'09 mac mini upgrade

[da na]

I got a late 2009 mac mini from my dad, he previously used it for work before switching to Intel NUC.

It has 512mb single channel RAM in it, it officially supports 2GB dual channel ram. I have 2 sticks of 4gb ram that are compatible and fit. Should I do that? (others have tried 8gb on that model, it works)

I will also upgrade the 80gb hdd to a 512gb SSD I have laying around (prolly running a lightweight linux).

Anything else I can do? (CPU is soldered unfortunately).

Edit: I will also change the LED on the front panel to red instead of white

[ProjectBox153]

Are you certain of the model? The Late 2009 Mac mini typically shipped with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, so you may have an older model. Can you post the serial number of it for me?

[da na]

3 minutes ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Are you certain of the model? The Late 2009 Mac mini typically shipped with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, so you may have an older model. Can you post the serial number of it for me?

MN is a1283. IDK if some parts died and were replaced wiht lower end. In 'about this mac' it says that it is late 2009 powered by core 2 duo 2.53ghz

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, wat3rmelon_man2 said:

MN is a1283. IDK if some parts died and were replaced wiht lower end. In 'about this mac' it says that it is late 2009 powered by core 2 duo

It could have been custom ordered. Either way, it supports up to 8GB of DDR3 (the official max is 4GB, but that's not the actual limit). Apart from cleaning it out, upgrading the RAM, swapping the hard drive for an SSD and installing an OS on it there's not much you can do. I run one of these systems as a macOS server (see my signature for the specs) and it runs macOS 10.12 Sierra perfectly well. They'll even run Catalina if you want, but they get pretty slow then. I would stick to El Capitan if you want macOS.

[da na]

Just now, ProjectBox153 said:

It could have been custom ordered. Either way, it supports up to 8GB of DDR3 (the official max is 4GB, but that's not the actual limit). Apart from cleaning it out, upgrading the RAM, swapping the hard drive for an SSD and installing an OS on it there's not much you can do. I run one of these systems as a macOS server (see my signature for the specs) and it runs macOS 10.12 Sierra perfectly well. They'll even run Catalina if you want, but they get pretty slow then. I would stick to El Capitan if you want macOS.

OK, I will stick with Linux. Thanks!

Final question: it's DDR3 RAM, supports 1033mhz, right?

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, wat3rmelon_man2 said:

OK, I will stick with Linux. Thanks!

Final question: it's DDR3 RAM, supports 1033mhz, right?

Linux is fine too, but I prefer to use macOS because hey, it's a Mac. As for the RAM: it uses 1066MHz DDR3 (shows up in About This Mac as 1067MHz). I think you're thinking of 1333MHz DDR3. That should work too, but it will likely run at 1066MHz. I think one of the 2 sticks in my Mac mini is a 1333MHz module, but I'm not certain. 

[da na]

1 minute ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Linux is fine too, but I prefer to use macOS because hey, it's a Mac. As for the RAM: it uses 1066MHz DDR3 (shows up in About This Mac as 1067MHz). I think you're thinking of 1333MHz DDR3. That should work too, but it will likely run at 1066MHz. I think one of the 2 sticks in my Mac mini is a 1333MHz module, but I'm not certain. 

Sorry, meant 1333. typed wrong, my phone keyboard is small. I may, in fact, keep it as a Mac for testing mac code I write on my more capable system.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, wat3rmelon_man2 said:

Sorry, meant 1333. typed wrong, my phone keyboard is small. I may, in fact, keep it as a Mac for testing mac code I write on my more capable system.

It should work fine. Good luck with the upgrades! Let me know if you need any assistance with it. I love working on these older Macs and finding modern uses for them.