Unibody Mini HD upgrade

[adam9c1]

Need to upgrade my fleet of 2009's into unibody models.

Can the 2010 Mini be fitted with two hard drives (removing optical drive)? Or is this only possible with the server edition?
Later models without opti but fitted with one drive are they upgradable to two drives?
What are the differences (other than clock speed) of 2010-2012 Minis?

Thank you.

 

[Kaida]

Yes, you will need to buy a DVD to HDD bay to replace. Not sure about Server for 2010, 2012 Server comes with 2 x 1TB HDD.

Yes, you will need to buy the dual hdd kit.

USB3.0, CPU, GPU, DVD bay.
2010 can only use up to 1333mhz ram
2011 can use up to 1866mhz ram (I haven't tried 2133mhz on it)
2012 can only use up to 1600mhz ram (1866mhz rams work as 1600mhz on it)

 

[adam9c1]

I'm a tech support guy, recently finished 10.10 self paced study and looking for 10.11 and 10.12 tinkering.

When was USB 3 introduced?
Do 2010-2012 have same GPU? and only CPU and BUS speed upgrades?

I know I will need the boot drive to be SSD (I have a few spares), and will also need internal drive for storage.
Not sure what model to get (the 2009 model with SSD was more than plenty for my peachpit study needs) however I also need two more machines.
1. home server (solid working server app) 8GB, 100-120 SSD boot, 750-1000GB spinner
2. tinkerer server (self study to tinker with what I learn and explore) 8GB, 60GB boot, 500GB spinner

Peachpit stuff 8GB and SSD of any kind.
What I don't want to do is get the 2010 and learn next year 2010 is not supported for whatever OS comes out then.
What are the predictions? Will they kill off the C2D Pennryn models and only allow Sandy Bridge i Processors?

 

[treekram]

For the Mac Mini, USB3 is only available in 2012 and 2014 models. SATA3 is 2011 and later. Some SSD's may not work well or at all in the 2010 Mini but if the SSD you plan to use for a 2010 is the same brand-model as the one you put in the 2009 (and it works in the 2009), it should work in the 2010 as well.

What Apple has released thus far says macOS Sierra will work on 2010 and later Mini's.

For what processors were used in what year/models, one place to look is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini

Then, you can search, using the processor model, for benchmarks for the different Mini's.
https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

I took a look and as I suspected, there was a big jump between the Core2 Duo and the i5 Mini's. So the 2011 Mini's will be significantly faster than the 2010 Mini's.

 

[adam9c1]

Treekram,
Thanks for the info.
I have a feeling I will be better future proofing if I go with a "i" processor vs C2D.