Upgrading 'low end' mini

Hey! So I just bought a mac mini at my local best buy.. got a great deal and it was well within my budget and I'm very impressed this being my first Apple product ever. I did have a question or two though. First off, it only came with a 160gig hard drive and 2 gigs of ram. I want to upgrade the Hard Drive in the future and the RAM, but I am worried that it will void the warranty as they didn't make the mini that user accessible.. is this true or not? And 2nd, i've seen pictures and read a little bit on how to upgrade the mini and i'm not a novice when it comes to getting inside a computer, but how hard is it?

Congratulations on your purchase! This topic gets discussed with some frequency. I'm not a lawyer, however, I think the consensus is you won't void your warranty if you make an upgrade. However, if you mess something else up while making the upgrade, or there is an issue with the parts you upgraded, Apple isn't obligated under the warranty to fix those. You can do a search to see prior discussions on this topic.
If you're concerned and you need more hard drive storage right away, you can add an external hard drive. OWC has one that has the same footprint/design as the mini. as one option: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/s
I added more memory to my mini, and have had no issues with the memory or the mini because of it.

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Buy low end Mac Pro now, upgrade later?

Wondering if it makes sense to buy a low end 2ghz Mac Pro now, and then upgrade later (to for example, higher ghz or maybe a Clovertown cpu).
The difference now is about $300 for a 2ghz versus a 2.66ghz, which I suppose would get me by for some time. Cpu upgrade later would mean having to sell the old cpus, can PCs use these as well as Macs? That would certainly make them easier to sell, and then buy new faster cpus or even a new processor class.

It depends on whether you use the MacPro and applications that benefit from quad-core, from faster cpu, or whether you are memory bound.
I rarely need or use iDVD or iLife and the 2GHz model is plenty for my needs it seems.
I figured the cost of 2x512 extra from RAM (1GB isn't enough you really want 2GB, more if you run DTP or video editing) and I wanted to buy a 10K Raptor which I (and anyone) would find welcome addition.
Before, my SP G4 MDD 1.25 was just not cutting it and was only an 'interim' upgrade from an even older system while I waited for something better than the 2005 G5 series.
Also, 2GHz, for me, is fine and more than enough. If I was doing it again, I would have gotten the 2.66GHz just because it would have shipped faster
Games? professional? bragging rights? I would never plan on having to upgrade cpu, or selling the OEM processor (might want them someday).

"middle end" vs "low end" mbp

How much better is the middle-end vs the low end, with no upgrades. Will they both play all games now and probably in the next 3 or 4 years(i realize time-viewing is quite hard), at any resolution i dont care THAT much, although it is also nice to have nice graphics, above 25 fps. Also they both have the santa rosa chip set right? i read somewhere only 2.4 ghz and up are santa rosa

If you take the hard drive and RAM out of the question the only real differences between the two 15" models is .2GHz processor clock speed and 128MB VRAM. All else is the same or attainable via a CTO order.
Personally, unless you're a big gamer or do 3D graphics work you're not going to not much of a a difference, if any, between them. The processor difference won't even be noticed.

Is it still possible to upgrade from CS4 to CS6 after the upgrade offer ended in 2012?

Is it still possible to upgrade from CS4 to CS6 after the upgrade offer ended in 2012? I have not found the option to do so.

