This week we got a 2013 Slow Mac Mini Repair in our Adelaide workshop. This is the last generation Mac Mini with an upgradable RAM and HDD. These Mac Minis run on a regular mechanical hard drive, which tends to deteriorate over time and requires a replacement.
Luckily, this is a repairable Mac Mini, and the customer is not bound to purchase a new one every time it fails.
2013 Slow Mac Mini Repair Process
The first step, of course, is to take it apart. These devices are small, and everything is jam-packed inside.
With some patience, we can get into the motherboard by removing the fan and the wifi antenna shield.
Servicing 2013 Slow Mac Mini while for a Repair
Once all cables are detached, we can slide out the board carefully. This way, we can service the system. This Mac Mini runs CAD Architect software, one can imagine the heat it generates regularly. No wonder why the hard drive is failing and causing the system to lag and work slow.
As we can see, the logic board of the Mac is very dusty. But most importantly, the thermal paste must have completely dry through the years.
Therefore, servicing these great machines is of paramount importance. Undoubtedly, any device with limited airflow due to the thin design should go for service annually.
Repairing Slow 2013 Mac Mini
The cause for the slow and laggy response from this Mac Mini is its mechanical drive. Over the years, it reaches the end of its lifespan and reduces its read/write speed. As a result, this affects each program that runs on it. Causing them to respond extremely slow.
Most importantly, it inevitably bounds a permanent failure, which, if not watched on time, may cause the drive to seize functionality and loss of data.
Successful 2013 Slow Mac Mini Repair
It was crucial that the customer brought this Mac Mini for repair before it ultimately failed the hard drive. This way, we can now image the existing Operating System, Software and Data onto the replaced SSD.
Imagine the agony customer would have to go through to replace and reinstall all that software accumulated since 2013. Most notably, all those licenses distributed as one-off purchases cost him thousands back then. Now, all that software is on subscription bases, which does not allow you to own them. And in the long run, costs are tens of times more than one-off purchases.