@AchmadMisbach You're wrong. An SSD it's more than the flash memory. It also packages the memory controller and sometimes dram. Afai can remember these latest arm Macs house the controller within the SOC, so that the "ssd" is in fact, just a NAND module
@@freddiegagging6116 yeah thats what i mean. At first i was exited bc it looks like a normal off the shelf M.2 but then the video revealed that it was in fact some apple bullshit
Do you know how much the upgraded storage costs? 256gb is unusable. You have to use an external drive, which not only adds a $100 but also hampers portability, size and minimalism arguments.
@@askeladden450unusable for you. Buy something else man. I have an oooold gaming tower, 1 tb. 90% memory still available. They could’ve done 64gb and I still would’ve had space to spare
Apple's decisions are confounding. You would expect them to only offer upgradable storage on their most expensive models in order to entice power users. By making the Mini's storage upgradable, it makes the more expensive Pro models less attractive.
So you're saying, you swapped the "SSD" (in quotes bcuz it's actually just nand chips) from a 512GB mini to 256GB mini and flashed it with Configurator and IT BOOTS? If that's true then Apple relaxed the firmware lock from what's on the Studio, where only nand chips that were not written at all can be restored by Configurator.
@@one_step_sidewaysThe idea or excuse apple did was that their own memory controller and specs were faster than what was available in the market at that moment (nvme over pcie 4.0), apple's was closer to what comes just a few months later with pcie 5.0. Which ended up just making the whole thing more expensive as a result. I always wanted to know if apple use compression to get those speeds... which is fair but it makes me wonder how much better (or worse, if we are realistic about it) could be compared to newer standards such as nvme over pcie 5.0 :/.
@@soragranda What speeds? Aren't the speeds just the regular 3-6GB/s? Memory compression should be enabled by default though, some basic compression the likes of Xpress4K in Windows (with CompactOS) would be great, and Windows too compresses data in RAM when there's not enough of it. Like it's not rocket science to create an OS that compresses things in RAM. I think Apple just tried some marketing shenanigans both with that memory controller and the RAM compression, as if only Apple ever does that and Windows or Linux does not. I still see many reviewers claim that Apple has "unified memory, therefore faster and better for ML", even though EVERYTHING that has an iGPU has "unified memory".
@@one_step_sideways People correctly state that the unified memory gives Apple an advantage in AI because this applies to all their processors incl. high end models and integrated NPUs. In contrast iGPUs on PCs are usually low performance designs used to reduce cost. These also use unified memory, but aren't useful for AI due to their limited performance. So on PCs AI mostly uses dedicated GPUs, where the size of the VRAM limits the size of the model. If your model needs more than 16GB, you HAVE to buy a 24GB USD 1500+ RTX 4090, beyond that 48GB RTX 6000 workstation cards for USD 6800. A Mac Mini M4 Pro with 64GB can run the same models or even larger ones, significantly slower than an RTX 6000, but way way faster than any x86 with iGPU, where the CPU is often faster for AI than the GPU. And it sells for USD 1999. The Mac Studio can even be configured with 192GB very fast unified memory. Data center user won't bother, but for a person wanting to play around with large models, the much lower prices for large amounts of unified memory makes the current Macs hard to beat.
They will definitely become affordable after a while for sure. And we will probably be able to upgrade it ourselves instead of paying someone for board-level soldering work.
No these are currently apple-only proprietary modules. At best, reverse engineering is needed to figure out how they are connected. Even then it's likely the NAND chips will need to come from other macs.
@@Tavs.fāters - Well… it’s not that simple! You need to use the correct ones and unlike a typical drive you can’t reuse the chip as there is low level structures that need to be created onto the NAND chip that requires a second Mac system to create on a virgin Flash (NAND) drive.
