Apple will get a number of flack for its non-friendly method to person repairs and upgrades–you may’t actually do them. However there’s a ray of hope with the brand 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 person upgradable.
ohgkg through X, November 8, 2024
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 dimension of 1TB. It makes use of a BGA315 onerous disk and the utmost improve capability might be as much as 2T” (translated).
This SSD setup is much 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 may’t merely swap out the Mac Studio’s or Mac mini’s SSD with an element purchased from Amazon or some laptop retailer. There are different the reason why off-the-shelf elements gained’t work, like the likelihood that the Mac’s SSD slots have restrictions on the kinds of modules that can be utilized.
However the easy incontrovertible fact that Apple separated the SSD leaves the potential for somebody determining methods to carry out a DIY SSD improve. It will contain determining what modules can be utilized and with the ability to modify the controller–not straightforward duties to do. There’s a Kickstarter for a Mac Studio SSD improve but it surely nonetheless requires a bit of labor. It’s unclear if these modules will work with the M4 Mac mini.
The opposite massive revelation concerning 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 assessment of the M3 Professional Mac mini.
