I recently purchased a Mac Mini G4 off eBay. The machine was advertised as a 1.5GHz model with 64MB VRAM.

On trying it out, however, it turns out this was falsely advertised: I got the 1.42GHz model with only 32MB VRAM instead. I paid only £128 (UK) for it though including P&P.

However the lack of VRAM does seem an issue if I were to register MorphOS and lock it down to this machine, which AFAIK is not easily upgradable. The vendor offered a refund if I return it, which I'm strongly considering doing given the falsely advertised specs. I'm wondering if I should look for a model with 64MB VRAM instead, or stick with the current machine.

Still, at least I got to tinker with MorphOS trial version. I would advise anyone looking on eBay though to make sure they are getting what is advertised. This particular case looks like a genuine mistake on behalf of my vendor, as the exact model difference here was a "stealth" upgrade and is not always clear to those selling these machines - he said he was convinced it was the 1.5GHz/64MB VRAM model.

You made easy mistake. ALWAYS ask about serial number or part number and call to Apple ask what is real secification becouse new 1.5ghz Mini had on box sticker 1.42ghz and 32mb vram. Only Apple or some webside can tell You the truth.
I both my Mini like this. First I ask sellers (around 30-35 sellers) about numbers... Apple told me withone is with 1.5 and 64... even seler dnt know ...

[ Edited by MaveRickPL 30.03.2012 - 08:37 ]

That's a tough question, but I'd return it.
You got a pretty good buy, but if you're going to fork out the money for an OS key you'll probably want a system with at least 64MB of VRAM.

> new 1.5ghz Mini had on box sticker 1.42ghz and 32mb vram.

...which means that quite regularly, 1.5 GHz Mac minis are advertised as being 1.42 GHz, but not the other way around, which is what has happened here. I believe that advertising a 1.42 GHz Mac mini as being 1.5 GHz can only be done with malicious intent, unless someone sells various different Mac minis and ends up having them mixed up.

The real issue here isn't the missing 0.08 GHz, but the VRAM being half the advertised size (and since it uses laptop-style components it is not upgradable).

Still, I was able to test out a MorphOS cross-compile (using AmiDevCpp) of an AROS project I did:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/arosamosabk/ (ZIP archive includes a MorphOS binary.)
It actually worked fine, which shows it also works on big-endian CPUs. (Only small bug I noticed on MorphOS is due to its assuming fatter AROS window borders.)

I would give it back straight away.. and the contact me regarding bying 1.5Ghz 64MB VRAM version ;)

I think shipping from Poland might be expensive. :) I couldn't find any good offers on UK eBay at the moment either on potential 1.5GHz models.

I'm on the crapintosh right now - might as well make the most of it before I can ship it back on Monday after doing a clean OS X install. Still, it came with 1GB RAM and OS X Leopard. 32MB VRAM is very poor though especially with my 1080p display. (I did try out OS4 Moana too and got some colourful garbage. :P)

> I did try out OS4 Moana too and got some colourful garbage.

AFAIK the 32 MiB VRAM Mac mini needs the atiradeon.chip_safe driver, which allows 640x480 resolution at 8-bit depth. Higher resolution and/or depth results in colour garbage.

It's about 30 pounds..

I didn't know that moana works with 32MB ver as well. Anyway it's a piece of useless stuff..

My MacMini is signed on the case as 1.42 Ghz. But Mac OSX and MorphOS 2.x are telling me it is has 1.5 Ghz and 64MB VRAM.

Ghost,
Quote:

Yep it'll do that.

£128 is too much for a low memory MacMini these days, especially one sold as 64mb vram.


and it's not exactally hard to find out how fast it is 'About this Mac' tells you!


[ Edited by stephen_robinson 31.03.2012 - 05:42 ]

> My MacMini is signed on the case as 1.42 Ghz. But Mac OSX and MorphOS 2.x
> are telling me it is has 1.5 Ghz and 64MB VRAM.

Yes, as MaveRickPL has told in this very thread, there simply are no 1.5 GHz G4 Mac minis that say so on the case. Each and every 1.5 GHz G4 Mac mini says 1.42 GHz on the case, that's why they are called "silent upgrades".

If you want to use a resolution of 1920x1080, 64 mb vram are necessary.

Well it does work with 1920x1080 in only 32MB VRAM (both MorphOS and OSX Leopard) and with a DVI-to-VGA adapter too. I expect performance will suffer though. YouTube in fullscreen was pretty choppy for one thing.

I'm returning the crapintosh first thing next week, possibly to look for a silent upgraded Mac Mini G4.

