New Mac Mini Teardown Provides Look Inside Apple's Smallest Mac Ever

[Populus]

Also after watching this, will dust be a problem? Seems like it might and anyone wanting to clean it out after 2-3 years of continuous use might be in for quite the challenge...

Regarding dust, I’ve been thinking about any filter that could be sold by third parties, that doesn’t reduce significantly the airflow but at the same time captures the dust before it enters the venting grill. But I haven’t seen any yet.

 

[joecomo]

The ****ing RAM is ****ing soldered onto it. It is not integrated in the ****ing CPU.

And the SSD IS user replaceable as soon as 3rd party parts show up. I suspect there weren't enough Studios for OWC to build the parts. That will not be the case with the mini.

No, I'm not joking about the RAM. It's NOT integrated in any way, it's just soldered onto the same package as the CPU.
It's separate chips.

Seems some "user" just upgraded the SSD without a rebuild part - but it is a procedure I would not try at home

 

[Zdigital2015]

No SD card reader and limited ports?
No thank you.
They had a sale until I didn't see an SD reader.

Mac mini hasn’t had an SD Card reader since the 2014 model. A high quality reader plus a USB-C cable to run it will be ~$50 at most.

If you really need a new computer, then you outfit what they sell you with the stuff you need. Otherwise, you really don’t need a new computer.

 

[hans1972]

A really key problem to the "just use externals" way of getting around Apple extortion pricing on storage is...

iCloud

You can't have it on an external drive
(Gee, I wonder who has restricted that?)

But iCloud allows you to only have a subset of your files locally. So you could have a 256 Gb SSD and still have a terabyte or two in iCloud.

 

[Westside guy]

I dunno... I see this image, and all I can see is a Mac Mini sitting on a gas stove's lit burner. Why would you do that? 😁

 

[FlyingDutch]

DUDE! The SSD on a stick! HECK YEAH!!! AWESOME!

MAYBE NEXT THEY'LL MAKE A CPU THAT DOESNT HAVE THE ****ING RAM SOLDERED ONTO IT

Apple user since the Macintosh era here, I switched off Apple in 2019, sick of this “everything soldered” way. They still are on a wrong path, and it’s a pity, because the mini would be perfect

 

[FlyingDutch]

dosdude1 has done a teardown and an upgrade of the storage from 256GB to 1TB (the 2TB upgrade failed because of a bad chip).

It's doable, but not by any user. Takes technician-level skills and some tools.

Given the SSD speeds, a good attached TB4/USB4 drive with an NVMe2 SSD can beat the speed of the base 256 GB (1700 read/2000 write), and match the 1 TB upgrade (3000 read & write).

He used an Heat gun: very dangerous even for skilled technicians

 

[mrhick01]

A really key problem to the "just use externals" way of getting around Apple extortion pricing on storage is...

iCloud

You can't have it on an external drive
(Gee, I wonder who has restricted that?)

Concern noted, but couldn't you park iCloud, and any system folder as the default on the "home volume" but still boot with the OS and applications from a TB4 or TB5 drive?

It takes some Terminal finesse, but isn't that doable?

 

[MacDownunder]

Exactly. Even if I’m waiting for a Mac Studio with M4, I would order a high-end new Mini instead (M4 Pro, 64GB, 2TB) if it had SD card reader and USB-A ports. The lack of these ports makes me keep waiting for the M4 Studio.

I have a MacMini M2Pro with a dock/SSD enclosure that gives me all of the above and more.
It has 2x USB3, 1x USB3 Gen2, SD Card slot, TF Card Slot and USB C on the front PLUS has space inside for SATA Based SSD and M2 SSD as well. Its the same form shape as the minbi and around 1/3 the height. USes two back mounted USB3/Thunderbolt ports and came with neat short interconnects and requires no additional power brick etc.
Hoping something similar appears form the new mini form factor too, but will use the current one till that happens
So I really dont see the problem with no SD slot and it a marketing/positioning difference for the Mini and the studio.
My cMP didnt have SD slot and that was easy to work around too.