Fanboi co. punts half-price Mac mini memory
More putty knife fun
Mac-centric parts supplier Other World Computing (OWC) has begun offering memory upgrades for Apple's new Mac mini at less than half of Apple's build-to-order price.
Apple's memory-upgrade prices border on the extortionate. Apple charges $150 for the two 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAMs needed to bump the Mac mini up to 4GB. OWC charges $64.99 (£46).
Never pay Apple prices for RAM
All you need is a putty knife and a Phillips screwdriver to break into your new Mac mini and cut your RAM costs in half.
And if you're interested in upgrading your Mac mini's existing hard drive to a 500GB model, removing its optical drive, replacing it with a second 500GB drive, and RAIDing the two drives up, iFixit can show you how, and OWC can help you out with a pair of 500GB 2.5-inch hard drives for between $109.99 (Hitachi) and $119.99 (Seagate and Samsung).
Or you could just buy iFixit's full upgrade kit, complete with drive, cables, and tools, for the low, low price of $249.99.
And as you might guess, that's an upgrade not on Apple's build-to-order list. ®
COMMENTS
Drinks are on me
I got into my Mac Mini with nothing more elegant than the bottle opener of my pen knife. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to refrain from emptying the bottle until the memory was fitted. Otherwise a case of double amnesia might have resulted!
re: Come on, get with the game...
Although I certainly agree that this is broadly the case, I was a little surprised by the price Apple charges for shipping a Mac Pro with more memory than standard.
To go from 3GB RAM (3x1GB) to 6GB (3x2GB), Apple charges £120 - to buy 3x2GB sticks from Crucial (I single this company out, only because I like them and find them competitive) is £121.89. Okay, if you upgrade yourself, you would have 3x1GB sticks to do as you will, but if memory serves me right this is rather more competitive than Apple normally charges.
If one buys from the Apple HE Store, the price drops to a fraction about £100 for this memory upgrade.
If they'd suggested Crucial...
..they couldn't have come up with such a childish title though.
This is not common knowledge .
Anyone who builds their own systems, repairs systems or is in general a hardware geek is going to know that memory and hard drive upgrades are often grossly overpriced when buying a new system.
But there are really a large number of otherwise sophisticated computer users who of people have never priced memory online, and would have no clue to how to upgrade their hardware.
The plug for iFixIt is well deserved. Everytime I have to take apart a Mac I get instructions from that site.
When you have to remove 70-92 screws to get replace a hard drive its nice to have 17 pages of directions and a screw guide that where you can tape the various screws.
Nice plug for a nice company
I have to say that piece is pretty much a plug for iFixit, who seem to be getting their feet wet in the upgrade kit market. However, I've used their guides many a time for years and damn fine they are too. Nice bunch of people.
Apple's RAM upgrades have always been extortionate, but adding them in at point-of-sale was often the only way a retailer could get any sort of profit on Apple kit, margins being 'waffer thin' (sic).
Personally I think the Mac mini's are lovely bit of kit...
