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The VRAM is soldered, no (easy) way to upgrade. For that particular reason I also hunted for the 1.5 GHz version. cpu wise I wouldn't care too much if it is 1.25 or 1.5 GHz.

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I suspected as much. I wasn't too worried about the cpu either, they're all going to run morphos rapidly! But running out of video ram very quickly is not very appealing.

It would be a good project, for someone that is capable, to research if it is possible to upgrade other models of the MacMini from 32mb VRAM to 64mb of VRAM via firmware update and removing the 32mb VRAM and replacing it with 64mb VRAM by soldering, and how difficult it is, if it is possible at all.

Not a project for the inexperienced and not worth it for Mac users, but an interesting and worthwhile project for MorphOS users that could use the doubled VRAM on a 1.33GHz, or 1.42GHz MacMini just as well as on the 1.5GHz models.

Probably not possible, but worth looking into to prove it CAN'T be done.

It's easier to get a 1.5 GHz version Mini. If you already have a 1.25 or 1.2 or 1.42 GHz Mini but want to have more VRAM sell it off, add a couple of [$|€|gold nuggets|#?] to your revenue and get a 1.5 GHZ version.
Soldering around on the Mac Mini doesn't seem worthwile to me and I doubt it would be cheaper, too.

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I agree that getting the 1.5GHz model makes more sense, but I was just wondering if someone with the technical expertise and proper tools COULD add the VRAM. It is likely a moot point, as there are probably many times more 1.5GHz MacMinis than there are MorphOS users, so there should be 2 or 3 of them for each MOS user that wants one.

I am just being patient and not getting sucked into bidding too much for one on eBay, as I am pretty sure that sooner or later, I will be able to get one for my desired <=$300 price range. Right now they seem to be going for around $330 to $450 US dollars. I would pay the $330, but have missed the end of the auctions for one reason or another and have not been able to snipe one of the auctions yet.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/2/20 21:01 ]

It also depends on what kind of equipment should be integrated. The 1,5Ghz version comes in some kind of flavors regarding RAM and HD size, or whether a normal ComboDrive (DVD-ROM/CD-R(RW) or a SuperDrive (DVD-ROM/R/RW) is integrated.
I'm not quite sure, if there are as many 1,5ghz models you think there are, most models in the last week at ebay were 1,4ghz or smaller models.

[ Edited by analogkid on 2009/2/21 8:17 ]

I've been watching the situation here in Finland about half year (and checked old sales for whole last year). 1.5GHz model seems to be very rare here. I can remember only one for sale last year and the price went pretty high.

1.25 and 1.42 MHz models are pretty common and you can see them on sale all the time. Usual prices are 150-200e for 1.25 and 200-250e for 1.42.

1.5GHz model was made only for 5 months in the end of the G4 era. Better features of it were not advertised (that's why it's called "silent upgrade") and Intel versions were coming, so one could guess that they didn't sell that much either...

But nevertheless, G4 Macs seem to be surprisingly wanted items still. All used ones get sold with reasonable price. PowerBooks seem to be much more expensive than Minis here. Price going up to 400-500e.

At first I also thought that 64M would be needed for sure, but the 1.5GHz models seem to be so rare here, that it seems to be impossible to get them with fair price. Seems that you've made pretty good finds in other countries though. But on the other hand... OSX seem to be fine with 32M even when it also uses HW acceleration, VGP2 and other games run fine etc. Why wouldn't 32M be usable on MorphOS too? Amiga style screens will need it, but with todays resolutions, do you have that many open? And swapping them from main memory in low gfx mem situation is much faster on Mini than on old Amigas for example :P

Hi. I was going to buy a Mac Mini as well, but finally bought a Powerbook. And I bought it just for MorphOS. Now I'm using MacOSX and Linux, but I'm waiting for MorphOS as the main OS on my computer :)

> 1.5GHz model seems to be very rare here. I can remember only one
> for sale last year
> [...]
> Better features of it were not advertised (that's why it's called
> "silent upgrade")

...making it seem rarer than it really is, also on second hand sales and auctions.

Hi,

does every 1,5GHz MacMini G4 have 64MB GfxMem?

If I remember right, I saw one on ebay with 32MB...

And how much faster is it compared to a peg 2/G4/1000?

I would say with the 50% higher Clockspeed, faster FSB of 66% faster RAM the Mac Mini should be 1.5-2 times as fast as the Peg2.
All 1.5Ghz Minis have 64MB gfx mem.

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Yes, all 1.5GHz models come with 64mb VRAM, but some sellers misprint their amount of VRAM installed.

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It was reported from the MorphOS team member who has it running that the memory access on the MacMini was almost twice as fast as the Peg2. This does not make the MacMini twice as fast as the Peg2 as other system factors effect overall system speed, but with the CPU 1.5 times faster and memory access almost twice as fast, it can be expected that the 1.5GHz MacMini will be considerably faster than the fastest Peg2's that were ever made.

