Picking up a 1.6gz C2D Mini - Upgrade possibilities OS & Hardware?

[Tony Danger]

It should be arriving tomorrow. I am whacking an SSD into it to replace the slow drive. I've read the processor can be upgraded in these models. What is the fastest I can pop in there?

It also has 2GB RAM. I'm guessing that is max?

Finally, what OS can it support upto? Snow Leopard I'm guessing. If I whack in a better processor will it support a newer OS?

 

[yjchua95]

It should be arriving tomorrow. I am whacking an SSD into it to replace the slow drive. I've read the processor can be upgraded in these models. What is the fastest I can pop in there?

It also has 2GB RAM. I'm guessing that is max?

Finally, what OS can it support upto? Snow Leopard I'm guessing. If I whack in a better processor will it support a newer OS?

It doesn't matter what processor you slot in, you're limited by the 32-bit EFI. So no, you're stuck on Snow Leopard.

 

[Tony Danger]

Oh that's a shame, but still, not bad.

 

[Totally]

If it's 2007 you can bring it to Lion. Mine which I got recently I was able to update to 10.7.5

 

[Tony Danger]

It a late 2006 model, so above is right, I'm limited to Snow Leopard.

 

[spatlese44]

It's a sad reality, but there's a big difference in value between something that can run Yosemite and a machine that can't even if the processing power isn't that different. El Capitan is suppose to work with anything that runs Yosemite, so you are talking about years of future use with OS support by going to something newer. A 2009 Mini would do it. I see people asking $125 for a 2006, or $250 for a 2009. I'd spend the money on a newer computer before upgrading something old.

 

[Tony Danger]

This thing is costing me £40 and I already have the SSD. My main machine is a late 2014 15" rMBP, I just like having projects with these old machines.

 

[fhall1]

A couple weeks ago I upgraded my 2006 Mini from a 1.83 GHz Core Duo to a 2.3 GHz Core 2 Duo, 120GB SSD, and 3GB RAM. It's stuck on 10.6.8, but the upgrades really livened up the old machine. Did it just for fun mostly I have the machine in the basement serving DNS, media from my NAS, and as an iCAM server.