Pretty sure I saw paint on screws, remove the screws, paint goes off, so yeah, they can see you opened it.
If you are in Europe though it should not be a problem, your warranty isn't voided by replacing the RAM.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2018 Mac mini Teardown: User-Upgradeable RAM, But Soldered Down CPU and Storage
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Pretty sure I saw paint on screws, remove the screws, paint goes off, so yeah, they can see you opened it.
If you are in Europe though it should not be a problem, your warranty isn't voided by replacing the RAM.
Same in the US - a company cannot void a warranty because a user put in aftermarket parts under the Magnuson-Moss Act. Indeed, the FTC has recently started cracking down on Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo for using those "void if removed" stickers on their products because the warranty is in fact not void and saying it is is a violation of the act.
Does Apple even support Nvidia cards via an eGPU? Last I heard, it was only AMD, and a limited selection at that. If you’re imagining that you will have the same flexibility as you would with a Windows machine plus eGPU, not to mention the same updated drivers, I think you’re going to be let down...
Isn't 128GB what they put on the old 'fusion' drives?
What am I supposed to do with 128GB?
System and Library are close to 30GB, so it's a 100GB drive before I add a single non-Apple App.
A 512 is usable, if you've got plenty of external drive space.
But Apple's going to want a lot for that luxury.
Last edited:
Oh yeah. Tell that to my SSD that had 250TB written on it by runaway process in 2 weeks, which is over 50% of TBW.
I was lucky to notice, had I left the machine running for another 3-4 weeks the SSD would have been a toast.
If it's not a proprietary packaging solution you could buy them directly from the vendor Apple uses (a lot of vendors will sell you chips direct even in small quantities). If it's proprietary packaging (which is likely) then nowhere. In either case that's definitely not a task for the amateur.
edit: by direct I mean through a disti, not "direct" direct.
You're not looking at current SSD prices. A Samsung 970 EVO NVME M2 SSD is going for $230 or so for 1TB while Apple charges you a whopping $800 for that. That's more than a "few hundred dollars"
I'm also giving Apple a break here for not counting 128gb towards the price. So really Apple is charging you $830 for 1TB upgrade if you're going for the measly $30 that 128gb is costing you these days.
Last edited:
A fair point about the display, but new iMacs can use eGPUs too.. and the RAM in the standard 2017 models can still be swapped and upgraded with no tools required and without voiding the warranty.
Agreed, but RAM can fail as well. Third-party (e.g., OWC, Crucial) RAM typically has a lifetime guarantee, in which case it's simply a matter of returning it to the seller for replacement if it fails. Apple-installed RAM is only covered for 1 year (or 3 years if you've got AppleCare). After that you're on your own.
I usually buy the machine from Apple with the minimum RAM, then increase it several years later as newer versions of macOS become more RAM-hungry. By then the price of the RAM is also generally lower.
That’s sort of why I made the point myself. 1TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe costs $228 from Amazon, but it costs an additional $800 to configure the Mac Mini to have 1TB rather than the standard 128GB.
I don't think that's a downside for Apple. It seems to me that's exactly the direction they are pushing. As components become ever smaller, the CPU box is becoming merely another module in a computer system with standardized interfaces to other components. eGPUs, external TB3 SSDs, cloud storage. Everything seems to indicate that CPU enclosures are just becoming another commodity component in a system that can be assembled with whatever custom pieces one might wish.
Really? I plug in a keyboard, mouse, monitor, networking usually.
The Mac mini ram upgrade looks like I could handle. The attachment of the antenna wires and stuff feels like something that would go wrong for me, knowing my luck.
Apple doesn't support nVidia via eGPU natively. nVidia released web drivers that the community was able to get working with eGPUs on the Mac, though.
nVidia eGPU - through any solution - is dead in the water for users of Mojave at the moment, though. nVidia hasn't released drivers (or CUDA) for Mojave and says the problem is Apple, Apple has said nothing, and people on this forum suspect it's probably both companies just being a pain in the ass (like usual).
Apple doesn't support nVidia via eGPU natively. nVidia released web drivers that the community was able to get working with eGPUs on the Mac, though.
nVidia eGPU - through any solution - is dead in the water for users of Mojave at the moment, though. nVidia hasn't released drivers (or CUDA) for Mojave and says the problem is Apple, Apple has said nothing, and people on this forum suspect it's probably both companies just being a pain in the ass (like usual).