My sister is considering getting the m4 Mac mini, does this mean that you can only replace with only Apple’s own ssd’s or can you use any with the right form factor size? (Meaning m.2 2242 ssd’s)
@@jojosworlds1208there is still hope in the future. During the 2013-2016 generation of MacBooks they had proprietary SSD’s as well. However adapters came out that allowed you to use generic NVME SSD’s (given a few other hoops you have to jump through as well lol)
The SSD physical size is the same for 256GB to 2TB. The only thing they do is remove flash modules, but the circuit barely changes. However, it is criminal to sell 256GB as minimum spec.
@@armandsolermarti4349my 2013 mbp is 256GB and it’s only got 20 gig free. I don’t even store anything on jt except maybe 50 gig of personal files! 500GB should be bare minimum. 1TB for storing anything or windows dual boot etc
@@armandsolermarti4349 They do that to convince you to spend more money. People will see a $600 super computer and be like "hmm, maybe if I spend an extra $100, I could get 500gigs instead" and then it keeps compounding on and on.
Probably not, since all M-series silicon uses on-package memory, where the RAM chips are attached directly on top of the SoC, which prevents easier upgradeability but allows for MUCH faster memory access, bigger memory buses and higher memory bandwidth, which is why Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) processors are some of the best mobile chips but every RAM configuration is its own SKU.
This is just a token feature so people can praise Apple for doing something that was once standard feature then it was taken away. Nothing prevented Apple to use NVME 2230 or 2242 SSD since it's about as small as their module. They just don't want to so they can charge 200$ for 256/512GB of storage upgrade that costs 30-50$ So, nothing to praise here. They should be criticized for using proprietary storage modules.
Instead of the praise they should get regulated by the governments and forced to use standard M.2 SSDs. It will be better for everyone except them - better for the environment and consumers since it extends the life of a product - 2011 Macs are still good enough for office tasks and you can replace and upgrade memory and drives (except Macbook Air where RAM is soldered, Apple still used a non-standard connector for the SSD, but you can fix it with $5 adapter to M.2 SATA SSD).
But if they were replaceable with standard parts, they couldn’t get away with charging users £200 to go from 256-512GB, when that much would normally bag you a couple of terabytes.
As soon as I heard "replaceable ssd" I said "no way" out loud. This is the first time I had a reaction to a video that was automatic and was something else than laughing.
It's a similar deal to the mac studio. Until someone actually reverse-engineers the thing fully and makes a compatible one, you will need to source the NAND chips from another mac, like a dead mac mini with higher storage capacity.
@@xmlthegreat If the boards are similar to those in the Mac Studio, reverse-engineering shouldn't be too hard. It's a multilayer PCB, and Polysoft now offering replacement boards for the Mac Studio reverse-engineered it by carefully sanding away each layer, scanning the traces and then creating a matching PCB themselves. Which someone could do in a few hours up to the point where they can upload the design to a company like PCBWay for manufacturing. And dosdude1 has already replaced the 256GB NAND chips on a Mac Mini M4 with non-Apple 1TB chips, so (with some try and error) it should be possible to quickly pick compatible chips for use in production. In contrast to the Mac Studio, the Mini doesn't seem to lock the modules to a certain capacity.
@@faduci Actually, they are probably still Apple chips, since Apple are the exclusive customer of these particular chips, meaning that you can only find them on Apple devices. Fortunately, Apple is using similar chips throughout their products, which makes finding NAND chips easier on the grey market since a broken iPhone's NAND chips can be used on a Mac, for example.
