FAQ

1. Why are Mac mini G4s the ultimate Mac OS 9 machines?

Mac OS 9 was discontinued in 2001, but the Mac mini G4 came out in 2005. Even the slowest Mac mini G4 is twice as fast as the fastest Mac at the time that Mac OS 9 was released. When you add an SSD to the mix, the speed improvements only compound.

But they were never meant to run Mac OS 9! They didn't natively boot it. A hacked version of Mac OS 9 was released years later by the folks at https://macos9lives.com

So now you can run Mac OS 9 natively on a machine that was much faster than anything that was contemporary with the classic Mac OS. Plus they don't take up much space or use much power.

2. What are the limitations?

This hacked version of Mac OS 9 does have a few limitations. The biggest is sound. Sound only works well with USB speakers (which you can buy with your machine from us). The next is display. These machines have DVI ports. They tend to work well in Mac OS X with modern displays, but the hacked version of Mac OS 9 can be finicky at certain higher resolutions. That's especially true of the "silent upgrade" 1.33 Ghz and 1.5 Ghz models. The 1.25 Ghz and 1.42 Ghz machines have much better display compatibility with the current hacked version of the OS. Finally, Airport (WiFi) and Bluetooth (which most of these machines don't even include) will not work under Mac OS 9. Occasionally upon startup the mouse will also freeze which requires a restart. Non-Apple mice are more of an issue in terms of compatibility.

These may sound like a lot of limitations, but once you have your USB speakers, your original Apple mouse, and the right display adapter these machines really fly. They are awesome for retro Mac gaming or running Mac OS 9 productivity software that is still needed in production. Mac OS 9 has never been faster!

3. What do you do to these machines before selling them?

We open them up, take them apart, and clean the years of accumulated dirt. We remove the old spinning disk and replace it with an SSD via an IDE to mSATA adapter. We install a brand new 1 GB of RAM if it had any less, but leave the original 1 GB stick if it already has one. And we put a new clock battery in. Then we seal it up and install Mac OS 9 on it. We set the clock and turn off virtual memory before shipping it.

4. Is there a warranty?

Not really. These are two decade old vintage machines. While we test every one of them (including obviously the time to pre-install Mac OS 9) and of course wouldn't send you one that had any major hardware malfunctions before shipping, we can't guarantee they won't break a week after you get them. That's the nature of ancient electronics. If you receive a machine from us and within 7 days of package delivery notify us that it is not booting you can ship it back to us at your own expense and we will refund you your original purchase price upon receipt.

5. What's the deal with the "silent upgrade" machines?

Although they share the same model number (A1103), late in 2005 Apple improved the specs on the two Mac mini G4 models from 1.25 Ghz and 1.42 Ghz to 1.33 Ghz and 1.5 Ghz respectively. However, these new machines also had slightly updated video cards. Unfortunately, although these "silent upgrade" variants are faster, they tend to have issues with the hacked version of Mac OS 9 displaying high resolutions. Some people have found workarounds but most just use them at lower resolutions. It may actually be preferable to have a 1.42 Ghz machine to a 1.5 Ghz machine in the current state of Mac OS 9 on them. But the 1.5 Ghz machines are rather rare anyway and we don't always have them in stock. But they are the fastest you can go!

6. Can I do these upgrades myself?

Yes, you absolutely can. There are good vides on YouTube explaining how to do it. The trickiest part is probably taking the case apart and putting it back together at the end. I broke several when I was first getting started because the plastic can be brittle. Make sure you buy model A1103 as that is the only model with a G4 in it. All other minis are Intel or Apple Silicon and will not run Mac OS 9. If you don't buy the parts in bulk (mini, power adapter, mSATA Adapter, SSD, RAM, battery, missing screws, etc.) it's probably as expensive buying them all individually as it is purchasing a restored and upgraded one from us. But many people enjoy the process of tinkering on their own machines.