mac mini

[wetpenny]

finally pulling the trigger on a new mac mini, still not 100% sure how to configure it tho.. im definately opting for the 2.6 quad core, i'll upgrade the ram myself to 16mb (fuck paying apples prices!) , but its the hard drives im deliberating over (again, partly due to apples prices) whether to go server version with 1xSSD , or standard version with 1xSSD and adding an external drive..
i thank you guys in advance for any thoughts or comments

 

[Rob Logic]

I did a Mac mini server almost a year and a half ago with the quad core. It came with two 500 GB internals which have been fine for me. I'd like to get an external either FireWire or thunderbolt just for security of my data for back ups.

Processing wise it has never choked on anything I threw at it. Considerable upgrade over the Pre-unibody 2.4 MacBook Pro I had prior.

The Apple prices on upgrades sucks. I don't think the Mac mini is that hard to get into and I'm sure you could get the parts for probably half price elsewhere and do the work yourself if you're handy with hardware.

 

[DavePiatek]

It's quite easy and inexpensive...

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple/Mac_mini/DDR3_1600

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Mac+Mini+Late+2012+RAM/11726/1

 

[updog]

you could just buy it with the stock hard drive and upgrade to an SSD later. that's what i've been planning on doing to my mac mini at some point but the 5400 rpm hdd has been working alright for me so far. i guess once it starts slowing down i'll take it to a licensed apple tech and get it swapped.

you could always do this yourself but it's a huge pain in the ass as you'd have to pretty much tear the whole thing apart and you'd lose the warranty in the process. as far as i know having a licensed tech to do it would total to about $100 or less, add the price of an ssd and you'd be looking at $200-$300 to upgrade

 

[wetpenny]

you could just buy it with the stock hard drive and upgrade to an SSD later. that's what i've been planning on doing to my mac mini at some point but the 5400 rpm hdd has been working alright for me so far. i guess once it starts slowing down i'll take it to a licensed apple tech and get it swapped.

you could always do this yourself but it's a huge pain in the ass as you'd have to pretty much tear the whole thing apart and you'd lose the warranty in the process. as far as i know having a licensed tech to do it would total to about $100 or less, add the price of an ssd and you'd be looking at $200-$300 to upgrade

yeh im definately going to order it with one SSD as stock, whether i end up going for the server version or not..

@dave - appreciate you posting those links

@rob - im not that 'handy' im afraid , the ram upgrade would be my technical limit