@@fujinshu According to dosdude1, the NAND chips have to be new/never been written to to be usable on the replacement boards, as the Mac Studio/Mini writes certain parameters identifying them during the first use, and refuses chips not first written to by the same type of Mac. So using chips from broken phones probably isn't an option. Polysoft uses Kioxia NAND chips which apparently are also used on the original Mac Studio boards, and dosdude1 mentioned that he had ordered 1TB chips to try to bring the Mac Mini M4 to 2TB. Since he isn't a official Apple repair center, he'd only have access to non-Apple specific Kioxia NAND chips, so I'd expect at least those similarly specced to the ones Apple uses to work. Polysoft was a licensed Apple repair center in the past, but voluntarily dropped out of the program as participants are prohibited from doing any board repairs themselves, so they must rely on readily available chips too. Replacing NAND chips on Apple devices is such an exotic, high effort use case that it seems unlikely that Apple bothered to lock down the accepted chips to only a few ones exclusive to Apple. But if third party SSD replacement boards become popular on the Mac Mini 4 because some Chinese companies start throwing them onto the market at low prices, Apple probably could still lock them out by checking the type of the used chips. Whether they dare to do that is another question, as regulatory authorities already forced them to accept cheaper 3rd party components used in repairs that Apple had artificially locked out stating dubious security reasons. As adding an external NVMe SSD via USB/Thunderbolt will be a cheaper option providing almost the same speed without any danger of guarantee loss, using internal replacement boards on the stationary Mac Mini will probably remain a niche option, not really endangering Apple's massive markup for storage on anything going beyond the base configuration.
Even if OWC or another created M.2 adapter it still wouldn’t work. The storage controller is embedded the m4 SoC- therefore must be blanked without controller. If there was some way to disable controller via firmware..
So, the mini does NOT hardware-lock its supported SSD size, unlike the studio? (The Studio locks its SSD slots for only its initial SSD size; you cannot use a SSD of a different size. This includes blocking an unused slot from accepting a SSD!)
Could we get a teardown of the M4 Pro model? On the teardowns of that model that I've seen the easily accessible SSD was missing. Also, there still are no clues as to how the package looks like. You should do an in depth analysis like you did with the M2 Pro MBP.
It’s not necessarily something that the average “joe or jane” can do, perhaps your tutorial can help make it easier to perform. What about the voided warranty after completing the internal upgrade? Is the upgrade possible on the m4 Mac mini pro also?
I'd be surprised if there was space inside the Mac Mini case for an adapter. I'm hoping that manufacturers see a market in creating the full replacement module.
Easy to open is a little misleading, since you can break things if you aren't careful, and the design overall really wasn't built for users to be easily serviceable.
Nope. A regular NVMe M.2 SSD has a controller, DRAM, and other things on it, as well as the NAND flash memory. Apple’s only has the NAND flash and a little circuitry too keep it operating. No controller. It’s integrated into the SOC. No DRAM. It uses main memory for caching, I presume.
@@Littlebrownchicken no, you couldn’t use a regular NVMe M.2 SSD with an adapter. And it’s not a matter of physically fitting. It’s all to do with incompatible electronics. With a regular NVMe SSD, the controller is on the SSD. With an Apple Silicone Mac, the controller is built into the SOC. So the Apple “SSD” is just the NAND flash memory and whatever electrical circuitry it needs to operate. No controller, no DRAM, just the NAND flash. Now think if the controller on a standard NVMe SSD trying to interface with the built in controller in the SOC. The one built into the SOC is expecting to connect to a bunch of NAND flash memory chips. When instead you connect the controller on the SOC to the controller on the NVMe SSD, the results are not going to be good.
@@fujinshu That's like excusing a car for not having a trunk by saying you can just add a luggage trailer. If you need to hook up a bunch of stuff to make a PC useful when it's meant to save on desk space and/or be easy to pack in to take it with you that defeats the whole point.
@@muhammadragilsaputra3067 The internal SSD in an iPhone is soldered directly onto the device's logic board, making it non-removable and non-replaceable by the average user
Looks like a customized 2230 SSD. I looking forward to your video on how to configure a WD Black SN770 2230 SSD, or other 2230 ones, to work with Apple Mac Mini.
Dont get it twisted, Apple didnt make it for the consumers, they made it for the Apple IT. They know users wont try remove the 10 layers of hardware to get to the ssd. They know the ssd will die easy with the fan design. So they made to change for Apple repair techs.