Your argument only has legs if you propose it at the extreme of 2TB and you ignore time.
Anyone with familiarity knows I've been waiting for an updated, upgradeable mini. Ideally, I wanted swap-able RAM, SSD, CPU, and graphics. Knowing that my "ideal" mini was pure fantasy, I'd settle for RAM and SSD. Settling for half that? The mini was to be my tinker toy. Since I really can't tinker... Nope. Now to your argument.
Everyone doesn't desire 2TB of storage... at least not immediately. There are less expensive capacities available. When you factor in time, even that 2TB SSD is going to be less expensive. That's the thing about most people who upgrade... they do it over time. Is it fair to assume you upgraded your '12 mini over time?
1. Outgrowing storage occurs over time. Over that same time period cost of storage reduces.
2. Non-issue unless the drive or some component ends up being defective.
3. Desired capacity and time make this argument a bit impotent.
Sure there is, at least for my case. In the aggregate, I don't know.
For me, if SSD prices on the i5 model (I am not going to bother with the i3 model because I wouldn't be buying it) were more as follows:
512 GB 200
1TB 400
2TB 800
which are all roughly double what a comparable 970 Evo would cost, I would consider the 2TB.
As it is, I am looking at
512 GB 200
1TB 600
2TB 1400
There is no way I am going to consider the 2TB option. I doubt that many will, but there will be those that do.
As it is, I am very strongly considering stopping at 512GB. I may stretch for 1TB.
That is absolutely a loss of revenue. I am certain Apple took costs and loss of BTO upgrades into consideration. These prices are similar across the board. The exception being that the iMac Pro starts at 1TB and only costs $800 to "upgrade" to 2TB. I think the iMac Pro prices are more reasonable for storage upgrades. But the $600 base cost for 1TB is rolled in.
Given that many of those considering purchases are approaching it from a "buy the minimum functional storage and use TB3 external" it seems indicative that Apple is indeed losing potential revenue. Apple seems content with that trade off.
Indeed. As much moaning about no dGPU as there was, most seemed to miss the beauty of that scenario. Any internal dGPU would be near obsolescence long before the rest of the internals. PC-wise I probably have a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of replacing my GPU vs the CPU. The extended chassis provides exactly that modularity.
An i7 Mini today + Upgraded eGPU will last far longer than any other model in the Apple stable. Sucking it up and getting the $512 ensures a fine, professionally implementable (broadly) system for several years.
The they should buy other product, upgrade to the max budget, or try to follow along.
My guess would be that what you actually abhor is admitting to intending to deceive the audience by omitting the NVMe part of the story. You just couldn’t stop yourself from throwing even more shade at Apple than warranted. The problem with this tactic is that it makes you an unreliable witness (of course there is some part of the bell that cannot be unrung and that $325 figure will be stuck in the back of the head for some). To a degree you sacrificed your credibility for the greater “good” of chastying Apple for the high prices of its upgrade options.
Oh I see now. The Mac Mini exists to nudge people to move up to the Pro lol. Much like the base storage level exists to upsell the next storage option.
I'm not a heavy Mac user, but I always like to have one around. My perfect Mac is the 2012 Mini, with a current processor.
Things that are meant to be internal. I know everyone has different needs, but for me storage must be internal other than backups. I never leave external storage plugged in full time. I'd have bought the base Mini if it had 256GB as base. Charging an extra $200 for extra 128GB is too much for me to stomach. A Samsung 970 Pro 512GB MLC NVMe is $200 at retail.
Another thing too is that soldered storage cannot be removed to retrieve the files if something goes wrong with the motherboard itself.
Desktop computer + eGPU is a weird case indicating the problem with the computer. eGPUs make sense for laptops. If you buy a desktop that needs eGPU it means you are buying a wrong desktop (for you).
I guess the environmental awareness stops where the wallet opens
How is using T6 Security screws "straightforward" and non-proprietary?
Especially considering what iFixit had to say about the previous generation model back in 2014:
"T6 Torx Security screws. Thankfully, we had one prototype screwdriver on-hand; otherwise, we would’ve had to use pliers"