New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

[T5BRICK]

Maybe they reached a technical limit and can't do it anymore?

HDD capacity used to double on a fairly regular basis. In the past few years we've only seen incremental changes in capacity. I'm pretty sure they've hit a wall with the current technology.

Again, I am surprise Apple, or any computer makers, still have computers with spinning disks now, SSD should already be in the 4-8TB but at the current price point of a 512GB to 1TB SSD.

I'm not sure where you're coming up with the numbers for SSD pricing. You do realize that you can get a 512GB SSD for less than a 256GB SSD cost just a year or so ago? Maybe your expectations aren't realistic.

 

[baryon]

Here's the solution: just buy it with the maximum amount of RAM. That way you would never have needed to upgrade anyway. Sure it will cost you a little bit more but it's not a big deal.

Same goes for the Retina MacBook Pro: you KNOW you will eventually need more RAM, so why not get the maximum straight away? You're paying a bit more than buying it from somewhere else, but again, it's not like it makes a huge difference in the price.

 

[fa8362]

Here's the solution: just buy it with the maximum amount of RAM. That way you would never have needed to upgrade anyway. Sure it will cost you a little bit more but it's not a big deal.

Same goes for the Retina MacBook Pro: you KNOW you will eventually need more RAM, so why not get the maximum straight away? You're paying a bit more than buying it from somewhere else, but again, it's not like it makes a huge difference in the price.

It's a lot more than a "bit more."

 

[sunapple]

I was expecting a new tiny design that would be entirely glued together, but instead we get the same design and only the RAM is soldered. I think we're lucky with that.

 

[Boris-VTR]

Here's the solution: just buy it with the maximum amount of RAM. That way you would never have needed to upgrade anyway. Sure it will cost you a little bit more but it's not a big deal.

Same goes for the Retina MacBook Pro: you KNOW you will eventually need more RAM, so why not get the maximum straight away? You're paying a bit more than buying it from somewhere else, but again, it's not like it makes a huge difference in the price.

It actually is very overpriced. You already go deep in your pocket and then....you buy Apple RAM that is probably covered in GOLD based on the price. It cost me like more than 100 dollars to upgrade my ram in macbook air from 4G to 8G. 100 dollars for 4G ram upgrade? That is a lot.

For new Mac Mini is 200 dollars to go from 8 to 16G of RAM. Not small price at all.

 

[WilliamLondon]

He's entitled to voice his displeasure! FFS!

Yep, that's why I joined, so I could read about other people who hate Apple and their products, it's such a great way to start a conversation with someone calling us "you people" (or the even better one, "fanboys") and then bashing Apple and its products (and declaring us morons and idiots for being duped by Apple into buying and enjoying its products).

Some of the most vocal critics of Apple on this site are newbies, meaning they've joined just to throw their flaming bags of crap all over this forum. It's led to the deterioration of actual and proper discussion on this forum over the past few years and it's disgusting, and I'm speaking as someone who's been a daily guest here for more than 10 years now.

People don't have to be all positive and gushing about Apple and its products, but on a discussion site devoted to people who like Apple and their products, it certainly doesn't *promote* discussion to do what they do, mostly because of the way they do it. Check out any thread and you'll see how they all invariably degenerate into a tit-tat argument and trading of mud-slinging insults because someone was too stupid or juvenile to be civil and respectful and that attitude always invokes the same in one or others who rightly take offence. Based on how the mods around here don't ever seem to do much, I'd say perhaps I'm the wrong one and this site isn't a discussion site anymore, but one that is about welcoming Trolls, Negative Nellies, Moaning Myrtles, Goldilocks, Chicken Littles and others who just feel superior when they express unconstructive negativity and criticism.

Personally, I'd like this to get back to the way it used to be, but others seem quite content with the flame war orientation toward which it's been tilting in recent years. Which are you?

 

[flyinmac]

Here's the solution: just buy it with the maximum amount of RAM. That way you would never have needed to upgrade anyway. Sure it will cost you a little bit more but it's not a big deal.

Same goes for the Retina MacBook Pro: you KNOW you will eventually need more RAM, so why not get the maximum straight away? You're paying a bit more than buying it from somewhere else, but again, it's not like it makes a huge difference in the price.

It is a huge difference... on average, the general trend is that $80 of RAM will cost you $300 to $500 from Apple. This hasn't changed.

On a $499 computer, adding $300 for memory is nearly doubling the price of the machine. Hardly insignificant... especially when at now $799 you have a 1.4 GHz machine with only an old technology dual core processor.

Hardly any value there for the money.

