Mac Mini Teardown Reveals User-Upgradable RAM, But Soldered Down CPU and Storage (macrumors.com)

iFixit has released their teardown of the new Mac mini, providing a look inside the portable desktop computer. Some of the notable findings include user-upgradable RAM and soldered CPU and SSD. Mac Rumors reports: While the RAM in the previous-gen Mac mini from 2014 was soldered to the logic board, the new Mac mini has user-upgradeable RAM, as discovered earlier this week. As seen in older iMacs, the RAM is protected by a perforated shield that allows the memory modules to operate at a high frequency of 2666 MHz without interfering with other device functions, according to iFixit. To upgrade the RAM, the shield can be removed by unfastening four Torx screws.

Other silicon on the logic board of this particular Mac mini includes the Apple T2 security chip, a 3.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i3 processor, Intel UHD Graphics 630, 128GB of flash storage from Toshiba, an Intel JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 controller, and a Gigabit Ethernet controller from Broadcom. Despite the good news about the RAM, the CPU and SSD are soldered to the logic board, as are many ports, so this isn't a truly modular Mac mini. iFixit awarded the new Mac mini a repairability score of 6/10, with 10 being the easiest to repair, topping the latest MacBook Air, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, and iMac Pro, and trailing only the 2013 Mac Pro.

Comments

Re:Soldered CPU?

[Tough Love]

If you actually want to do something with it, Mini-ITX makes a lot more sense, lots of AM4/Ryzen motherboards available for cheap. Stick in a 2600 for a highly respectable compact PC.

Re:Soldered CPU?

[geekmux]

There might be a point to be made regarding the SSD; but aren't we getting a bit ridiculous, expecting a socketed CPU in a computer the size of a ham sandwich?

"Ridiculous" left conversations about Apple hardware long ago. Apple went right past Ludicrous (too "Tesla-y") and went straight to Asinine mode in the last few years, and dismissive attitudes are why we now have soldered CPUs. Soon, people will be dismissing soldered hard drives and memory as "expected", and this mentality will infect every other company selling hardware.

A top-of-the-line Mac Mini (that still had user-replaceable storage and memory) was barely over $1000 in 2012. A top-of-the-line Mac Mini is now over $4000, and Apple labels this as their "entry-level" model. Speaking of memory upgrades, that'll cost you $1400 for 64GB of Apple memory. You've got to be fucking kidding me. If the CPI was tied to this company's profit margins, millionaire would describe poverty.

Not sure what I despise more; Apple's greed, or the consumers who demand it.

Re:Limited Space

[geekmux]

Compared to the previous model it seems Apple decided to ditch the 2.5" spinner in an effort to give us removable RAM in the same form factor. Let's face it, Apple was never going to increase the thickness of the Mac Mini to allow for both swappable RAM and storage. They only want to make things smaller and thinner.

Uh, hate to point out the obvious, but the dimensions of the 2018 Mac Mini are exactly the same as the 2012 Mac Mini that held two 2.5" hard drives, and had user-replaceable memory (2 slots).

Quite frankly, I'm shocked to find that the memory can be upgraded, but since they're charging consumers $1400 to max out the memory on this model, that's hardly a concession. 95% of consumers can't even spell RAM let alone know how to replace it, so Apple will continue ripping off consumers for memory upgrades.

Storage fumble

[fyngyrz]

The CPU isn't much of an issue for me, as the failure rate of these parts has historically been low. Also, you can configure in a pretty performant CPU considering the size of the mini. It'll cost you, but still.

However, soldering in flash storage — I consider that a form of planned obsolescence. Especially as it is such a small bit of storage.

To make this machine last dependably, an external drive will have to be added, and (at least) all OS and application write targets (like logs, your files, etc.) need to be moved there so that the write rate to the flash is reduced as much as possible. Why? Because when that flash storage dies — and it will if you constantly write to it — the storage is useless, and you're right back to adding an external drive anyway. Better yet, outright make the external drive the boot drive and forget the internal drive exists.

Quite aside from the desk wart problem (so much for a nice, compact computer, one of the mini's real claims to fame), this means both extra cost and inconvenience.

Or IOW, Apple borks the mini again.

Unintentional? I don't think so.

I'm still waiting to see if they produce a Mac Pro worth my money. The trashcan certainly wasn't. That thing is just pitiful, design-wise.

On the plus side, EBay's a veritable gold mine of good Mac Pros from the pre-trashcan era, and I have picked up several of those. A 2010-era 12/24-core Mac Pro has a great case, can run 10.12.6 without problems, and can handle very large workloads. A 64 GB, 12-24-core, graphics-card-having, multiple REMOVABLE drive machine tends to land in the $1000-$2000 range, depending on your patience with auction hunting. For most tasks, that'll do ya. Cost you less up front than one of these minis tricked out to be reasonably powerful, too. You want SSD? Just throw one in a drive tray with an adapter, and Robert's your mother's brother. You want a better graphics card, more monitors? Just add (a) graphic(s) cards. You want to change / resize memory? Go ahead. So easy. You want connectivity? The machine has plenty, and there are card slots, too, and nice cards to go in 'em.