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New storage: Kingston 480GB SSD ($56 at Amazon)I used it to replace a hard drive on a 2006 iMac as well as on a 2012 Mac mini. Products used in this guide922-9953 Apple Fan for Mac mini Mid 2011, Late 2012, Late 2014 - NEW 922-9952 Apple Antenna Plate for Mac mini Mid 2011 - NEW 661-5495 Super Drive 12.7mm Slot SATA for Mac mini Mid 2010Which OSX version would give the best performance with a late-2012 Mac Mini More specifically, with the following specs and internal upgrades: 2.5 GHz i5 16 GB RAM 250 GB SSD (Samsung 860 EVO) for OSX and apps 500 GB SATA hard drive (for user account) My wife's iPad can no longer sync with the. Here we'll walk you through breathing new life into your old Mac for not a lot of money. It remains Apple's last properly upgradeable Mac Mini, and even in 2020 can be a pretty handy little computer with the right bits inside. Mac Pro Compatible SSD's The Mac Pro cylinder models use a custom pinout PCIe SSD module.The 2012 Mac Mini held a special place in many hearts thanks to how easy it was to upgrade. Complete SSD Drive Swap Kits Mac mini Compatible SSD's For Intel CPU based Mac minis, a 2.5 inch SATA SSD is generally the right choice, for older G4 Mac mini's you want an IDE-ATA interface 2.5' laptop size drive for upgrading.
Internal Drive Mini Late 2012 Reviews Mac OS HiSierra OrA second hard drive: Seagate Firecuda 1TB ($63 at Amazon) The right cable: AmazonBasics miniDP to DP ($11 at Amazon) Blowing cobwebs: Canned air ($11 at Newegg) 87 Computers/Tablets & Networking Drives, Storage & Blank Media Hard. More memory: Crucial 16GB RAM kit ($90 at Amazon)39 EFI BIOS firmware chip Apple MacBook Pro 13 A1708 Late 20 820-00875. I did struggle to.ST-M2A1347 is used to covert M.2 M-Key SSD as SSD for late 2014 year Mac Mini A 1347 MEGEN2XX/A MEGEM2XX/A MEGEQ2XX/A Only compatibility With:Later 2014 year Mac Mini A1347 MEGEN2XX/A MEGEM2XX/A MEGEQ2XX/A NOT fit 2010-2013 year Mac Mini A1347 Notice: The Nvme SSD only work for Mac OS HiSierra or above systerm.Data transfer speeds will be at least four times faster, and that will make a huge difference in the day-to-day running of your Mac Mini.Place your thumbs in the circular divots and twist the base anti-clockwise. Set aside a couple of hours, and you'll be able to bring your old Mac back to life.Better than using your fingers, this pry tool kit is worth having in your tool kit for those hard to remove and tiny parts.One of the best upgrades to make is to swap out the old mechanical hard drive for an SSD. On more recent models, users have been able to upgrade some bits, such as the RAM in the 2018 release, but in the 2012 model, you can go ahead and get really crazy.You can upgrade the RAM to a maximum of 16GB you can swap out the internal hard drive for an SSD, and even add a second drive for even more storage.None of these parts are particularly expensive, and none of the work is particularly complicated or time-consuming. Magic cable: Mac Mini second drive kit ($15 at Amazon)The 2012 model remains to this day Apple's last, properly upgradeable Mac Mini.Detach the Torx T8 screws from the existing hard drive.Attach those same screws to the left-hand side of your new SSD. Carefully detach the SATA cable for the hard drive from the logic board.Pull the existing hard drive clear of the Mac Mini. Slide a business card or something similar beneath the existing hard drive and prize it up slightly. Pull away the black shroud and set it aside.Carefully pull the fan away from the logic board. Move the shroud to one side carefully, making sure you don't snap the cable.Remove the two screws on the fan and the single screw on the black shroud. Games like maple story for macYou'll be surprised at how clean the inside of a computer this old is, but it never hurts to clear it out while you're inside. Line the markings on the base up with the corresponding markings on the Mac Mini.One additional thing to do throughout this process is to use some canned air to blast out any dust. Reassemble the Mac Mini reversing the steps above, first installing the black shroud, then the fan, then the wireless shroud. Reconnect the ribbon cable to the logic board. Turn the SSD over so it's upside down and the screws from step 15 are facing the edge of the Mac Mini.Using a business card again for support, slide the new SSD into place until the screws lock into place on the bracket inside the Mac Mini. Connect the same ribbon cable to the new SSD's SATA connectors. You will need to detach any remaining items from the logic board at this point, including the wireless shroud and the IR cable. Follow steps 1-17 from the section above to remove the existing drive and prepare your new SSD boot drive. You could reuse the existing hard drive, but since it's over six years old, it makes much better sense to use a fresh one.You can use either a hard drive or an SSD, or as we have here, a Seagate Firecuda hybrid drive, not unlike the Fusion Drive Apple uses in some of its machines. ![]() Follow steps 18-23 from the section above to insert the new main SSD and reassemble what remains of the Mac Mini.Once everything is back in place, and the Mac Mini is closed up, it's time to do a fresh install of macOS. Reverse the steps above to reinsert the logic board, all fixings, and connectors, including the new hard drive ribbon cable. Re-attach both by screwing the T6 screws back into the case. Slide the power supply back into the case until it locks into the place. Place the hard drive bracket back into the case and line up the fixing holes. Apple cinema display windows driverIf it shows the amount of RAM you installed, all is well. Push down gently until they lock into place.To verify all is well, boot up the Mac Mini and check out the About This Mac information. Line up the new RAM sticks and push gently into the slots. Pry apart the metal brackets around the current RAM sticks. Place your thumbs in the circular divots and twist the base clockwise. So the best you can do is grab a 16GB kit made up of a pair of 8GB sticks. Pair it with a good monitorA new Mac is an expensive thing there's no denying that. If this is the case, the system won't post, so it's easy to spot. Remove one, reboot, and check About This Mac again to verify.By doing it a stick at a time, you can easily identify if you have any bad RAM. Our top equipment picksYou can pick and choose which of the upgrades you want to do, but here's a handy list of all our picks for the bits that went into our Mac Mini upgrade, along with the tools and accessories you need to install them. Don't overpay, though, for one that someone else has upgraded, when you can likely do the work yourself for less.Whether you buy or already have an old Mac Mini sat around doing nothing, with not a lot of money and a couple of hours of your time, you can turn it into a fantastic little computer to use in the present day. Still, if you're looking for a really expensive way to get into Mac computing, or want a solid secondary machine, you can do a lot worse than picking up a used 2012 Mac Mini and upgrading it.Where do you find one, though? That depends where you live, but the usual places like eBay and Craigslist are a great place to start.
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