Unrelated to the above questions, I finally found a 1.5GHz MacMini auction that I could win at close to my desired purchase amount and it is being shipped to me as I write this. I should have it in my hands tomorrow. I only had to pay a little more than I wanted, as I got it for $335 US dollars plus about $20 shipping.

Since I will be using it with MacOS until MorphOS for the MacMini is released, does anyone here know if I should purchase MacOS 10.5 for it, or just leave it running 10.4 Tiger? I don't know how well the G4 runs Leopard. I have an Intel MacMini that I use in my car for navigation running Windows OS and a GPS antennae, reboot to MacOS 10.4.11 for playing movie DVD's, or boot back to windows to run WinUAE and AmiKit for AmigaOS3.9 fun and games. I could buy a MacOS family pack and upgrade both minis to Leopard at the same time.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/2/23 13:01 ]

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Well, you should stay with Tiger, IMHO.

After some time spent testing Leopard, I have gone back to Tiger...

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Why did you go back to Tiger from Leopard? Speed, or problem(s) with certain applications, or utilities?

Leopard's built-in remote desktop in iChat allows me to help my Father, who lives 500 miles away and recently switched to an iMac from his ancient eMachine, or my Mother who lives almost 100 miles away and has been using an iBook for the last several years, but does not really know how to use it, but I can't blame her for that as she is 80 now. Tiger's iChat does not have that feature, as far as I know.


[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/2/23 20:13 ]

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I don't know if Tiger's iChat have the feature you need but if you need the Leopard's services you can use it adequately. It was ok but I did prefer the speed feeling (firstly of the GUI)...

Received my 1.5GHz G4 MacMini today, tested it (typing this from it now) and I am satisfied with how it runs and browses the Internet. I got a few extras installed on the hard drive which made the few dollars over my desired purchase price well worth it. It only has 512mb RAM and a 4200rpm 80GB hdd now, which I will probably upgrade both soon, to a full 1GB of RAM and a faster hdd that is between 120GB and 200GB, but it did come with the DVD-R SuperDrive, so that is an unexpected plus as well as the installed software.

Now I am ready for MorphOS3 to be released and can only hope that the rumors are correct and that it will be released in March of 2009. If it is not, I will not be upset, as I understand that the amount of work to port MOS to an undocumented device must be very difficult.

I am glad it arrived so quickly because now I can use it in place of my Intel MacMini while I get it repaired, which has developed a noisy fan just recently. I hope it does not cost too much to fix it and there is nothing more than the fan wrong with my Intel MacMini (which I use in my car).

If you wan't to use Leopard then go for 1.5GB or better for 2GB of ram. I use it on my Powerbook with 1.5GB and 1.67Ghz and sometimes it get a bit slow.

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Are you sure the HD is 4200rpm ? All the 1.5ghz models should come with a 5400rpm HD...

PS - Leopard or Tiger, at last ?

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Mini maxes at 1GB.

@ThePlayer,

The G4 MacMini maxes out at 1GB RAM as Piru pointed out, or I would put more in.

You are lucky to have a 1.67GHz G4 PowerBook, as it is likely that MorphOS will eventually be able to run on it and also very likely that if it ever does, you will have the fastest laptop to run MorphOS on for a long time. I wouldn't mind having a 17-inch, 1.67GHz G4 laptop with 2GB RAM and a fast 160GB to 200GB hdd!

@ZB,

Maybe you are right, I just thought all the 80GB hdd in the G4 MacMini's were 4200rpm and that the larger drives, say over 100GB, were the faster drives (at that time) from Apple, but I have not looked back at all the spec sheets to see what was available as upgrades and options on the 1.5GHz G4 MacMini.

If it is a 5,400rpm hdd I will probably not upgrade it until I start running out of room, and even then I may just use an external drive to increase capacity.



[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/2/25 21:30 ]

@Piru,

This looks like it has specs very similar to a MacMini. Do you think it would be able to boot and use the MorphOS3 you have working on your MacMini?

Not a bad price for MorphOS3.x machine that includes a built-in 17-inch display and speakers.

Well, i am hoping that other powermacs may be supported, with pci(for scsi etc)
Is this possible or will the focus be on mac mini and powerbook?

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I know others will disagree, as they want brand new equipment, not "hand-me-down" used equipment from eBay, but until MorphOS moves away from the PowerPC architecture, old used PPC Macs will probably be the best choice for the MorphOS team to concentrate their efforts on due to the shear numbers available and the low cost to get them compared to anything that can be produced new.

I hope that MorphOS will be ported to dozens of different PPC Macs in the next couple years time. Maybe by then there will be something better available at a reasonable price for the MorphOS team to aim their efforts at.

[ Edited by amigadave on 2009/2/26 0:06 ]

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The focus is on mac mini now, everything else is just a pipe dream someone wished to be true.
If some MorphOS Team people managed to run it on a powerbook, it doesn't imply that it's in anyone's focus now to get it released. So if anyone buys a powerbook instead of a mini to run MorphOS, he better has some other use for it as well ....

I did something completely oposite. I get rid of my Mini Mac (which i bought recently only for MOS) and I'm going to buy a Pegasos 2 which should be in my home in 2 weeks time :)