My family owns and operates a non-franchise entertainment facility (miniature golf, laser tag, arcade, pizza, parties...). I have a design background, so among the many things I do here I'm also able to create marketing materials and an online presence in-house which would be too expensive for us to outsource. Over a five year period, that's given us a software cost of right at $1 per day since our CS3 license ran around $1800. Our customers are the public, and the package we try to push for walk-in traffic costs $50 for four people. In exchange, they get unlimited mini golf, a game of laser tag, and a large pizza. Not a bad deal. If we were to earn $1800 from that group of four every five years, assuming they spent $50 each visit, that'd bring them here close to two times every three months. For our type of business in a city of 118,000 tight-fisted Germans, that's about right.
What, are you trying make me feel GUILTY about being upset that Adobe's new strategy negatively affects my livelihood?
As far as Adobe's policy change announcement goes, I have no idea how it was announced. I DO know I was not sent an email notification, though they have my email address and record that I'm a CS3 owner. Presumably it was announced somewhere on Adobe's website, and further disseminated through various digital and print trade publications. I respect Adobe's right to not reverse its decision. If our business decided to put a sign on the front doors (since we don't have contact info for all of our past customers) saying we'd closed that night at 5 PM instead of 11 PM as usual, we aren't obligated to let in latecomers. But I'd also recognize their right to be mad at us for wasting their travel time. What I WOULDN'T do is tell them it's THEIR fault for not being proactive and calling ahead to confirm the expectation that our hours are still the same as they've been for the last decade. NOR would I be surprised if we didn't get their $50 that month. These Germans tend to hold grudges.

Need new low-end graphics card for Power Mac G5 (PowerPC 970)

My Power Mac G5 (PowerPC 970) has recently died I believe due to a bad
ATI RADEON X800 XT MAC EDITION video card.
Reason for thinking its the card, is that the machine was performing its intended tasks for several days even though the monitor was snow.
Having trouble determining a low-end replacement. (I no longer need the enhanced features of the RADEON X800 for this machine.
Much appreciated if someone could suggest a product appropriate for PowerPC 970.
Thanks!

I also ran into this issue with my dual G5. When I bought it, I didn't get wireless because it was a dedicated desktop on the network, but I'm upgrading and giving it to the kids to use in a room without wired network. Now that wireless would be really nice and it looks like the official solution is:
"Apple Wireless Upgrade Kit for Power Mac G5 Dual or Power Mac G5 Quad MA252G/A"
which is really expensive and difficult to install. But the weird thing is that I do have bluetooth. I wonder if there's just some little doodad I need to connect to get wireless going too, but I can't find any info on the card, and it looks like it's buried on the motherboard behind all the cooling stuff. I'll probably just spring for one of the USB solutions.

I have Lightroom 5 and not sure if upgrading will make mine version 6 or do I need to purchase a new version? [was: Question]

I was wondering if anyone could please give me some advice. I have Lightroom 5 and not sure if upgrading will make mine version 6 or do I need to purchase a new version?
thank you

You can buy the upgrade and it will install version 6 (with your version 5 serial number making you eligible to pay the lower upgrade price).
Only those who have never previously owned Lightroom must pay full price for the full version of LR6.
The program code for full and install is identical. The only difference is the price you pay.
Version 6 will install alongside your version 5. It won't remove version 5 during the installation process. It's up to you whether you leave version 5 installed or uninstall it.

Is there any LIGHT (low memory) version of Firefox available for low end android deviced?

There is always a low memory version of almost every browser. Opera has both "Opera Classic" and "Opera Mini", UC Browser has both "UC Browser" and "UC Browser Mini". These Mini-s run very fluently on Low end devies. Takes less RAM (Though they always fail to load pages with better HTML coding) and almost never lags. I want that Firefox also either make their RAM Usage less or release a mini version. Otherwise, like UC Browser, they also should make the Cache storage to SDCARD by default.

We want to release a browser with roughly the same capabilities as the Desktop version of Firefox. Creating a low feature version of Firefox would only confuse web developers as to what features Firefox on Android has.

Macbook pro 13inch high end model retina or 15 inch low end model retina?

Hi, Im currently looking to upgrade my macbook air mid 2011 model in the next few months.
I am looking at getting a macbook pro either the high end 13ich retina or the low end 15 inch low end model. just not sure what to get.
i like the look of the mbp 15inch with the speakers on each side, but im not too sure about the weight issue. im going to be starting uni this year (travelling my car) and im not sure if the 15inch is going to be too big.
is the 15inch heavy to lugg around?
what mbp is better for a uni student?
or should i wait incase a newer model comes out?
thanks guys

A couple of factors you should take into consideration. You should find out from your school what applications will be desirable for the studies you will be involved in. Most are PC applications so that you may have to install Windows in your Apple. Depending upon the types of applications, a PC may make more sense.
Do not dismiss an Macbook Air. They are thin, light and the battery run times are superior to the Pro's. I suggest that you select the smaller version of each unless a larger display has great appeal to to. Aside from the disply size, there is little difference for a college student between the 13" and low end 15" MBPs.
Ciao.

