- High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 High Sierra
- High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011
- High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 I5
- High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011
- High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 Latest Os
When Apple released MacOS Majove in 2018, the minimum hardware requirements abandon lots of great hardware. While the hardware is still usable, macOS and Apple software cannot be updated to their current releases. That sucks.
This post outlines the process of moving a Mac Mini (mid-2011) to Linux.
Fresh Clean Install of MACOS High Sierra 10.13 The Apple Mac mini 'Core i5' 2.5 (Mid-2011/Aluminum Unibody) featured a 32-nm 'Sandy Bridge' 2.5 GHz Intel 'Core i5' (2520M) processor with two independent processor 'cores' on a single chip, a 3 MB shared level 3 cache, 4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-10600) memory, a 500 GB hard drive,.
- On Mac mini 2012 is working as well as Catalina or Mojave if not even better. I'm even using APFS volume instead of APFS Partition and while people say that APFS volume is causing a lot of issues I never had any. That poor Mac currently has High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur installed but I'm only using Catalina and Big Sur.
- Mac Pro (Late 2013, plus mid-2010 and mid-2012 models with recommended Metal-capable GPU) High Sierra compatibility High Sierra arrived in September 2017 and supported the following Macs.
- Maximum Apple supported macOS for your 2011 iMac is High Sierra (10.13.6), but minimum OS to upgrade is 10.8. You will need a 2 step process to get to High Sierra.
Mac Mini
The Mac Mini I'm rescuing is a mid-2011 with i5-2415M, 2GB RAM and 500GB HDD, running macOS High Sierra (version 10.13). It's dreadfully slow. The goal is to use this machine as a general purpose computer in a classroom for high school students.
In addition to changing the operating system from macOS to Linux, the RAM will be upgraded to 8MB and 550GB hard drive replaced with 128GB SSD.
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 High Sierra
Steps
The overall steps:
- Order new hardware
- Upgrade RAM and Hard disk drive (HDD)
- Install Linux
Upgrade
I use Crucial's website to help determine the parts I can upgrade. Using the model of the computer you're working on, Crucial will show you the options for memory, hard drive, and SSD upgrades. I often buy the parts on Amazon.
For this upgrade, I used:
- Memory : Crucial – 8GB Kit (2x4GB) DDR3L – 1333 SODIMM ~$60 USD
- Solid State Drive (SSD) : Crucial – BX500 2.5 SSD 120GB ~$22 USD
Upgrading this Mac mini is straight-forward. It was built in the days when ‘upgrade-ability' was built into the hardware design. Finding a YouTube video to guide you through the steps of taking the Mac Mini apart is very helpful. I used this video from MacSales.
The parts inside the Mac mini fit just right. The first time I did one of these upgrades, the SSD wasn't aligned properly which prevented the wifi from fitting, and the screw holes did not align. Take your time and don't force anything.
Installing Linux
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011
I've been using Elementary OS for a few weeks, and I'm impressed. I appears to be a good distribution choice for someone coming from MAC. While my day-to-day distribution is currently Pop_OS!, I'm going to give Elementary a try with this upgrade.
Installing Linux is the same basic process for any distribution.
- Download .iso file from the distribution's website.
- Create a bootable USB Drive with the .iso. There are utilities to do that with; I use Etcher.
- Boot the target computer from the USB Drive and follow the prompts.
Elementary OS has the details of these steps outlined on the installation page of their website.
Wifi
I expected to have issues with wifi. In my experience, when installing Linux on Macs from this era, wifi does not work out of the box. I was pleasantly surprised the Elementary install screen recognized the wifi card and connected to it, and downloaded the latest software update. After the installation was complete and the computer rebooted, the wifi card was no longer recognized. I needed to install drivers. As in the past, running the following command from the terminal fixes the issue:
Up and running
This upgrade was simple and straight-forward. It's a fun project for someone that has no experience with hardware upgrades or Linux.
Benchmarks
This is my first experience running any type of benchmark. I used GeekBench on the Mac Mini before and after the upgrade. I don't have much insight into what these numbers mean; I expect to in the future. But my hands-on benchmark tells me this computer runs as fast as much newer hardware and is totally usable.
Before – MacOS w/2GB RAM and HDD
After – Elementary OS w/8GB RAM and SSD
Conclusion
The performance of this Mac Mini would have improved with only the hardware upgrades (without switching to Linux). But on Linux, the performance is really good.
A more important point is that Apple abandoned this Mac Mini. When Mojave was released in 2018, the minimum hardware requirements are:
- MacBook: Early 2015 or newer
- MacBook Air: Mid 2012 or newer
- MacBook Pro: 2012 or newer, Retina display not needed
- Mac Mini: Late 2012 or newer
- iMac: Late 2012 or newer
Struck at High-Sierra, this computer would only receive security updates, moving forward. Adobe premiere pro crashing mac. Many software applications cannot be updated either. After switching to Linux, this computer can run the latest operating system and applications available on Linux.
I did this upgrade for my friend, Chris. I look forward to see what experience he has in the classroom with Elementary OS.
(It took me 3x longer to write this post than it did to save that Mac mini)
what's the most current / best os i can run on a mac mini (built mid 2011). it has 8gb ram & 480gb available hard drive memory.
was running mojave thus could not upgrade/update beyond GarageBand 11 v 6.0.5 (428.5). a few days ago i learned it's possible for the mac mini described above, to be upgraded past mojave os. now this mac mini is running El Capitan.
The issue so far; the version of El CAPITAN installed did not come with a newer version of Garageband than mohave..
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 I5
- is this normal, or did i miss a step in the process of downloading & installation?
- do i need to to install yet a newer os ?
- how far up the line of operating systems can this 2011 mac mini support?
- whats the max. ram memory a mid 2011 mac mini can handle?
anyone inclined to lend their advice will be sincerely appreciated..
thank you,
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011
rolnstone
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 Latest Os
Conclusion
The performance of this Mac Mini would have improved with only the hardware upgrades (without switching to Linux). But on Linux, the performance is really good.
A more important point is that Apple abandoned this Mac Mini. When Mojave was released in 2018, the minimum hardware requirements are:
- MacBook: Early 2015 or newer
- MacBook Air: Mid 2012 or newer
- MacBook Pro: 2012 or newer, Retina display not needed
- Mac Mini: Late 2012 or newer
- iMac: Late 2012 or newer
Struck at High-Sierra, this computer would only receive security updates, moving forward. Adobe premiere pro crashing mac. Many software applications cannot be updated either. After switching to Linux, this computer can run the latest operating system and applications available on Linux.
I did this upgrade for my friend, Chris. I look forward to see what experience he has in the classroom with Elementary OS.
(It took me 3x longer to write this post than it did to save that Mac mini)
what's the most current / best os i can run on a mac mini (built mid 2011). it has 8gb ram & 480gb available hard drive memory.
was running mojave thus could not upgrade/update beyond GarageBand 11 v 6.0.5 (428.5). a few days ago i learned it's possible for the mac mini described above, to be upgraded past mojave os. now this mac mini is running El Capitan.
The issue so far; the version of El CAPITAN installed did not come with a newer version of Garageband than mohave..
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 I5
- is this normal, or did i miss a step in the process of downloading & installation?
- do i need to to install yet a newer os ?
- how far up the line of operating systems can this 2011 mac mini support?
- whats the max. ram memory a mid 2011 mac mini can handle?
anyone inclined to lend their advice will be sincerely appreciated..
thank you,
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011
rolnstone
High Sierra Mac Mini Mid 2011 Latest Os
Posted on Feb 4, 2020 7:55 AM
