Anyone know what kind of SSD?

[Cape Dave]

NVMe? Samsung 970 PRO? That would be sweet! Anyways, the spinner is gone! 100% gone! Just like I said they should do! They listened to me! All is right with the world

Spinners suck!

 

[Miat]

Spinners suck!

For the boot drive, certainly.

My preference in the Mini is the 2014 arrangement of two drive bays: a blade for a smallish ultra-fast SSD boot drive (256GB is good), and a standard SATA bay for a cheap bulk storage spinner. The optimal combo, IMHO. Just like NUCs have.

But Apple don't offer that in the Mini anymore.

 

[Kung gu]

But Apple don't offer that in the Mini anymore.

i like that they got rid of them

 

[Miat]

i like that they got rid of them

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go all SSD. Who wouldn't?

But not at those prices, and not if they cannot be replaced.

 

[HalfNelson]

I'm terribly fearful that, due to the T2 chip being the SSD controller, these flash storage drives will be proprietary at the very least, and not swappable with consumer M.2 drives like the Samsung 970 EVOs. I'm really hoping for a surprise upon the first teardown, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Naimfan]

Soldered storage.

Hard fail.

 

[beer barrel]

Considering the price, it should be M.2 memory ... $800 for 1TB is dumb!!

 

[bigpoppamac31]

Considering the price, it should be M.2 memory ... $800 for 1TB is dumb!!

In Canada it’s $960 for the 1TB upgrade on the base model. Just insane.

 

[Cape Dave]

In Canada it’s $960 for the 1TB upgrade on the base model. Just insane.

INSANE!

 

[bigpoppamac31]

INSANE!

Even “traditional” 2.5” SSD drives are much cheaper. Apple could have used that or those SSD sticks like OWC sells. Use something that’s industry standard instead of proprietary.

 

[sublunar]

I'm terribly fearful that, due to the T2 chip being the SSD controller, these flash storage drives will be proprietary at the very least, and not swappable with consumer M.2 drives like the Samsung 970 EVOs. I'm really hoping for a surprise upon the first teardown, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's not a deal breaker though, the built-in SSD NAND Flash is pricey yes but it's equivalent in quality to the Samsung 970Pro. And thanks to the Thunderbolt 3 ports you can add X5 series Samsung external SSD, potentially as a boot device if you want to really maximise cost savings without undercooking the speed of storage. We just need a teardown to reveal just what's going on with the Thunderbolt controller(s).

 

[jasnw]

We're all waiting for the teardowns.

 

[L-Viz]

If it was a swappable SSD, the mini would have been the perfect machine. OK, some still might complain about a soldered CPU, but own SSD and RAM upgrades would have meant an investment for 10 years ...

 

[Fishrrman]

The 2018 Mini SSDs look to be proprietary-design, soldered-in chips on the motherboard, governed by the t2.

Technically, not "an SSD" at all, but rather board-based flash storage.

Not replaceable or upgradeable.
I could be wrong. (will have to wait for a teardown from ifixit or others)