Caught in a conundrum while trying to upgrade a Mac Mini (mid 2010) from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion

Hi gang,
I am in a very frustrating position as I try to upgrade my Mac Mini (mid 2010) from OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to whatever the latest version of Mountain lion is. The reason I am doing this is because the original hard drive died and the Mini sat there for 6 months before we decided to get a new hard drive and revive it.
I installed a new 500GB 7200rpm SATA drive and the problems began.
First I couldn't get Mountain Lion installed as a fresh OS installation (using both a USB drive and a DVD to no avail). It just wouldn't go. The grey Apple logo/loading screen would come up and just sit there doing nothing while the loading icon spun.
I then tried installing Snow Leopard (the OS that the Mini came with when it was new). After some messing around, that got done.
However, a peculiar thing happens when the Mini boots. Everything loads up into Snow Leopard, but although the mouse curser moves, I cannot click on anything or use the keyboard for 4-5 minutes. Then it just work (I am typing this on the Mini). This happens every time.
Now, when I updated to 10.6.8, I was able to load up the App Store and download the Mountain Lion install app. I clicked it and went through the initial copying of files and then the restart, but after the reboot, the grey loading screen would not progress. I rebooted again and held down the Option key to check out the available boot volumes, and all I saw was the installation DVD I had in there for Snow Leopard and a hard disk volume called "Mac OS X Installer."
So I booted into the Snow Leopard install DVD and opened Disk Utility to check things out. I did a verify disk and a permissions repair. Interestingly, the first repair I did gave me the message that the ACL was missing from Volumes and that is was fixed. I read something somewhere which talked about the Access Control List and mouse/keyboard issues. But who knows. When I boot back into the Mini as normal I am returned to the fully-functioning Snow Leopard installation, like nothing happened.
And now here is the kicker: it appears that the Firewire bus is hooped. In the Profiler, when I view the FireWire settings I get the message, "Warning: Unable to list FireWire devices." So I am pretty sure the one thing I cannot do is boot the Mini into target disk mode attached to my Mac Pro and installed Mountain Lion that way.
So to recap: I can't finish the Mountain Lion installation because the install won't continue after rebooting because there is something wrong with the underlying base system, which might be hardware (FW bus) related. I think.
Some things I have tried:
Resetting the SMC
Resetting the PRAM
Reparing permissions
Booting into Safe Mode (doesn't work)
Booting into Verbose Mode to observe what happens (I get the "Can't load the Bootcache.playlist" error, which I suspect is related to the screwed up FW bus)
Trying to boot using Internet Recovery (doesn't work)
Booting into Single User Mode and attempting the "fsck -y" etc. sequence to try and repair the ACL that way
So I am stuck.
I guess the question is, should I get an external HD enclosure and install Mountain Lion onto the hard drive that way and hope it works when I put it back into the Mini?
Any other ideas? I have spent a couple days ******* around with this is am running out of ideas...
Any advice would be appreciated!

Addendum: I read on a post here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=420169) about removing some kext files in order to trick OSX into thinking that there were no FireWire ports.
I followed the instructions and removed from /System/Library/Extensions/ the following files:
IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTransport.kext
IOFireWireAVC.kext
IOFireWireFamily.kext
IOFireWireIP.kext
IOFireWireSBP2.kext
I restarted and BAM...Snow Leopard booted crazy fast and the mouse and keyboard worked instantly.
The System Profiler says "No FireWire ports were found."
So this tells me that the FW port is probably the culprit and is messing up the installation.
So how do I hack the Mountain Lion installer and tell it to ignore the FW port, which is obviously quite dead? Or is there something I can do to the Base system that is similar?

