Mac Mini Upgrade

[RedAlpha3]

Decided to upgrade my Mac Mini via the local Apple Service Centre. RAM from 2 Gb to 4 and HD from 160Gb to 500Gb. The difference in performance is very impressive. However, the cost was a bit of a shock. Well worth the effort though. I wish I'd bought the higher spec version initially.

[fos]

I installed the larger hard drive and doubled the ram in my MacBook Pro for about half the cost that Apple charges.

You wouldn't believe the number of small screws that hold the bottom cover on the MacBook! Once inside, it was easy.

Jeff

[RedAlpha3]

You are right Jeff. Apple parts would have made the upgrade far too expensive. Normally I do my own hardware installation but the Mac Mini was new and I was warned that it was not a straightforward upgrade. I think the purchase of thin putty knives and the breaking of seals was involved. I,m very pleased with the result. The Time Machine backups were a great help. Totally restored system in minutes!

[fos]

The Time Machine backups along with the original discs supplied with the MacBook restored my machine to the exact condition it was in before the swap out. Apple's Time Machine is one of the operating system's best features.

I expect to add 4 gigs of ram to my iMac in the near future. It looks pretty easy, just a couple of screws on the bottom plate. I'm not sure I would do anything beyond memory replacement on the iMac either.

Jeff

[lurch]

Glad to hear that the Mini upgrade delivered a noticeable improvement in performance.

After finally selling my Dell laptop I am now leaning towards buying a Mini instead of an iMac. Mac Rumours Buyer Guide suggests an upgrade of the Mini and iMac is due. I shall wait a bit longer to see what happens but really want to go out and buy now.

Phillip

[danieldk]

It's really a good moment to watch prices: new models will be coming out. But this also means that older models are sold at a much lower price (sometimes 200 Euro off).

[lurch]

http://www.macworld.com.au/news/view/new-mac-mini-released-5084

[danieldk]

Wow, that's an expensive mini compared to an iMac.

[lurch]

Wow, that's an expensive mini compared to an iMac.

That is Australian $ price. The USA base price is US$699 according to Mac Rumours. The A$ base price still seems a lot. 4GB of RAM is an extra A$140 which gets close to an iMac price. It will be interesting to see what the next version of the iMac looks like and the cost compared to the Mini.

The new Mini specs look impressive. I wonder if significantly more heat will be generated now that the power pack is built in? The previous version ran very cool.
Phillip

[lurch]

http://www.macworld.com.au/

[danieldk]

That is Australian $ price. The USA base price is US$699 according to Mac Rumours. The A$ base price still seems a lot.

The European price is Euro 799 for a base model with 2GB RAM, a 320GB harddisk, and an underpowered GPU. For the same price you get a Quad Core i5 machines with 1TB disk space, and 8GB of RAM from, say HP. (With a keyboard and a mouse.)

Of course, you buy into an experience. But Apple has to watch out making the gap too big. Usually new models were fairly competitive, but they kept them in stock long enough to increase the profit nicely. But this model is already very outdated from the go.

It almost seems as if they say: "go buy an iMac".

Ps. It seems our local dealer dropped the 599 model.

[lurch]

Yes Daniel, Apple does need to be careful about the PC/MAC price differential if they want to attract lots of new buyers. The following site offers a very low price for Macs in Australia and yet, they only take A$49 off the basic new Mini model

https://store.mactofront.com.au/categories.php?category=Mac-Mini

The iMac is looking good by comparison unless Apple puts an outrageous price on the refreshed model/s when released.