 

[BobertKennedy]

Soldered RAM in a desktop is terrible idea. 8GB is limiting with certain applications (working with large photoshop files, for example) - and Apple still charges too much for the 16GB upgrade at the point of purchase. What I don't understand is why Apple is charging $200 for the 16GB upgrade when RAM prices are universally cheap. Bottom line: Apple is moving toward a completely closed ecosystem of hardware and software - it will ultimately increase profit margins - but this is a disservice to the consumer.

 

[T5BRICK]

People have popped the lid. It's soldered.

I can't seem to find any evidence that a teardown has happened. Do you have a link? The post that this article is originally linked to isn't convincing because there are no sources. Apples webpage leads me to believe that the RAM is upgradeable.

There is also the possibility that the RAM is socketed but not considered "user upgradeable," just like the non 1.4GHz 21.5" iMacs.

 

[Steve121178]

Personally, I'd like this to get back to the way it used to be, but others seem quite content with the flame war orientation toward which it's been tilting in recent years. Which are you?

I agree with pretty much everything you have said. But any large forum is going to get a lot of people who disagree with each other and inevitably emotive threads degenerate into childish tit-for-tat arguments.

 

[RickInHouston]

Funny how you define innovation as putting touchscreen on a desktop or having a hybrid form factor. how simplistic.

and if Apple pisses you off that much AND you rid yourself of all Apple products, why are you here? Shouldn't you be on a microsoft's website and bash Apple like every other hater?

He's here to help others get back to the right path.

 

[mausdesign]

The RAM thing does not bother me

Just placed an order for mine via Expercom, which ended up being almost $1200 for the i7 model with 16GB/1TB HHD. It does not bother me about the RAM so much as the drop in performance compared to a top-end Mac mini released two years ago that would have cost me less.

The benchmarks found in Mactracker say a lot...

2014 MacBook Pro retina 13" with a 3.0 GHz i7 dual core = 8405
(I believe this to be chip used in the new Mac mini)

2012 Mac mini with a 2.6 GHz i7 quad core = 11759

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I never said anything that Apple releases this year is innovative. Nor has anything that come out this year. But one thing is surely not innovative is putting a touchscreen on a laptop just to make up for the pathetic trackpad experience.

This year's line up is not innovative, but they're the strongest line up Apple's had for years. They cover all screen sizes, all hardware levels and manage to expand to a new product category.

Hate all you want but Apple is not going anywhere.

You're entitled to your opinion of course (assuming, of course, you actually own an Apple product, right?), but I wouldn't call this year's lineup strong. It's basically a bunch of "thinner, lighter, faster". That is not what Apple is known for.

Rome didn't fall in a day and neither will Apple. I don't hate them, and I don't want them to fail, and I've been an Apple customer since the original Macintosh (I bet you would not have guessed that). I've owned many, many Apple products in the past 25 years (I guess I'm entitled to an opinion, then, right?) and I don't think I'm alone with being unhappy with their business model and philosophy.

In effect, they've become the "Big Brother" in their own 1984 commercial.

 

[djgamble]

Lame Apple.

lol Yeah eff that...

The whole joy of mine was that I could buy a cheapie, max out the RAM for SFA and chuck dual SSDs in there.

Still no confirmation that one can add a second SSD!

 

[fa8362]

I can't seem to find any evidence that a teardown has happened. Do you have a link? The post that this article is originally linked to isn't convincing because there are no sources. Apples webpage leads me to believe that the RAM is upgradeable.

There is also the possibility that the RAM is socketed but not considered "user upgradeable," just like the non 1.4GHz 21.5" iMacs.

There's a reputable source listed in the first paragraph:

"Many have speculated that the Mac mini also includes soldered RAM, which has now been confirmed by Macminicolo's Brian Stucki. According to Stucki, the RAM in the Mac mini is "not user accessible," which means those who purchase Mac minis are limited to 16GB of RAM that must be upgraded when purchasing the machine from Apple."

 

[Macboy Pro]

Funny how you define innovation as putting touchscreen on a desktop or having a hybrid form factor. how simplistic.

and if Apple pisses you off that much AND you rid yourself of all Apple products, why are you here? Shouldn't you be on a microsoft's website and bash Apple like every other hater?

Funny thing is that there are a lot of people fed up with Apple's arrogance. The NEW Mac Mini is NOT user friendly, NOT a value for the money, and certainly NOT an indication that Apple is listening to it's customers.

There is NO TECHNICAL REASON Apple needed to solder RAM to the logic board. It is 100% a move to charge more money while acting like the product is cheaper. It is called deception and it reminds me of buying a used car from a sleazy used car lot. No one likes to do it but since you need to product (car or in this case Apple computer) you go and do it anyway. Good luck with that in the long term Apple.

