One of the best upgrades to make is to swap out the old mechanical hard drive for an SSD. Set aside a couple of hours, and you'll be able to bring your old Mac back to life.īetter than using your fingers, this pry tool kit is worth having in your tool kit for those hard to remove and tiny parts. None of these parts are particularly expensive, and none of the work is particularly complicated or time-consuming. You can upgrade the RAM to a maximum of 16GB you can swap out the internal hard drive for an SSD, and even add a second drive for even more storage. On more recent models, users have been able to upgrade some bits, such as the RAM in the 2018 release, but in the 2012 model, you can go ahead and get really crazy. The 2012 model remains to this day Apple's last, properly upgradeable Mac Mini.

Magic cable: Mac Mini second drive kit ($15 at Amazon).

Right tools: ORIA Magnetic Screwdriver set ($18 at Amazon).A second hard drive: Seagate Firecuda 1TB ($63 at Amazon).The right cable: AmazonBasics miniDP to DP ($11 at Amazon).Blowing cobwebs: Canned air ($11 at Newegg).More memory: Crucial 16GB RAM kit ($90 at Amazon).New storage: Kingston 480GB SSD ($56 at Amazon).Here we'll walk you through breathing new life into your old Mac for not a lot of money. It remains Apple's last properly upgradeable Mac Mini, and even in 2020 can be a pretty handy little computer with the right bits inside. The 2012 Mac Mini held a special place in many hearts thanks to how easy it was to upgrade.

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