Apple knowingly contributing to ewaste with the inability to upgrade SSD after purchase. You can’t just go and buy the replacement later on or get the Apple Store to upgrade you after purchase. 256GB is a bit useless on such a powerful machine. They know that and that it will lead to users being forced to buy again. Even 512GB is insufficient for a lot of users for media creation but Apple are going backwards.
Apple should include 2TB proprietary in and make it extremely fast and then have an additional 2TB compatible with several highest performance brands of NVMe memory that is user upgradable etc without opening the machine like in the video. Actually having a base spec of 2TB or more would be a PC killer.
@ I have a whole NAS system and RAID External hard drive that I can connect, but if it is simple to swap SSD, it is always a better option than something external. I don’t really need any storage nor a new Mac mini, just enjoy messing around with something like this 😂
@@Jagdishtemkar1lol no. It's because f**k the customer. Apple is always right. (PCIe NVMe drives on windows systems offer similar performance, this is just apple being apple.)
Time for reverse engineersd SSDs just like for the Mac Studio
It’s. Flash (NAND) not a SSD
@@freddiegagging6116 🤦♂️
@@freddiegagging6116nand is ssd dummy
@@freddiegagging6116 bruh, a nand is ssd as well. solid state drive.
@AchmadMisbach You're wrong. An SSD it's more than the flash memory. It also packages the memory controller and sometimes dram. Afai can remember these latest arm Macs house the controller within the SOC, so that the "ssd" is in fact, just a NAND module
"OMG replacable M.2 SSDs thats awesome.....Oh nvm still apple"
It’s not a M.2 SSD it’s a custom Apple Flash (NAND) unit. A SSD implies the controller logic is included like a M.2 drive.
@@freddiegagging6116 yeah thats what i mean. At first i was exited bc it looks like a normal off the shelf M.2 but then the video revealed that it was in fact some apple bullshit
Well IM at least glad they are willing to change
Never get too excited with apple lol
It’s not same size with M.2 22xx in market
Seems the Mac Mini will be the unexpected gem this year
Thought so too until the propryetary SSD part
Do you know how much the upgraded storage costs? 256gb is unusable. You have to use an external drive, which not only adds a $100 but also hampers portability, size and minimalism arguments.
@@Warp2090 Apple has been using proprietary ssd for a very long time
@@askeladden450unusable for you. Buy something else man.
I have an oooold gaming tower, 1 tb. 90% memory still available.
They could’ve done 64gb and I still would’ve had space to spare
Apple's decisions are confounding. You would expect them to only offer upgradable storage on their most expensive models in order to entice power users. By making the Mini's storage upgradable, it makes the more expensive Pro models less attractive.
So you're saying, you swapped the "SSD" (in quotes bcuz it's actually just nand chips) from a 512GB mini to 256GB mini and flashed it with Configurator and IT BOOTS? If that's true then Apple relaxed the firmware lock from what's on the Studio, where only nand chips that were not written at all can be restored by Configurator.
I think they don't want to give any ideas to the Right to Repair movements so as to avoid a further impact on their revenue
I think it’s the same thing going on here. One RUclipsr said only blank nands worked when he tried to
@@one_step_sidewaysThe idea or excuse apple did was that their own memory controller and specs were faster than what was available in the market at that moment (nvme over pcie 4.0), apple's was closer to what comes just a few months later with pcie 5.0.
Which ended up just making the whole thing more expensive as a result.
I always wanted to know if apple use compression to get those speeds... which is fair but it makes me wonder how much better (or worse, if we are realistic about it) could be compared to newer standards such as nvme over pcie 5.0 :/.
@@soragranda What speeds? Aren't the speeds just the regular 3-6GB/s? Memory compression should be enabled by default though, some basic compression the likes of Xpress4K in Windows (with CompactOS) would be great, and Windows too compresses data in RAM when there's not enough of it. Like it's not rocket science to create an OS that compresses things in RAM.
