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So you can’t use an off-the-shelf part because the controller isn’t on the storage? Ok weird flex. Why can’t they use a standard part? Probably because they know the SSD prices are BS. If I was ever going to buy one I’d absolutely bust out my micro soldering station and do the same
What standard part? There’s no typical standard part for a just NAND blade to my knowledge
 
Reply to ThailandToo:

Yes it is true! I boot my Startup Disk for my new M4 Mac mini off my Thunderbolt 3 SSD (4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 External Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive) which is in my opinion the fastest External Thunderbolt 3 or 4 drive I could find with up to 3,200 MB/sec speeds. I get at least 2,800 MB/sec on read and write currently) on it maintains that speed making it great for a Mac Startup Drive on the new M4 Mac mini. I look forward to seeing OWC's new Thunderbolt 5 SSD drive here: https://www.owc.com/solutions/envoy-ultra bu you would need a M4 Pro Mac or M4 Max Mac with Thunderbolt 5 support to gain the double increase in speed (up to 6,400 MB/second).

Note: I recommend a Thunderbolt 3, 4 or 5 External SSD drive, and not a USB 3 or USB 4 external SSD drive, as they usually can't maintain speeds as well as a Thunderbolt SSD drive, to be used as your primary Startup Drive on your Mac.

Here are Apple's Instructions on how to install macOS on an external storage device and use it as a startup disk: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111336
 
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True but I’m of the opinion there are no bad tactics to bring them into line. They’re stuck and can’t leave the market.
It's simple. Let the free market decide. No one is forcing anyone to but Apple products. Every choice we make will ultimately have positives and negatives. I use MS products. I have a Win10 as my OS. I've used Android in the past. I have my complaints about how both function but I don't want the government to force them to make changes that I want.

I am not sure what you mean by, "no bad tactics".

Do you mean, no tactic is bad as long as they are brought "into line" or do you mean "no bad tactics" are being employed currently to force them to change the way they make their products?
 
I’ve got an M2 Pro mini that’s only about a year and a half old, so it’s a couple more years before I’m ready for an upgrade. But it’s still nice to see how good the options are going to be.
 
Best (and cutest) Mac ever! And now expandable too, even with a Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 external drive as your Startup Drive. I took my base M4 Mac mini, added a 4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 External Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, and set it up as my Startup Disk with macOS on it, and now I boot up having a 4TB SSD M4 Mac Mini for less than $1,000. The External Thunderbolt 3 SSD speed (at up to 3,200 MB/second with both read and write) is even faster than the Apple internal 256GB SSD drive. Thunderbolt 5 External SSD drives (coming out soon from OWC) should be up to twice that speed on M4 Pro Mac Minis.
I haven't been successful at installing a bootable MacOS on an external Thunderbolt drive. Can you describe the steps you took to do it?
Thanks.

EDIT: Just noticed your response to a previous post with a reference to how to install on an external. I've never been successful at doing this. Perhaps I was using a DFU post.

EDIT2: Successfully installed on external. I'll bet previous failed attempts were due to inadvertently using a DFU supported port, which I have not previously been aware of.
 
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  • Disagree
Reactions: hajime
Can't wait to get one of these babies, but that will probably be next spring. I'm going to get a "regular" M4 Mini with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD.
 
Very nice to see the power supply being a completely separate part from the logic board.
Best of both worlds IMO is internal yet separate from the board. iMac should be like this with maybe 6 to 8 titanium Torx to remove a back cover, where everything is clear and plain to see and nice and separated and yet built into one cohesive, appliance housing with super modularity and replaceability.
 
Seems I'll be resending my 8TB 64GB model - get a 512GB 64GB one and run my photos DB on an external 8TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD (intended use was noiseless Time-Machine Backups) until a kind soul releases a third party SSD insert.

(just checked - insane price difference)
 
The EU needs to look into this and their ESG sustainability rating should automatically receive a downgrade of X points each time they release another product with glued and other restrictive elements
I strongly disagree. The idea that some government entity like an EU committee should [via politics, by definition] decide today what possible tech improvements tech companies should be investigating then innovating in the future is absurd.

E.g. imagine if some committee had long ago decided watches must use user-replaceable gears; or [actually quite likely under the type of EU rulemaking that you are supporting] that all computers must include a 1990s era parallel port to achieve printer uniformity.

Tech advances when creative thinkers are not constrained by silly political goals or the wishes of individuals who may be too poorly informed, too poorly educated, or simply not smart enough to understand what may be achieved by evolving technologies. Note that every user can always vote with his/her wallet.

Note that physics rules SoC operation, and that the physically and electrically closer RAM gets to CPU/GPU the faster and more energy efficient the computer can be. Folks wishing for EU to incentivize gross modularity are also encouraging EU to incentivize less energy efficiency [there are of course entities lobbying EU to require modularity because they have business reasons to maintain status quo inefficiencies]. There are reasons Apple SoC is so much more efficient than the old style modular PC boxes.
 
Seems I'll be resending my 8TB 64GB model - get a 512GB 64GB one and run my photos DB on an external 8TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD (intended use was noiseless Time-Machine Backups) until a kind soul releases a third party SSD insert.

(just checked - insane price difference)
Good idea. Should save you Big Bucks, especially if you already own the external Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive as your Startup Drive. I know that I love my 4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive as my primary boot Startup Drive on my new M4 Mac mini. Just wait until someone gets a M4 Pro Mac Mini (or M4 Pro MacBook Pro) and has one of the new OWC Envoy Ultra 4TB Thunderbolt 5 SSDs as their Startup Drive! Would really like to see the disk speed tests on that!
 
how did u make external drive booting one? isnt it impossible since apple SoC?
 
So! you’d need hundreds of dollars of tools and equipment, 6-8 hours of your time, high risk of destroying your equipment, but you might save $200 over Apple’s storage upgrade? Where do sign? 🤣😂
Nope. You completely missed the point of the video. He doesn’t expect anyone to do this job themselves. Expect a compatible module to hit the market with blank Kioxia NAND modules soldered in for easy upgrade using screwdriver. You can revert to factory modules if you want to avail off the warranty too.
 
Just a couple weeks and these storage upgrades will pop-up on Amazon. Best to evaluate the first ones as far as price goes, as you know that goes.
Why would you possibly believe that? The Mac Studio used similar (but not identical) mini boards for their SSD chips since 2022, and you still don’t see 3rd party upgrades readily available.

Like the Mac Studio, this makes the SSD repairable 👍🏼but it isn’t readily upgradable 👎🏼.
 
Explain why apple doesn't use NVMe M.2 SSD? Looks like it is apple shaking down end users for storage upgrade fees
Apple makes mostly great products. Some user claiming "apple shaking down end users for storage upgrade fees" is just wrong. Apple has less than 10% of the market and users can easily vote with their wallets. Personally I like where Apple has been going with its tech like this M4 Mac Mini.

Internet wags [and I include myself] wanting Apple to engineer products differently do so from positions of extreme ignorance regarding chip yields and other product design parameters.
 
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