Shame on Apple!

 

[WilliamLondon]

I agree with pretty much everything you have said. But any large forum is going to get a lot of people who disagree with each other and inevitably emotive threads degenerate into childish tit-for-tat arguments.

Thanks, and it's not all doom and gloom, I still come here for the great insights that I can glean from some of the people who still do engage in lively discussion. There's so much knowledge among some of the people here, it's why it's still my main forum I visit.

I also agree that it is inevitable that that bad element will be attracted to come here, but this forum does a piss-poor job managing that element. Remember the down voting system which was quickly removed because of what? Because the members were not mature enough to use it properly? Go to a site like Ars Technica and the level of discussion is so much more mature, and bad elements who join conversations are pretty much universally shot down immediately by the other members, because the members won't tolerate people who are not about discussion - why can't the members here do the same, stop tolerating these jerks and do some of the policing that the mods (too few, overworked?) don't seem to do?

 

[Boris-VTR]

There's a reputable source listed in the first paragraph:

"Many have speculated that the Mac mini also includes soldered RAM, which has now been confirmed by Macminicolo's Brian Stucki. According to Stucki, the RAM in the Mac mini is "not user accessible," which means those who purchase Mac minis are limited to 16GB of RAM that must be upgraded when purchasing the machine from Apple."

So there is still possibility that Ram is actually NOT soldered? My Macbook air 2012 also have "not user accessible" SSD but it still is very easy to change it.
I will wait for some hard evidence of that.

 

[MasterChat]

I wondered what Apple was thinking on this.

 

[djgamble]

Soldered RAM in a desktop is terrible idea. 8GB is limiting with certain applications (working with large photoshop files, for example) - and Apple still charges too much for the 16GB upgrade at the point of purchase. What I don't understand is why Apple is charging $200 for the 16GB upgrade when RAM prices are universally cheap. Bottom line: Apple is moving toward a completely closed ecosystem of hardware and software - it will ultimately increase profit margins - but this is a disservice to the consumer.

While most won't upgrade the RAM, the Mini is already a very restrictive unit. IMO Apple should have a ~$1000 desktop with an i5/i7, a removable graphics card, 4 RAM slots and 2 HD bays. Modest but expandable!

 

[fa8362]

So there is still possibility that Ram is actually NOT soldered? My Macbook air 2012 also have "not user accessible" SSD but it still is very easy to change it.
I will wait for some hard evidence of that.

The statement says that Stucki confirmed that it was soldered. That's pretty hard evidence.

MacWorld UK reported the same thing (someone posted the link to the article yesterday, and I read it).

 

[jlasoon]

Some of the most vocal critics of Apple on this site are newbies, meaning they've joined just to throw their flaming bags of crap all over this forum. It's led to the deterioration of actual and proper discussion on this forum over the past few years and it's disgusting, and I'm speaking as someone who's been a daily guest here for more than 10 years now.

Let's be honest hasn't released anything worth a damn in years. And yes, I do own a few of their products.

 

[djgamble]

So there is still possibility that Ram is actually NOT soldered? My Macbook air 2012 also have "not user accessible" SSD but it still is very easy to change it.
I will wait for some hard evidence of that.

It's a point... with previous models the HD wasn't user accessible. However, I installed dual SSDs (which was only an expensive server option). Sure it involved some skill... but this did not mean that the SSD was soldered on.

As I've said, I'm interested to know if you can add a second SSD to the new minis. Is there a second SATA port?

 

[Milquetoast]

Oh god I am so happy I have bought older older quad core model when it first came out. I was feeling bad about the upcoming upgrade but it didn't happen. Now i can upgrade ram load an SSD and it'll be even better than the new model.

At its launch, I bought the late 2012 mini with 2.6GHz quad core i7, then 3rd party maxed out the RAM to 16GB, and made my own 1.25TB Fusion drive. Reused my two 23" HD monitors on it.

A very sweet little machine.

This new version is definitely not taking things in the right direction.

 

[T5BRICK]

There's a reputable source listed in the first paragraph:

"Many have speculated that the Mac mini also includes soldered RAM, which has now been confirmed by Macminicolo's Brian Stucki. According to Stucki, the RAM in the Mac mini is "not user accessible," which means those who purchase Mac minis are limited to 16GB of RAM that must be upgraded when purchasing the machine from Apple."

There is a teardown of the new iMac with retina 5k display on ifixit. That is a reputable source. Some guy I've never heard of is not a reputable source. Where did he get his info?

I've looked all over and can't find anything, so no, it doesn't seem like anyone has "popped the lid" as you claim.