However, I did have enough time to debug my AbkViewer app to run better on MorphOS with its skinnier window borders (now at version 0.0.6), with its cross-compile from AmiDevCpp confirmed working on MorphOS 1.7, so I guess I'm now a real MorphOS software developer. :)

> I did have enough time to debug my AbkViewer app to run better on MorphOS

I tried it and noticed that it's causing 100% CPU load all the time when running.

> MorphOS 1.7

;-)

> I guess I'm now a real MorphOS software developer. :)

Congratulation :-)

@Mequa if U are from Poland then why U not buy Mini from here?

http://sklep.morphos.pl/

I know You will write "to expensive" but now U see ... Buying cheap U buying twice"

There is a way how to fix Your problem. Opean a CASE on ebay and force option U will not pay for shipping back. If Ebay ill accept this Ebay will pay for shipping back to seller.
Ebay will send You UPS or FeDex shipping label...
This is option what some buyer dont knon. I did that couple times when item what i neded send back was to heavy.
The point is ... I use US eBay :P I dont know how UK eBay work with problems like that....

> @Mequa if U are from Poland

Based on his statements that "shipping from Poland might be expensive" and that he "couldn't find any good offers on UK eBay", I'd hazard the guess that he's from the UK rather than Poland :-)

> I tried it and noticed that it's causing 100% CPU load all the time when running.

Kind of off-topic, but this is a known issue and not limited to the MorphOS build. AbkViewer for MorphOS/AROS is still in alpha stage and currently hogs the CPU when waiting for input due to its inefficient method of using a repeated loop to get Intuition input (which I have limited experience working with).

Still, I seem to have sorted any PPC and MorphOS-specific issues, so I can continue to develop this on AROS and post a MorphOS build to test (perhaps with a new thread on morph.zone), as I won't have a MorphOS-capable machine for the time being.

I also have a Java version of AbkViewer which works better at the moment (just not on MorphOS or AROS, natch).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/javaamosabk


As for this Mac Mini G4, I have now wiped MorphOS trial version and reinstalled just OS X Leopard, and I shall be returning it tomorrow for a refund.

[ Edited by Mequa 01.04.2012 - 06:59 ]

(Correction, just noticed: I meant MorphOS 2.7 instead of 1.7. )

A couple of Mac Mini G4's have since appeared on eBay UK. I was able to get the serial numbers for both. Who do I contact at Apple to verify the exact specs?

I entered both serial numbers at https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do and they both came out with the same as my returned machine: "~VIN,Mac mini". I'm not sure if 1.5GHz/64MB VRAM models have a different identifier.

> Who do I contact at Apple to verify the exact specs?

No idea, but you could as well go by the manufacturing date: pre-September 2005 means old version and post-September 2005 means silent upgrade version. If it's September then either is possible, AFAIK.

Unfortunately I don't have the manufacturing dates to work with, and I don't think the sellers do either, so I'll have to go with the serial numbers.

> Unfortunately I don't have the manufacturing dates to work with,
> and I don't think the sellers do either

IIRC (as I'm not on my Mac mini right now to check), the manufacturing date is printed on the case or on a sticker attached to the case.
But it may be that I remember it wrong and it's just the manufacturing year that is on the case, which would mean that "2006" is what unambiguously identifies a silent upgrade model.

Edit: Checked now and it's really just the production year on the case.

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 02.04.2012 - 15:40 ]

I contacted Apple, and they confirmed that both serial numbers of the Mac Mini G4's for sale are the 1.42GHz models. (At least assuming they had the correct information.)

BTW, for anyone with a 1.5GHz+64MB VRAM model, can you confirm that if you enter your serial number here, it is displayed as such, or does it say 1.42GHz+32MB VRAM (as it was sold as)?

http://support.apple.com/specs/

> for anyone with a 1.5GHz+64MB VRAM model, can you confirm that
> if you enter your serial number here, it is displayed as such, or
> does it say 1.42GHz+32MB VRAM (as it was sold as)?
> http://support.apple.com/specs/

I can't do that right now (and I suspect it will display as 1.42 GHz anyway*), but I'd advise you to use that service instead:

http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

This will give you the exact week of production (from which you can conclude if it's silent upgrade or not) and hopefully also the true specs**.


Edit:
* In fact, Apple doesn't even seem to recognize my silent upgrade Mac mini's serial number: "No results found. Please try another search."
** That service properly recognizes silent upgrades:
"Machine Model: PowerMac10,2
Model introduced: 2005
Production year: 2005
Production week: 51 (December)
Production number: 4789 (within this week)
introduced test: GOED
CPU speed: 1.5GHz"

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 02.04.2012 - 15:49 ]