

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.Ĭarefully pull the fan away from the logic board.Remove the two screws on the fan and the single screw on the black shroud. Move the shroud to one side carefully, making sure you don't snap the cable.Remove the screws on the wireless shroud. The base should simply pull away, but may need prying with a plastic tool or even a credit card.Place your thumbs in the circular divots and twist the base anti-clockwise. 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. One of the best upgrades to make is to swap out the old mechanical hard drive for an SSD.

Set aside a couple of hours, and you'll be able to bring your old Mac back to life.īetter than using your fingers, this pry tool kit is worth having in your tool kit for those hard to remove and tiny parts. None of these parts are particularly expensive, and none of the work is particularly complicated or time-consuming. 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. 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. The 2012 model remains to this day Apple's last, properly upgradeable Mac Mini.

Blowing cobwebs: Canned air ($11 at Newegg).More memory: Crucial 16GB RAM kit ($90 at Amazon).New storage: Kingston 480GB SSD ($56 at Amazon).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. This may require hardware upgrades.The 2012 Mac Mini held a special place in many hearts thanks to how easy it was to upgrade. You might consider upgrading to a Nvme SSD.įinally, upgrade to Mojave. If you are using a HDD then you may discover the Mac will run much slower than High Sierra without APFS. Upgrading to Mojave will require using APFS.
#Memory upgrade for mac mini mid 2010 how to
I should first point out Tetsujin has a more extensive answer to the question How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS?Īlthough upgrading from a USB flash drive installer may be optional, I will include this Apple article on how to do so. This Apple article explains how to download older versions of OS X and macOS. The upgrade to High Sierra will also upgrade the firmware so your Mac can boot from APFS.Īccording to this Apple article, you can upgrade to El Capitan (10.11.X) from Lion (10.7.X). You will also probably need to upgrade your graphics card.Īccording to this Apple article to need to first be running at least Mountain Lion (10.8.X), before upgrading to High Sierra. However, according to this Apple article, you need to first be running at least High Sierra (10.13.6). According to, the latest version of macOS for your Mac is Mojave (10.14.X).
