[m021478]

I recently purchased a Mac-Mini 2.0GHz Intel with 120GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM...

I was planning on using this machine as the core of my soon-to-be home media center, and I was hoping that some of you might be able to weigh in on some upgrades I was considering for this machine...

Please see the items I've listed below...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer.../MS3S7H10TB32/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Samsung/53DDR2SAMP4G/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A57547/

mac-sales.com offers a 4GB RAM upgrade for the Mac-Mini, though Apple only sells this computer with a maximum of 2GB...Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is it safe to add the extra RAM? Anyone know if its even going to be worth it?

How about the internal hard drive upgrade? Any thoughts about this?

Does anyone care to weigh in on whether or not I should be concerned about the increase in internal heat the machine is likely to produce with these upgraded components?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

[mduell]

Memory: The Core 2 Duo Mac minis support 4GB RAM, but you can only use 3GB of it; installing 4 helps a bit with graphics performance and doesn't cost that much more.
Hard drive: Do you really need 7200RPM for a HTPC? Probably not.
Heat: Not a problem; the power consumption differences are quite small.
External: Do you really want a miniStack for the look or are you ok with another enclosure ? Do you want FW800, which the mini doesn't support?

Don't waste your money at OWC; Newegg has better prices and great customer service.
Minimum cost route: 320GB/5400RPM WD for $130, 2GB Transcend for $35 + 1GB Transcend for $17, 1TB USB2/FW400/eSATA Seagate external drive for $230, total $422 shipped
Marginally better: 320GB/7200RPM WD for $180, 2x2GB Crucial for $92 (less $20 if you want rebate hassle), 1TB USB2/FW400/FW800/eSATA Fantom external drive for $270, total $559 shipped (save $100 compared to OWC)