agg2001 Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 well, after falling in love using my dad's imac, i've decided to upgrade to a mac at the house. i've already sunk some good money into a monitor, so really all i need is the unit itself. I'd like a mac pro, but the budget just simply can't absorb that kind of cost for a home pc that will HAVE to run parallels (i use AutoCAD, and Autodesk is still stuck on PCs only). I've found a new (well, NIB) mac mini with a 1.83 gHz core 2 duo processor, and 1 GB of RAM. can i buy a 3 gHz c2d processor and simply replace the 1.83 one? and i'm assuming that i can add an additional gig of ram with no hickups. please excuse any stupid questions i may ask... i'm just now getting into the mac-world and am not sure about what can or can't be done. thanks in advance for your help. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 No, you can only upgrade it to 2.16ghz, and that's not really worth the cost or effort IMO. As for the RAM, it is two 512mb modules, which you would need to replace with 2x1gb modules. What you want is 200-pin DDR2 SO-DIMM modules (usually used in laptops). You can get 2gb for less than $50 at Newegg. It's a bit tricky to upgrade the Mac Mini, so look for guides on the internet. Basically you prise the top part off with a knife or something, and then there are some things to watch out for on the inside, but you can do it! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-751837 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agg2001 Posted May 19, 2008 Author Share Posted May 19, 2008 so i'd be limited to a 2.16 gHz machine? could i dump a quad core in there? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-751842 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 No. The Mac Mini uses an intel mobile Core Duo/Core 2 Duo platform, like laptops, for which there are no quad-cores. The Mac Mini is also stuck on 667 FSB, so you can't even use the new Intel mobile chips. Here is a list of supported chips I found at Newegg. You can see why I say it's hardly worth the effort/money to upgrade. Actually the fastest CPU that you can use is 2.33 ghz, but that costs $666 :censored2: Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-751981 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agg2001 Posted May 19, 2008 Author Share Posted May 19, 2008 ouch! it'd almost be cheaper to pick up a quad core mac pro on ebay than to try to upgrade a mini to that 2.33 gHz one. oh well... i doubt the wife will go for that. if i'm just using this for email, web browsing, photos, blogs, some video editing, tons of itunes, and parallels running AutoCAD, would i need anything more than an older mac pro quad core machine? i'm assuming that even that would be a "slight" overkill for what i need. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-751991 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 ouch! it'd almost be cheaper to pick up a quad core mac pro on ebay than to try to upgrade a mini to that 2.33 gHz one. oh well... i doubt the wife will go for that. if i'm just using this for email, web browsing, photos, blogs, some video editing, tons of itunes, and parallels running AutoCAD, would i need anything more than an older mac pro quad core machine? i'm assuming that even that would be a "slight" overkill for what i need.The Mac Mini is actually quite fast with 2 gigs RAM. It can do pretty much everything that you have listed perfectly, unless the Autocad is highly intensive 3D stuff - it's only weakness is it's poor 3d Graphics performance and it's smaller 2.5" Hard drive. The iMac would be ideal for you but you have a screen already. Fair enough. Remember it does support dual-screen though. It is Apple's only Mid-range computer. The Mac Pro is obviously the best and fastest, but it costs a lot more, so the value equation doesn't look that good, and it has some REALLY expensive RAM/ A 2nd hand Quad-core Mac Pro is still more than fast enough, if your budget can reach that far. Lastly there is the option to build your own PC and run OS X. This could really a great solution for you, depending on how you feel about that. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752057 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agg2001 Posted May 19, 2008 Author Share Posted May 19, 2008 now you're talking WAY too complicated for me. i have a 2.8 gHz pentium D i've tried doing that on, but to no avail. i got the Kalyway 10.5.2 DVD and it installed and boot up perfectly, but when i get to the "import anything?" screen (or whatever it says) i click no, and it sits there, goes rainbow cursor and starts back with the welcome/bienvenido/etc. splash screen. if i could get this option to work, my budget sure would go A TON farther. any suggestions on THAT side of the equation?? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752064 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Well, I had that problem too, then I think I disabled my Network in Bios or something, and it worked. You should give it another shot, I've been really happy with OS X on my Pentium 4 for a long time now. I'll help you. But you're still gonna want to buy an iMac, they're awesome. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752089 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 If you still care, here is a fix for the infinite loop when you create your account, by ("Do you already own a mac?"). http://osx86.wikidot.com/known-issues#toc9 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752653 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agg2001 Posted May 20, 2008 Author Share Posted May 20, 2008 suhweet! now it's working. where should i look to troubleshoot a few hiccups i'm having? how can i know what to search for? (currently, just no network access) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752835 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 The best place to go to is the Genius Bar at this forum. Look at the sticky topics that Rammjet made. They are for specific problems : Eg. [How To] Solutions for Ethernet Problems, A Compilation Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752953 Share on other sites More sharing options...
agg2001 Posted May 20, 2008 Author Share Posted May 20, 2008 i'm sorry... i hate being "that guy" right now. i'll learn, i promise! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/105733-upgrading-cpus/#findComment-752955 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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