The very first Mac minis came with ether a Core Solo T1200, or one of two Core Duo 32-Bit CPUs. These CPUs hold back the 2006 Mac mini from being able to take advantage of a newer OS, increased RAM capacity, and overall better performance. Now in 2025 these first-gen Intel minis are cheap to […]
Category Archives: Mac CPU Upgrades
An introduction and some history A bit over a decade ago, Apple released the 2011 MacBook Pro with the now infamous Radeon 6000 series discrete Graphics Card. Both the Early and Late 2011 models were prone to spontaneous failure which has been well documented online starting with initial complaints in the Apple Support community. Eventually […]
In the world of Mac CPU hardware upgrades for your Power Mac G4, the Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.6 is an aesthetically pleasing one, shaded with vibrant yet deep purple colors. Although it wasn’t a Dual CPU model, it was available seemingly for a long time, and was still available for purchase in December 2010 off […]
There is an earlier article by Dan Knight about CPU upgrades in the 2007 iMac that omits a few possible upgrades. This article is predominantly aimed at helping people get a “Penryn” Core 2 Duo CPU into their Early 2007 iMac, as the chipset does allow several “newer” CPU upgrades.
Michael Roeder reports: I bought my Macintosh Centris 610 way back in 1993. It’s been a reliable and fun replacement for my Mac Plus. Because I have some way cool computers at work, I haven’t had the need to buy a new Mac of my own.
There are some fairly consistent reports of the Sonnet Presto 040 having severe problems with browsers over PPP connections.
Luca Fornari reports: About a year ago, a friend of mine gave me a Mac SE (you know the type: 68000 8 MHz, 2.5 MB RAM). A real snail, almost useless, but it was so cute I decided to keep it and put in 4 MB so I could run some software on it – mostly […]
The SuperMac C500 and C600 used the PowerPC 603e CPU in a great variety of speeds, ranging from 140 MHz to 280 MHz on a 40 MHz system bus. The best performance, short of a G3 upgrade, comes from using a fast CPU along with the Cache Doubler module.
Reviews and comparisons of the MicroMac ThunderCache Pro and Sonnet Presto accelerators for the original Color Classic.
Got an old Color Classic, LC, LC II that’s just too slow to keep using? Using an LC III, LC 520, or LC 550 that just doesn’t pack enough power? If so, Sonnet Technology had a solution in the Presto 040 accelerator, which can push these older Macs to Quadra level performance.
David Emmons reports: A Radius Rocket only works on a Mac with full size NuBus slots, and is running at least System 7 but no system later then 7.1 (I use 7.1.3, which has the scriptable Finder). It is ideal for a Mac II or IIx/cx whose processors are barely usable with todays software (though I […]
CPU-intensive applications really take off with the new Radius Rocket 68040 accelerator for NuBus machines.
