Mac Mini Modifications

[lindahl22]

I have a PowerPC G4 1.42GHz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and a 80GB HD. I was wondering what can I do to make it faster, and last another 3 years for less than $300? I was thinking that I could switch the Hard Drive from a 2.5'' 80GB to a 3.5'' 500GB or 1TB Drive. All I would need is this thing right? Would this help it out at all?

What are other modifications that I could do to my MacMini? I've heard of switching the CD/DVD Drive to a Hard Drive, haven't seen thtat anywhere though.

 

[gehrbox]

I have a PowerPC G4 1.42GHz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and a 80GB HD. I was wondering what can I do to make it faster, and last another 3 years for less than $300? I was thinking that I could switch the Hard Drive from a 2.5'' 80GB to a 3.5'' 500GB or 1TB Drive. All I would need is this thing right? Would this help it out at all?

What are other modifications that I could do to my MacMini? I've heard of switching the CD/DVD Drive to a Hard Drive, haven't seen thtat anywhere though.

A faster HDD would help the most. A 3.5" drive would have to be external. The Mini lacks the room for a 3.5" drive. Never heard of anyone replacing the optical drive with an HDD. The drive in your model uses an Ultra ATA/100 interface.

If you are interested in the performance gained by doing that read here: http://www.barefeats.com/mini01c.html

 

[bamf]

You could get a Firewire external drive and boot from that. I think that OWC (www.macsales.com) has something called the MiniStack that has the same form factor as the mini so at least it would be aesthetically pleasing.

 

[brand]

I would recommend replacing the aging 2.5" internal hard drive with another 2.5" hard drive but in a 7200rpm variety. Then I would add an external 3.5" FireWire 400 drive to pickup the rest of the storage needs.

It looks like the RAM is already maxed out at 1GB. I am not sure if it will unofficially handle more but it is worth looking into.

 

[OllyW]

The main thing that makes your mini slow is the PPC processor

Sell your mini on eBay, they are still getting decent money and put your $300 towards getting a refurb C2D mini from Apple.

 

[Decrepit]

I have a PowerPC G4 1.42GHz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and a 80GB HD. I was wondering what can I do to make it faster, and last another 3 years for less than $300? I was thinking that I could switch the Hard Drive from a 2.5'' 80GB to a 3.5'' 500GB or 1TB Drive. All I would need is this thing right? Would this help it out at all?

What are other modifications that I could do to my MacMini? I've heard of switching the CD/DVD Drive to a Hard Drive, haven't seen thtat anywhere though.

I put an external 7200 rpm firewire HDD on my Mini and use it as the boot drive. I was using the internal HDD for Time Machine, but decided to put a 750 GB USB drive on my Mini for that.

I'm hoping a new Mini comes along, and I will have the new Mini back up to the old Mini.

It's much quicker than the 4200 rpm drive that came in the system.

 

[stukdog]

The main thing that makes your mini slow is the PPC processor

Sell your mini on eBay, they are still getting decent money and put your $300 towards getting a refurb C2D mini from Apple.

I agree. G4 minis still sell for about $300. Take that plus the $300 you were going to spend on upgrades and get an Intel Mac mini. They are quite a bit faster (and you won't be left out if certain new apps don't support G4 processors.)