[Teardown] Late 2020 Mac mini: Apple Silicon M1, Thunderbolt 4, USB4, PCIe 4

[neinjohn]

Here

Quite small, different cooling system

edit: adding to thank itsage for the teardown

 

[brianmowrey]

That is... the most aesthetically perfect board I have ever seen

 

[Shnol]

Great job! Thank You!

 

[President-Elect Beachball]

Fascinating stuff. I wanted to know how difficult it was to open it to clean it, since upgrades are out of the question. Two other things stand out though:

1 - why does apple use a 150w power supply for a system that just sips power.

2 - the first Mac mini that shipped in that basic chassis still had FireWire, dig that.

 

[neinjohn]

Great job! Thank You!

Well thank me for sharing but the teardown isn't mine so we are thankful for itsage

 

[CC88]

So the thunderbolt are tb4 ports... nice.

 

[Gnattu]

1 - why does apple use a 150w power supply for a system that just sips power.

Because it's the same unit found in Intel models so they don't have to manufacture new power supplies.

 

[Gnattu]

So the thunderbolt are tb4 ports... nice.

A quick note: the JHL8040R is a retimer not a controller, it is previously used for Icelake CPUs, which has Thunderbolt controller integrated. This means thunderbolt controllers are integrated into the M1 Soc.

 

[Gnattu]

Anyone has an idea on what that mysterious ship under the M1 Soc?
M1 does not need a T2 chip as it is built into the Soc. So what's that?

 

[yurc]

Anyone has an idea on what that mysterious ship under the M1 Soc?
M1 does not need a T2 chip as it is built into the Soc. So what's that?

I think itsage itself has know more about those T2-like mysterious chips. Asking him should be straightforward, I think.

He once member here and share many advance and useful information (e.g enabling Polaris GPU on Sierra at that time). Sadly many power users banned from this forum. eGPU site soon launch after he was expelled.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Anyone has an idea on what that mysterious ship under the M1 Soc?
M1 does not need a T2 chip as it is built into the Soc. So what's that?
View attachment 1671888

That one got my attention as well.

Maybe it is some sort of USB/Ethernet controller?

 

[Gnattu]

I think itsage itself has know more about those T2-like mysterious chips. Asking him should be straightforward, I think.

He once member here and share many advance and useful information (e.g enabling Polaris GPU on Sierra at that time). Sadly many power users banned from this forum. eGPU site soon launch after he was expelled.

This looks like a power management IC to me, as it makes contact with the heatsink

 

[Gnattu]

That one got my attention as well.

Maybe it is some sort of USB/Ethernet controller?

Ethernet is provided by BCM57762 on the side.