Apple will get loads of flack for its non-friendly strategy to consumer repairs and upgrades–you’ll be able to’t actually do them. However there’s a ray of hope with the new Mac mini that began transport on Friday.
In a teardown posted on X, ohgkg exhibits that the Mac mini’s SSD is on a separate board as a substitute of built-in with the M4 chip.
Partial teardown of M4 Mac Mini /w 16GB RAM & 256GB SSD. Attention-grabbing revealation [stet]: Wifi chip & antenna on the again of backside air consumption. SSD on a daughter board. And even the bottom 256GB model is available in two chips. No compromise in velocity. Theoretically additionally finish consumer upgradable.
On X, L0vertodream additionally posted on X a Mac mini teardown. L0vetodream states that “it’s certainly a 1-slot dual-slot with a most particle measurement of 1TB. It makes use of a BGA315 onerous disk and the utmost improve capability will be as much as 2T” (translated).
This SSD setup is just like that of the Mac Studio, which additionally has separate SSD modules. Ars Technica factors out that Apple’s implementation isn’t like that of Home windows PCs the place the SSD controller is contained with the SSD {hardware}. Apple’s SSD controller is constructed into the M-series chip. Due to that, you’ll be able to’t merely swap out the Mac Studio’s or Mac mini’s SSD with a component purchased from Amazon or some pc retailer. There are different the explanation why off-the-shelf elements gained’t work, like the likelihood that the Mac’s SSD slots have restrictions on the forms of modules that can be utilized.
However the easy indisputable fact that Apple separated the SSD leaves the potential of somebody determining find out how to carry out a DIY SSD improve. It could contain determining what modules can be utilized and having the ability to modify the controller–not simple duties to do. There’s a Kickstarter for a Mac Studio SSD improve however it nonetheless requires a bit of labor. It’s unclear if these modules will work with the M4 Mac mini.
The opposite huge revelation in regards to the Mac mini SSD is that Apple makes use of two 128GB NAND chips within the 256GB SSD configuration. Within the M2 Mac mini, Apple used one 256GB NAND chip, and that hinders efficiency as a result of there’s no parallel processing as there may be with two 128GB chips. With the M3, Apple switched to utilizing two 128GB chips, however the firm didn’t launch an M3 Mac mini.
Learn our in-depth evaluation of the M3 Professional Mac mini.
