So I have an 1.42 Power PC Mac Mini and I am wondering if its worth upgrading memory for better performance. I've had it for about 6 years or better but I have it connected to one of the classic clear flat studio monitors that I really like. We have an iPad(gen 1) and Black Macbook in the house too. Really only use desktop for word processing and kids to play educational games. The new Mini's are $500+ and are lacking an optical drive. Thoughts?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Should I upgrade 1.42 Power PC Mac Mini?
- Thread starter phillymacuser
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As the above user suggested, a cheap SSD would be an amazing upgrade for it. I was looking at giving my old iMac G4 700mhz the SSD treatment, maybe in the future.
Definitely bump up the RAM to the max of 1GB. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/item/6559/OWC2700DDR1024/
SSD help a lot but you would need an IDE which are not common. Good supplier: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Legacy_Pro
Keep in mind if looking at a new machine that most of your software won't work on it. Universal binaries should but not any PowerPC only apps.
SSD help a lot but you would need an IDE which are not common. Good supplier: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Legacy_Pro
Keep in mind if looking at a new machine that most of your software won't work on it. Universal binaries should but not any PowerPC only apps.
don't bother with more ram. the ssd will handle the lack of ram. you most likely have a 60gb hdd so the 60 gb ssd is about
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/SSDMLP060/
170.
sooner or later your machine will die
all your software is out of date .
you need to plan for this.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC270LL/A
this is the cheapest model with a dvd player.
if you click that link a few times each day it will come back in stock.
it comes with a warranty and will need a ram upgrade. to 4gb or 8gb ram. or buy this without a dvd player
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC815LL/A
this needs a ram upgrade and a tack on dvd player.
sooner or later you will need to bite this bullet. frankly If your old machine runs and you buy a new one it will be less work to make the software switches. once all is setup and works you could sell the working old machine on ebay.
good luck with whatever you do about your mini.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/SSDMLP060/
170.
sooner or later your machine will die
all your software is out of date .
you need to plan for this.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC270LL/A
this is the cheapest model with a dvd player.
if you click that link a few times each day it will come back in stock.
it comes with a warranty and will need a ram upgrade. to 4gb or 8gb ram. or buy this without a dvd player
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC815LL/A
this needs a ram upgrade and a tack on dvd player.
sooner or later you will need to bite this bullet. frankly If your old machine runs and you buy a new one it will be less work to make the software switches. once all is setup and works you could sell the working old machine on ebay.
good luck with whatever you do about your mini.
While there will be some obvious benefits to switching to an SSD, I question the wisdom of spending any money on slapping an SSD on an ATA/100 interface. If you feel the need to go down the SSD route, I suggest exploring the option of getting a SATA SSD and using an ATA/SATA bridge. When you inevitably upgrade to a newer machine you'll be able to reuse the drive in the new machine.
RAM should be a really cheap upgrade and will make a noticeable difference. I would be reluctant to spend any more on an old machine like that.
A stick of ram is 27 bucks
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/item/6559/OWC2700DDR1024/
I found this for 139
http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Internal-Solid-State-Flash/dp/B001BPDEU6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
139 is a lot 27 is not a lot but frankly I would look to upgrade to a newer mac mini.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I'd say keep it. I had that one -- actually the "secret upgraded" 1.5ghz PPC Mini of late 2005 and it ran Leopard fine with a 1 gig chip.
For word processing you are not going to see substantial gains with the newer minis. That's one area where it really does not matter. But remember if you get a new Mac Mini, you have to buy Word for Mac 2011. Older versions of Word for Mac do not work.
I got huge improvement running Photoshop after maxxing out the ram in mine. 1 GB still did not fix the choppy video though. At this point, REALLY: if you are going to blow half the price of a new mini on an ssd and ram for that 6 y/o machine, get the new mini instead. It blows away the G4 in all aspects...
I'm not even sure if you can put an SSD in that machine, but even if you could it would be kind of pointless. You'd be better off putting that money towards a new machine.
If you still use the machine at all then a cheap 1GB stick of RAM is mandatory. Other than that there's not much else I can recommend.
If you still use the machine at all then a cheap 1GB stick of RAM is mandatory. Other than that there's not much else I can recommend.
The G4 is PATA, and all the SSD-drives I've seen are SATA. And find the right kind of RAM for this machine is probably be hard and expensive.
Edit: a quick check learns that my favourite shop has a single PATA drive in stock. A whopping 64GB for 269 euro's. Memory is cheaper at 22 euro for a gigabyte, but, that is about four times more expensive per gigabyte than DDR3.
Edit: a quick check learns that my favourite shop has a single PATA drive in stock. A whopping 64GB for 269 euro's. Memory is cheaper at 22 euro for a gigabyte, but, that is about four times more expensive per gigabyte than DDR3.
Last edited: