so i bought an old mac mini from my buddy and i want to upgrade the solo core to a duo core and i need to know what kind i have to get , i have a intel core 2 quad slacr malay and i want to know if this would work for it, because i would like to update the mac mini so i can use the better features , any help or comments would be awesome thanks.
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mac mini questions
- Thread starter bschaeffer10
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The only Core Solo Mini I am aware of is the Early 2006 mode (MA205LL/A) which has the T1200 processor.
It won't. that Core 2 Quad is socket 775.
The best CPUs compatible with this mini are the Core 2 Duo T7600 or a T7400
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See that’s what I was looking for , it is the 2006 model and I don’t want it to run high seirra or anything I just want to bump it up a bit because I know you can only do max 4gb of ram I just like having an apple comp even if it’s old
Sorry, but as I read it, your 'buddy' sold you a 2006 mini, which is, for all intents and purposes, a turkey at this late date and not worth investing further upgraded components into, setting aside the question of whether you can put upgraded components into it.
As much as I understand and sympathize with all the mini users out there who want to extract as much value as possible out of old minis that date from 2006-2012+, my advice is to bite the bullet and just start anew with a 2018 mini. Yeah, it's pricey and Apple overcharges on SSDs and all the rest. But once Apple finally (finally!) came out with the new 2018 minis, I was more than ready to cut loose from my old plodding 2010 mini. I'm not sure what I will do with the old mini, but I don't plan to saddle a 'buddy' of mine with it. If I were you, I'd ask for my money back. YMMV, of course.
You can't run High Sierra on it. The most recent you can run is Lion (10.7) and only if you upgrade the CPU to a Core 2 Duo and RAM to at least 2 GB. You can put 4 GB RAM on it but it will only recognize and use 3 GB.
You don't know how much he paid for the mini. He can search for used and cheap components for it and try to upgrade. If it works, cool, if not, it should be no big deal because if he is getting a 2006 model, it shouldn't be for everyday use but just for testing and having fun as a side project.
Your 2010 mini can run High Sierra and with a RAM and an SSD upgrade will be way faster and should be probably good to go for a few more years. You can then sell it to a friend without any remorse.
No doubt you are right, and I was probably unduly snarky. Mea culpa. Being newish here, I sometimes forget that many folks here like testing, tinkering, modifying, DIYing, and so an old 2006 mini may just be an opportunity for diving into that. In contemplating the 2006 mini, it mainly summoned up visions of headaches trying to work with hardware that "old".
I did top out my 2010 mini with upgrading it to 8GB RAM, but I didn't swap in an SSD, which would certainly have made it faster. But I've not regretted for a second my getting a 2018 mini i5 16GB RAM with a 512 SSD. It was with that positive experience in mind that I was suggesting just skipping all the fiddling around and getting a new 2018 mini. But I forgot that some people like the fiddling!
Just last week there was a user here who upgraded his 2009 mini to 4GB of Ram (salvaged from another computer) and an SSD. With El Capitan, he says the mini now boots in around 10 seconds.
Your mini can run 16 GB of RAM. The SSD for the upgrade can be internal or external.
You can sell it and make some money. There are used 2010 models on sale for $250.