HT1444 As an obvious novice I want to know how to upgrade my mac mini OSx 10.4 to a newer system can anyone help?

As obvious novice I want to know how to upgrade my mac mini 10.4 OS X to a more uptodate system

At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac.
Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto but not including the Serial#...
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name:          Mac mini
Machine Model:          PowerMac10,1
CPU Type:          PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs:          1
CPU Speed:          1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU):          512 KB
Memory:          512 MB
Bus Speed:          167 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          4.8.9f1

How do I upgrade my Core2Duo Mini OSX10.4.11 to the latest version of Snow Leopard?

How do I upgrade my Core2Duo Mini OSX10.4.11 to the latest version of Snow Leopard?
I am aware I should upgrade from 1GB to 2GB of RAM. Can I just purchase the Snow Leopard DVD and install from that? Will I be able to run my Microsoft Office 2004 suite? Is it worth doing? I can't run any decent browsers with this old dinosaur.....but I'd rather not cough up $600 clams for a new one....
I have 7GB available on my hard drive.
Thanks in advance for help with this.

You may also want to upgrade the HD or at least move large libraries onto external disks (since a macmini generally does not move like a laptop an external disk is just another desktop item). 7 GB free will be chewed into hard by SL and you should always have 15-20 GB free to allow OSX room to perform normal operations.

Why doesn't the volume control settings allow a greater range (on the low end)?

Maybe my ears are really sensitive, but for every iphone I've had, the lowest volume is not low enough. My phone is often louder than I want in my headphones even at the lowest setting. I find myself trying to lower the volume but ending up in silence. After putting it back up to the lowest setting, I end up clicking down again a few minutes later because it's too loud for my surroundings and situation. It's a huge volume jump from the lowest setting to completely off, and alot of times the lowest setting is too loud (even with normal buds or headphones).
The volume limiter setting only limits the upper end, but doesn't change the lower end (just makes the 16 set increments smaller in that reduced range). I know there is also an option to turn down the volume of individual songs in iTunes options, but this problem applies to all aspects of the iphone beyond just my music library (Music apps, Videos, etc.).
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Meg St._Clair wrote:
Look for headsets with a volume control.
I did exactly this for awhile. I used to have Skullcandy Asyms with the inline volume attenuator (wheel). They've since discontinued them, and my 5 pairs are having wire connectivity issues. All their current models have iphone like volume mechanisms. The problem is most headphones with volume controls tap into the phones own volume control (so the set 16 volume increments). I also looked into using a dongle attenuator, but having the dongle hanging off the phone is just awkward and not easily adjustable.
I don't know why there can't be some form of internal attenuator option, or some other way of extending the lower range of volume.
Does anyone else have this problem of the iPhone being too loud in semi-quiet environments?

Before I upgraded my iPad mini, you could turn off apps to save battery power by double clicking the control button and then holding your finger on the app button until the minus sign appeared. That doesn't work anymore. How do you turn off the apps wit

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I have a seal pack ipad mini 1 wifi and i want to upgrade to ipad mini 2 retinal display wifi is this possible , that apple take my ipad 1 wifi back and give to me new ipad retinal display wifi ,

i have a seal pack ipad mini 1 wifi and i want to upgrade to ipad mini 2 retinal display wifi is this possible , that apple take my ipad 1 wifi back and give to me new ipad retinal display wifi , i live in india, bhopal city

Your only option is to sell the iPad and then buy the new one.
 Cheers, Tom

Since I upgraded my ipad mini to ios7 my battery life has diminished significantly

I've noticed that ever since I upgraded my ipad mini to ios7, the battery runs down much more quickly. I close out of apps when I'm not using them, turned off location services, and took a number of other recommended steps, but it still seems a lot worse than it was on the old OS. Any suggestions? Is there any way to get back to the old OS?

Rolling back is not supported by Apple.
Have you look into background app refresh, background app update and notifications? Turning those off may help.

Upgrading 'low end' mini

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