older Intel Mac Mini + Snow Leopard?

Anyone know if Snow Leopard is a good fit for a first-generation Intel Mac-Mini (mine), or will it slow it down? (I tried forum-searching, but trying to find anything related to "mac mini" and "snow leopard" is USELESS)

I understand it's supposed to make things run FASTER on a current-gen Mac, at least...

Oh, and how much will that cost (in the US)? (current OS is 10.4... I heard price is relative to whether or not you already have Leopard)

Can you give us more about the specs of the mini?

Remember that Snow Leopard is still pretty new, so most people have only worked with it on one or two machines. There's not a lot of experience out there, yet. All I can say is, on one of my older-but-well-equipped Macs, it was a huge improvement, coming directly from 10.4.

Sure. It has an Intel Core Duo 1.66ghz, with 2gb RAM. Pretty sure it was the first Intel Mac Mini, though I could be wrong about that.

It will install on any Intel Mac but the 1.66 First Gen mini is a 32 Bit CPU so you will get nothing running at 64 Bits. It will still give you all the other benefits of SL but no 64 Bit anything. I have that same machine but upgraded the CPU to a 2.16 C2D out of a broken iMac. So mine now has a 64 Bit CPU and just files under 10.6.

It doesn't really matter, because most people, correct me if I'm wrong won't notice a big difference because of 64-bit.

iPod Nano said:

It doesn't really matter, because most people, correct me if I'm wrong won't notice a big difference because of 64-bit.

Click to expand...

If I run Leopard on the same machine with the same version of Safari but 32 Bit, the Sun Java test takes twice as long with a score 2x worse. That is just one test where under 64 Bit mode its way faster.


There are many other things though in SL like a total rewrite of the Finder with Cocoa that make it worth the upgrade. The Finder doing a lot of things is way faster. Opening a Folder with 200 items used to take 5 seconds, it pops open instantly under SL.

Oh, I thought it only made a difference if you had lots of RAM, no.

iPod Nano said:

Oh, I thought it only made a difference if you had lots of RAM, no.

Click to expand...

64 Bit systems let you use more that 4GB Ram for an application, but what I am seeing in Safari has nothing to do with RAM as my older Mini has 2GB. I have seen the same results all over the net in that test with other Macs even back in the days when SL was only being used by developers.

dtravis7 said:

It will install on any Intel Mac but the 1.66 First Gen mini is a 32 Bit CPU so you will get nothing running at 64 Bits. It will still give you all the other benefits of SL but no 64 Bit anything. I have that same machine but upgraded the CPU to a 2.16 C2D out of a broken iMac. So mine now has a 64 Bit CPU and just files under 10.6.

Click to expand...

Just curious...when you did the CPU swap...are the CPU's socketed (or on a small card)...making the swap easier...or were they soldered & a bit more complex of a project?

Thanks,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Just curious...when you did the CPU swap...are the CPU's socketed (or on a small card)...making the swap easier...or were they soldered & a bit more complex of a project?

Thanks,

- Nick

Click to expand...

All Minis EXCLUDING the new one have the C2 or C2D in a socket. I was amazed when I found that out. Made upgrading as simple as removing the heat sink, turning the screw like thing on the socket, lifting out the cpu, drop in the new one, turn the locking screw, put on the Heat Sink.

The latest Minis are soldered I am told. Oh well!

dtravis7 said:

All Minis EXCLUDING the new one have the C2 or C2D in a socket. I was amazed when I found that out. Made upgrading as simple as removing the heat sink, turning the screw like thing on the socket, lifting out the cpu, drop in the new one, turn the locking screw, put on the Heat Sink.

The latest Minis are soldered I am told. Oh well!

Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for the info! I would imagine getting access to the CPU (i.e. taking the case apart)...was the toughest part of the project.

BTW...I have a G4 1.42ghz Mini...do you know if the CPU is socketed? Just in case I come across an absolutely (next to free) dead G4 Mini & was able to use the 1.5ghz CPU.

Thanks,

- Nick