All back together and working fine - except the tricky 4th screw on the antenna! Gave up and left it out!

Thanks for the info and pics!

Excellent advice - thanks. I used a small set of tweezers to gently lift up enough cable to hold onto, and then to hold the sockets onto the logic board whilst I pulled! Success!

This Mac Mini will run PC10600 RAM sticks, although I believe only 4GB per slot.

They don't need to be paired, although that is the optimum. Just remember, it is best to make sure they are the same speed, or the Mac will just operate both RAMs at the speed of the slowest stick. For example, if you have 2x 1GB PC8500 sticks in there, and you replace one of them with a 4GB PC10600 stick (fastest speed this Mac Mini will run) you will get a benefit form the extra memory, but not the full speed upgrade as both RAMs will operate at the speed of the 8500 stick. Does that make sense? So replacing both with 2x 2GB PC10600 will give you better performance.

A spudger makes this job much easier and less stressful with the second (lower) RAM stick.

Take care to note which way out the RAM comes - there is a notch in each RAM and it is not centered, therefore either the notch will be on the left or to the right (depending on which way up you have your iMac). This will make it easier to replace the RAM without damaging anything.

2 Comments:

* firstly you may have to pull twice on the tab to release both RAMs as sometimes the first slot gets a little stuck.

* secondly - I've been having some trouble with different RAM chips - can anyone please tell me the definitive answer for how much RAM each slot will take, and what speed and latency? My iMac seems "finicky" about brands too!!!

During re-assembly, the internal frame has to go in at an angle ... the back of the optical drive goes in first.

This means that you can seat the fan cover correctly, but more importantly, there is an interconnect board on the back of the optical drive that must be firmly pushed back into its housing on the logic board.

At this point be careful that you don't pull out the Airport antenna ... but if you do, just check that it is back before re-assembling.

Before removing any of these screws, there is another step needed which is not here:

On the front of the optical drive, right side as you look at the slot-load, is a small blue board attached by a single black screw. This needs to be removed before the optical drive can be taken out.