Apple has come under a lot of criticism for its unfriendly approach to user repairs and upgrades. In reality, you can’t do that. But there’s a glimmer of hope with the new Mac mini, which began shipping on Friday.
In a teardown posted on X, ohgkg shows that the Mac mini’s SSD is not integrated with the M4 chip and is on a separate board.
Partial disassembly of M4 Mac Mini/16GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Interesting tidbit (stet): There is a Wi-Fi chip and antenna on the back of the lower air intake. SSD on daughter board. The base 256GB version also comes with two chips. There is no compromise on speed. In theory, end users can also upgrade.
ohgkg via X, November 8, 2024
L0vertodream on X also posted a Mac mini teardown on X. L0vetodream said, “It is actually a 1-slot dual slot with a maximum particle size of 1TB. It uses a BGA315 hard disk and the maximum upgrade capacity is up to 2T” (translated).
This SSD setup is similar to the setup in Mac Studio with a separate SSD module. Ars Technica points out that Apple’s implementation differs from that of Windows PCs, where the SSD controller is embedded into the SSD hardware. Apple’s SSD controller is built into the M-series chips. That’s why you can’t simply replace the SSD in your Mac Studio or Mac mini with a part purchased from Amazon or some computer store. There are other reasons why off-the-shelf parts might not work, such as the possibility that your Mac’s SSD slot is limited in the types of modules available.
However, the mere fact that Apple separated the SSD leaves the possibility that someone will figure out how to perform a DIY SSD upgrade. You need to know which modules are available and be able to modify the controller, which is not an easy task. There’s a Kickstarter for a Mac Studio SSD upgrade, but it still needs some work. It’s not clear if this module will work on the M4 Mac mini.
Another big thing about the Mac mini SSD is that Apple is using two 128GB NAND chips in the 256GB SSD configuration. In the M2 Mac mini, Apple used a single 256GB NAND chip, which, unlike two 128GB chips, lacks parallel processing, resulting in slower performance. With the M3, Apple switched to using two 128GB chips, but never released the M3 Mac mini.
Read our in-depth review of the M3 Pro Mac mini.
