4.0GB + 4.0GB Kit) PC-8500 DDR3. All that for the price of $260.
Enough space for my OS + boot camp (15 GB should be more than enough).
Cheers for the comments. Once i get the hardware I'll post an update.
I might also get a FireWire 800 enclosure to use the current HDD as a second drive.
If you're looking to save some money, you can grab a SandForce-based drive from another manufacturer (e.g. OCZ Vertex 2 / Agility 2). You can usually find them on sale for about $50 less than the OWC models. This Macally FW800 case is also quite a bit cheaper than the OWC alternatives.
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I would defenetly get OWC memory, but honestly any SSD will do the job, feel free to check OCZ or Crucial or Kingston.
Having said that, I would advice you not to perform this upgrade, unless you are a fan of the MacMini 09 design, and dont see yourself getting a 10 or 11 design.
I advise you to sell your current machine, and get a current MacMini, or even wait for the ivy bridge update. Then, put in the max memory and the SSD. When you have a SSD in your system, and max its memory, believe me, you gonna run this machine for a LOOOOOOOOOOONNG time. but the conroe architeture will really bottleneck it or short its lifespan.
To conclude, this sort of upgrade deserves sandy bridge at least.
Having said that, I would advice you not to perform this upgrade, unless you are a fan of the MacMini 09 design, and dont see yourself getting a 10 or 11 design.
I advise you to sell your current machine, and get a current MacMini, or even wait for the ivy bridge update. Then, put in the max memory and the SSD. When you have a SSD in your system, and max its memory, believe me, you gonna run this machine for a LOOOOOOOOOOONNG time. but the conroe architeture will really bottleneck it or short its lifespan.
To conclude, this sort of upgrade deserves sandy bridge at least.
I have already done the OWC 8.0GB RAM upgrade in my Late-2009 Mac Mini and felt it helped a lot.
I use mine as an iTunes media hub with a 2TB external drive. However, I think the internal hard drive failed today. I am getting error messages during Disk Repair as well as the inability to mount it. This is preventing it from being erased and getting Lion reinstalled.
Therefore, I am considering getting an SSD drive for just the OS, iTunes, and Pure Music to use. Or should I just get another standard 7200rpm hard drive?
All other files reside on my external FW800 drive.
What size drive should I get? 40GB, 60GB, or 120GB?
Thanks!
I use mine as an iTunes media hub with a 2TB external drive. However, I think the internal hard drive failed today. I am getting error messages during Disk Repair as well as the inability to mount it. This is preventing it from being erased and getting Lion reinstalled.
Therefore, I am considering getting an SSD drive for just the OS, iTunes, and Pure Music to use. Or should I just get another standard 7200rpm hard drive?
All other files reside on my external FW800 drive.
What size drive should I get? 40GB, 60GB, or 120GB?
Thanks!
That is really going to be up to you. Besides my primary machine, I can actually get by with fairly small hard drives.
Indeed, if you don't do too much daily work on the machine yourself, why not save the money and get a 7200 RPM drive?
I know we all want SSDs today, but in some applications 7200 RPM drives are still fine.
I don't do any work on it. It sits in my media cabinet. I'll look at the 7200 drives and see what they cost.
Because my laptop is for other things than acting as a media server for my home media room.
It is wireless...
I use it for all browsing, photo editing, etc. All things you don't want running in the background while listening to music.
My Mac Mini had all services turned off that were not needed.