Converting a MacMini to a PC

[kmac]

Okay I've moaned on here a few times about how my Macmini died a month after the one year warranty expired and the staff at the completely inappropriately named Genius Bar didn't know waht was wrong but wanted £200 to fix it. Thought about about pursuing Apple on it but left it for over a year now so sucking it up and moving on.......

Thought I could salvage some components from it an build another PC. From what the genius said, something keeps shorting out the power supply whenever they tried to turn it on so I guess its something on the motherboard (or logic board as Apple like to call it).

So thought if I got a mini-ITX based board, I could salvage the CPU, cooler, memory, hard disk and optical drive from the mini and build a little PC. Anyone done this before and any major road blocks that I should be aware of? The CPU is an Intel Core2Duo of some kind.

[Ferral]

I would loook carefully into the components Apple use before going out and buying extra stuff. A lot of the time it has custom bios on the drives etc that arnt compatible with PC side of things. Definately do a bit of research. The hard drive may be able to be formatted to NTFS and the Core2Duo should be fine as it is a universal part.

Will take a look about and see what I can find on the net. I also have a few friends that are Genius and they may be able to give me a bit more info.

[kmac]

Thanks Ferral, was wondering about that - whether firmware on components will be PC BIOS compatible.

Most Google searches on this topic are about running Windows on a Mac or running MacOS on a PC. I have Windows 7 running on a Macbook Air but am conscious that this requires Boot Camp running in the background.

[kmac]

Okay I cracked open that tin of tuna they call a Mac Mini

Here's what I found:

1) Memory - SO-DIMMS
2) Hard-disk - hitachi SATA disk with Apple firmware
3) Optical drive - Pioneer with funny looking connector must be specific to Apple
4) CPU - phew - Intel Core2Duo

Looks like I'll be able to scavenge the CPU and memory.
HDD not sure if it'll work due to Apple firmware but worth a try
Optical disk definitely not salvageable due to proprietary interface (and probably firmware too)

I might look into getting it repaired as a Mac

[jim]

Okay I cracked open that tin of tuna they call a Mac Mini

Here's what I found:

1) Memory - SO-DIMMS
2) Hard-disk - hitachi SATA disk with Apple firmware
3) Optical drive - Pioneer with funny looking connector must be specific to Apple
4) CPU - phew - Intel Core2Duo

Looks like I'll be able to scavenge the CPU and memory.
HDD not sure if it'll work due to Apple firmware but worth a try
Optical disk definitely not salvageable due to proprietary interface (and probably firmware too)

I might look into getting it repaired as a Mac

It's definitely not just a slimline SATA cable, with the data and power combined into one connector?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Okay I cracked open that tin of tuna they call a Mac Mini

Here's what I found:

1) Memory - SO-DIMMS
2) Hard-disk - hitachi SATA disk with Apple firmware
3) Optical drive - Pioneer with funny looking connector must be specific to Apple
4) CPU - phew - Intel Core2Duo

Looks like I'll be able to scavenge the CPU and memory.
HDD not sure if it'll work due to Apple firmware but worth a try
Optical disk definitely not salvageable due to proprietary interface (and probably firmware too)

I might look into getting it repaired as a Mac

Here are some teardowns of the Mac Mini:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac-m...Teardown/659/1

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac-M...eardown/3094/1

Also slim optical drives use a propriety connector usually and you can get an adapter for this:

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11678

[kmac]

Thanks Cat, need to find out exactly which Core 2 Duo CPU they use so I can get the right socket motherboard. Hoping to pick one up cheeply, but still not sure the Apply drives will work with PC bios.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the CPU is socketed it probably will be using socket 479 as the Mac Mini used mobile Core2 processors AFAIK. If you look on Ebay you can get a suitable motherboard for not too much money:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Asus-Pegatron-...item43a60c382e

However,£200 for repairing the Mac is not worth it IMHO.

If you spent around £400 you could get an entirely new SFF PC with a similar form factor to the Mac Mini you have ATM.

[kmac]

Agreed, which is why I didn't go for the repair. I have already built another mini-ITX based machine for around similar money ( http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...-needed-3.html) and in fact I bought the Mac Mini for around £400 with a corporate discount

Will try and replicate the Mac mini as a PC so as small a build as possible. Will probably use a Pico PSU

[spoon_]

CPU is socket M, Meron core, its socketed - ZIF.

[kmac]

Yikes, not easy to find a Socket M board with SO-DIMM slots

[Biscuit]

Personally i would cut your losses and build a new mini system, it can be done fairly cheaply and will probably be much faster than the botch job you are considering!

I would spec one up but im pushing my boundries with regads to how much i can skive off on the internet today... (i had no lunch though, stupid meeting)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yikes, not easy to find a Socket M board with SO-DIMM slots

What version of the Mac Mini do you have??

Edit!!

Here is a socket M motherboard with SO-DIMM slots:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Commell-LV-677...item2a0f9daca6

BTW,I would check the previous Ebay listing. It was sold complete with a CPU and IIRC the seller has sold that combination before.

[kmac]

What version of the Mac Mini do you have??

Here is a socket M motherboard with SO-DIMM slots:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Commell-LV-677...item2a0f9daca6

BTW,I would check the previous Ebay listing. It was sold complete with a CPU and IIRC the seller has sold that combination before.

Will check. The model I have is A1176 2Ghz Core2Duo with 4MB shared L2 cache

The mobo in that link has normal Dimms as well as So-dimm slots?? Normal on the right the so-dimm are the white plastic [ shaped thingies?

[kmac]

Personally i would cut your losses and build a new mini system, it can be done fairly cheaply and will probably be much faster than the botch job you are considering!

I would spec one up but im pushing my boundries with regads to how much i can skive off on the internet today... (i had no lunch though, stupid meeting)

Truth is I don't need another system. Was just something to do with the bits in the MacMini - just seemed like a waste. If I can do something where say mobo is circa £40, case £30, then only thing left is PSU. I will run and old XP license I have.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Will check. The model I have is A1176 2Ghz Core2Duo with 4MB shared L2 cache

The mobo in that link has normal Dimms as well as So-dimm slots?? Normal on the left the so-dimm are the white plastic [ shaped thingies?

Crap!! No it is a pair of mini-PCI slots!! Sorry!!

The motherboard is for the mid 2007 version of the Mac Mini:

http://www.macpartsonline.com/661-44...007-a1176.html

It also means you have a T7200 CPU:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini

Edit!!

There is this bundle for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jetway-9F2-Ext...item4cf658f712