I guess exchanging RAM on the 2018 Mini won't be so easy. I expect breaking something at best, making your Mini emit noises when it's moved or shaken.
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Is RAM upgradeable in the Mac Mini?
- Thread starter bumfluff
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I guess exchanging RAM on the 2018 Mini won't be so easy. I expect breaking something at best, making your Mini emit noises when it's moved or shaken.
If you must work on it while it’s plugged in, make sure it’s submerged in water. That helps get the electricity out of it.
(Disclaimer: potentiality hazardous
)I think anything bought after nov1st, returns can be made until end of January 2019?
Or maybe reviewers aren't stupid enough to try to open up a unit that is on loan from Apple to replace RAM? NDA or not, they wouldn't get review units the next time, and they know it.
You're right, it is probably a non-tinkering return clause than one about disclosure. MacWorld in particular, their video literally stops midway upon them seeing the RF cage.
**** you, Apple. You deserve all the returns that will be happening soon because of the mixed messages and lack of clarity about this over the last week.
Unfortunately all the refurbs soon to hit the store will have 8GB RAM.
Give it some time. The mini comes out tomorrow. Apple Insider said" It's a fairly simple procedure, though not as easy as some of the previous minis from 2012 and earlier, necessitating a spudger, and a set of security Torx drivers. We'll be going into the upgrade process at a later date"
Just give it some time. Review units cannot be tinkered with.
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32gb sticks are so hard to find right now that they can command that premium. 2x16gb on the other hand, $600 from apple, can be had for <$300.
Indeed. Lots of speculation, some of it on the mark. Stucki himself adds that its a straight forward procedure. I don’t see unscrewing 10 screws as being “difficult”. Lets wait for a proper procedure to be tried, and see what happens.
Still not worried tbh. Unscrewing ten screws isn't rocket science. It's not like logicboards break when you touch them.
You would still make some print on the screw and surround peel off. I would say it becomes non perfect if you manually touch it except you have the pro tool.
Screws are pretty resilient.
And I don't know why it matters since the screws are inside anyway. I guess?
Straightforward is removing a hard drive to access the RAM. Having to remove the fan assembly and logic board is not going to be a stress-free experience for most people.
Screws are pretty resilient.
And I don't know why it matters since the screws are inside anyway. I guess?
No screw for the outside case? Even inside screw I would not want to damage those.
Watch this video from 7 min 55 sec, you’ll see they haven’t made it an easy upgrade at all, but it looks possible:
I’m not invested in the outcome either way, and I apologize if I’ve come across as heavy-handed. My issue is that people come to these forums looking for guidance and advice and get mis-informed by people that present their opinion or their wishes as fact. Like the people that have said things like “yes the RAM is user-upgradeable, he said so in the video” (he didn’t), or the recent example of “you can take AppleCare and then you’re covered if you break anything” (you’re not) and so forth.
I’ve been involved in Apple analysis for my job for a long time (but only on these forums for a part of that), and in most cases the least exciting option turns out to be the right one, sadly, at least when it comes to Mac. But people consistently struggle to decouple their emotion of what they want Apple to do (for example, have user-upgradeable RAM, or launch a redesigned iMac, or whatever) from what Apple is likely to do based on the available evidence.
It looks like we now know that the RAM in the Mac mini is indeed not user-upgradable - in the sense that Apple’s position is clear, it’s not an easy upgrade to do, and it (probably, notwithstanding the FTC challenges) invalidates the warranty. That’s a real shame - clearly the product would be more customer-friendly if it did have user-upgradeable RAM - but it is consistent with Apple’s behaviour over recent years and the principles with which they appear to run their business. :-(
Removing the fan and the entire motherboard doesn’t concern you?
Doesn't look like there are any screws on the outside, no.
And I wouldn't worry about damaging screws anyway. Screws in a computer are never screwed in very tightly. It's a rather stress-free experience usually.
He followed up saying it’s pretty straight forward. I asked if it’s comparable to drive swaps in the older models and he responded:
Not too concerned but will still wait for a tear down to see the exact steps before ordering.