Mac Mini Core Duo - Changing the Memory

I never thought I would become one of those bloggers who post pictures of stuff they take apart just to show the insides - that would be so geeky.

Hi. Today I have my pocket protector.

I wanted to do something very simple. I wanted to expand the memory in my Mac Mini to 2 gigs. This would nicely stop the nasty memory paging to hard disk that occurs when I am running too many programs (or just Photoshop CS2 - what a hog.)

One would think that changing out the memory would be like most other memory transplants I have done over the last 15 years. One would be wrong.

I thought the guts of my Mini were like the guts of the older G4 Minis. Not. Not even close. G4 Minis were easier. Intel Core Minis are not. Intel Core Minis require hands of a watchmaker, the patience of a monk, eyes of a fox and the putty-knife of, like, um, a painter.



"The putty-knife pry." Flip over the Mini. Pry the left. Pry the right. Pry the front. Separate. There is a video at the end of this post. Watch it carefully.



You will then need to remove the four screws holding down the large black plastic mount. One would think white would be a better color for seeing. One is not the Apple Engineer who said "Black would be nice."

The airport antenna at the top right will need to be popped off so you can get to the upper right screw. Just squeeze the two plastic mounts holding it onto the main mount. It will pop off and since it is spring mounted, the antenna will fly off and the spring will go onto the carpet. You then spend quality time on the floor looking for it.



This plug, I think it is for the built-in speaker, will need to be unplugged. You then gently lift the black mount directly up.



And here are your memory modules. Upgrade away.

Now you just have to reverse your steps. Easy, right? (Let me answer for you. "Like Hell.") The use of colored wire, or colored plugs, or color would have been a plus.

The following is a video I found on YouTube. I wish I found it about one week ago. This comprehensive video is from the great folks at Other World Computing. O.W.C. allowed me to get an old Mac (6400/200 with G3 upgrade) to run OSX with the use of Xpostfacto back in '02. That WAS a fun project.



Happy Upgrading.