Mac Mini: Go ahead and buy with 256MB and upgrade the RAM myself?

I just read my first review, as I posted a topic a while back....

I am interested in a Mac Mini to try out OS X and get experienced with Mac... however I was amazed at how much Apple charges for their RAM. I was wondering if I could just buy the Mini and then purchase some DDR333 or DDR400 RAM online and pop it into the Mini... The review I read from Anandtech said that I had to make sure I got the right RAM because the Mini is picky about the SPD..

I thought the mini could only be opened by apple?

no there is a vid some place on the net.. showing how to open a mac mini :O

NightCrawler said:

no there is a vid some place on the net.. showing how to open a mac mini :O

Click to expand...

What Macman meant is that only Apple technicians are "authorized" to open it...

It's pretty confusing actually, some places say that you will void your warranty, other's say that it's ok to change it yourself.

This is from the Apple support site:
The Mac mini has a 256 MB base memory configuration, which can be expanded up to a maximum of 1 GB. The Mac mini can be configured to order (CTO) with 512 MB or 1 GB of SDRAM. Additional memory should be installed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

(the full statement can be found here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300572 )

It says SHOULD be installed by an ASP, not MUST...

So IMO I think you can do it yourself, as long as you don't break anything...

Yes, you can do it yourself. I have not tried to see if I can open. But my wife is a certified DELL computer tech, maybe I'll let her peek at it.

I know Dell and Mac's not the same. but then again, she upgraded my Compaq laptop.

Mac world has a great article with pictures and the interior of the mini mac, showing all aspects, airport card, motherboard, memory, It also has a link to the video showing how to open the case. I posted it here http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13044&page=2