Are you the kind of person who always wants the best? Does an upgrade that costs as much as the original item sound like a good investment? Are you the owner of a 2009 Mac Mini? Then you’re in luck! Apple’s latest firmware update allows nVidia-based Mac Minis to be upgraded to 8 GB of RAM! With 4 GB SO-DIMMs now available for about $250, this means you can be the envy of the office for nearly the same amount that a brand-new Mac Mini would cost!
Here’s the scoop: Apple’s Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.2, released back at the end of August, claimed to improve “compatibility with the latest Apple memory kits on Mac mini computers”, but in typical Apple fashion, no one quite knew what that meant. Some brave soul must have tried installing two 4 GB PC3-8500 SO-DIMM modules in the Mini’s two RAM slots, and must have been awfully happy when they did, because it works! All 2009 Mac Minis are supported, including the recently-released Mac Mini Server and the earlier March-era machine.
This is now confirmed by Mac Mini Colo, a more reliable source than Macrumors forum posters, so I’m finally confident in posting this. Being a cheapskate, I’m not going to run out and spend $510.98 at Amazon on two Crucial SO-DIMMs for my $599 computer. But I’m eager to hear from you if you have the inclination, and will be watching as prices fall in the box at right. An 8 GB Mac Mini ought to perform amazingly when running VMware Fusion or VirtualBox!
And has it turned out to be true?
“Apple’s latest firmware update allows nVidia-based Mac Minis to be upgraded to 8 GB of RAM!”
It will be a good to get the best out of it. I think this is going to rock. I like the idea.
Wow 8 GB of RAM! I think i will wait until the prices go down a bit 🙂
I got a deal on eBay so just installed in my mini. Kind of amazing this little box now has 8GB but the two dimms fit just fine. A 2GB virtual machine – running XP in VirtualBox goes to the second monitor.
http://activata.co.uk/ifreemem/
I have an early-2009 Mac Mini. While 8gb is recognized, the computer cannot actually use it. When using Premiere, I can see that 3.5 GB is being used by Premiere, and I have 3.9 GB Inactive. Nothing I can do can reduce that number..