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Worth upgrading 1.42 Ghz PPC Mini?

dmarch

dmarch

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 14, 2007
122
0
Big Sky, MT
As stated in title I have this PPC Mini that I have upgraded to 1GB RAM, but is getting a little slow (running 10.5.8). Has anyone swapped the hard drive for a larger 320GB 5400 RPM model? Was the swap worth it? The unit is really only for my 10 year old to do basic tasks, but the laginess is becoming an issue.

Thanks in advance.
 
dmarch said:
As stated in title I have this PPC Mini that I have upgraded to 1GB RAM, but is getting a little slow (running 10.5.8). Has anyone swapped the hard drive for a larger 320GB 5400 RPM model? Was the swap worth it? The unit is really only for my 10 year old to do basic tasks, but the laginess is becoming an issue.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

A faster drive might do the trick. Maybe more RAM? Leopard is RAM intensive at 1GB levels.
 
You already have the maximum amount of RAM for that machine.

You've not said how much of the existing drive is full; that will influence whether a hard drive upgrade would be useful. Bear in mind that the G4 Minis used IDE drives, which are becoming harder to find in the 2.5in size, especially in larger capacities (at least they are over here).

The swap from the 4200rpm stock drive to a 5400rpm may make a slight difference.

If you have reached around 80% (there's plenty of argument whether it's actually 70%, 90%, etc. but you get the idea) of the drive's capacity then you could buy an external 7200rpm Firewire 400 drive to offload some of the storage. That would be likely cheaper and much easier than swapping the internal HD.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. There is 30GB available on the 80GB HD. The max RAM for the unit is 1GB. There are replacement hard drives available, but no 7200 rpm. I'd love to here from someone that has tried this.
 
I was in the same boat as you for different reasons. I chose to get the 2010 mini server. It has two 500 gb drives that are 7200 rpm, and they are already installed, along with 4gb ram. I did not have the money, but ordered it anyway from Amazon, and then the money came.
 
Personally, I would avoid spending money on that machine. Better to sell it on eBay and look for a more modern Mac mini. It would cost more than just a new drive, but would be a much more significant improvement.
 
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I think you are at the point of diminishing returns on the computer. You maxed the ram out and the only significant difference will be hd and a 7200 rpm will only be negligible, an SSd will speed it up but IDE ssds are $$ and not worth it.

Keep it until it no longer works or sell now to replace would be my suggestion.
 
The computer is for a 10 yo, so what the hell, spend 80 dlls on a 320 5400 HDD and see what that does for the mac.

If the increase in performance is not enough you can relegate it to server duties. or replace the 80GB drive and use the 320 you bought in an enclosure for you backup needs and sell the mac mini.

I think that would be the soundest way to go. Because buying an intel mac mini is gonna be a LOT more money and maybe the HDD will cut it (for now hehehe)
 
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