Used Mac Mini 1.5 Solo Core Buying?

[bub9001]

I have seen a few used Mini 1.5Ghz Solo Core for sale around $300. Are they truly worth the money since they are a Solo Core? I mean the spec's for the Solo's are ok, but i am going to spend $250 just to upgrade a Solo Core to a Duo and I haven't even touched the RAM, HDD, or Optical Drive yet. Is it really worth all the trouble to upgrade or should I just wait to buy the new one when and if it comes out?

I mean a new Mac Mini with the Core 2 Duo 1.83 Ghz and 1GB of ram runs $580 give or take. And i will spend $300 for a used Mini, $250 for New Processor, $60 for ram, and $80 on a 7200 RPM 120GB 2.5" HDD. So that's $640 for all the upgrades and it still runs on Tiger not Leopard.

I guess what I am trying to say is there any Mini owners that feel that the 1.5 Ghz model is worth $300 dollars and all the upgrades are just icing on the cake?

 

[silverblack]

If you want to go cheap, and buy it but don't upgrade it. If you are going to upgrade it, then go for the a new mini (or refurbished from Apple store). You do have to check the refurb store 5 times a day to catch them. They'll sell out in a couple of hours.

 

[keltorsori]

Silverblack is right. $479 for the 1.83 refurb is hard to beat. However, if you get an insane deal on a solo-core, the processor upgrade is pretty easy and you can drop any socket-m core 2 in there. Be aware that the newer processors are no longer going to be available in socket-m (intel moving to socket-p).

 

[bub9001]

Core upgrade?

I have done a ton of research on Core upgrades for Mac Mini's and it doesn't seem worth it unless you already have a Mac Mini. But i do agree with just buying and not doing anything, it will work fine for me, and it would be a good upgrade from my 6 year old PC.

My biggest question through all of this is Tiger better than Leopard?

The old mini will be running Tiger and a new one will be running Leopard. So i need to know from those who already have a Mac Mini running on both, which one is a better fit for me.