I think Apple just tried some marketing shenanigans both with that memory controller and the RAM compression, as if only Apple ever does that and Windows or Linux does not. I still see many reviewers claim that Apple has "unified memory, therefore faster and better for ML", even though EVERYTHING that has an iGPU has "unified memory".
@@one_step_sideways People correctly state that the unified memory gives Apple an advantage in AI because this applies to all their processors incl. high end models and integrated NPUs. In contrast iGPUs on PCs are usually low performance designs used to reduce cost. These also use unified memory, but aren't useful for AI due to their limited performance.
So on PCs AI mostly uses dedicated GPUs, where the size of the VRAM limits the size of the model. If your model needs more than 16GB, you HAVE to buy a 24GB USD 1500+ RTX 4090, beyond that 48GB RTX 6000 workstation cards for USD 6800.
A Mac Mini M4 Pro with 64GB can run the same models or even larger ones, significantly slower than an RTX 6000, but way way faster than any x86 with iGPU, where the CPU is often faster for AI than the GPU. And it sells for USD 1999. The Mac Studio can even be configured with 192GB very fast unified memory. Data center user won't bother, but for a person wanting to play around with large models, the much lower prices for large amounts of unified memory makes the current Macs hard to beat.
Wow, that would be awesome that if I could buy a larger storage for a Mac mini later on and just configure it for the memory I need.
You can, an external SSD on thunderbolt 4 is on par, 5 is almost double the internal speeds.
No. Way. Let's hope that those ssds are fairly affordable 🫣 Wishful thinking, of course.
They will definitely become affordable after a while for sure. And we will probably be able to upgrade it ourselves instead of paying someone for board-level soldering work.
No these are currently apple-only proprietary modules. At best, reverse engineering is needed to figure out how they are connected. Even then it's likely the NAND chips will need to come from other macs.
Always can get empty nans and solder them on
@@Tavs.fāters - Well… it’s not that simple! You need to use the correct ones and unlike a typical drive you can’t reuse the chip as there is low level structures that need to be created onto the NAND chip that requires a second Mac system to create on a virgin Flash (NAND) drive.
@@freddiegagging6116 Not really. It just requires reprogramming the chips BEFORE soldering them on and running DFU on another Mac.
did you check out the pro version?
It seems to have a different cooling solution and the ssd module seems also different!
They discuss this in the full video.
Please compare M4 and M4 Pro variants - they might have different thermal solutions since official weight is different 😮
They even have different Storage NAND chips
Wouldn't it be easier or cheaper to just buy an external drive to upgrade the hard drive space?
My sister is considering getting the m4 Mac mini, does this mean that you can only replace with only Apple’s own ssd’s or can you use any with the right form factor size? (Meaning m.2 2242 ssd’s)
Apple only. Because these are not removable SSDs, these are removable NAND chips and no one else is selling them except Apple
Pretty sure, it doesn't work. He said they are proprietary and they probably took the larger SSD from another Mac.
@@jojosworlds1208there is still hope in the future. During the 2013-2016 generation of MacBooks they had proprietary SSD’s as well. However adapters came out that allowed you to use generic NVME SSD’s (given a few other hoops you have to jump through as well lol)
Apple only for the moment…
I wonder if a 2230 M.2 SSD would fit in there... This is an awesome development to see!!!!!!
Spoiler alert.... It won't work
hey at least if and when the SSD is worn down, it can get replaced easily. it will be a pretty penny but at least it can be done!
It’s not a removable SSD; it’s removable NAND chips. One can be easily swapped out with a different one; the other not so much.
Where can you buy the replacement SSD module to upgrade the SSD?
That’s the neat part, you don’t
Only possible to re solder the flash nand chips with higher storage. There is a video on youtube.
@@SuzukiGsxr7500 I guess I'll get an upgrade the next time I'm in Shenzhen, so I don't have to do it myself.
@@FelixAndo you have an address? I live in HK … it would be nearby:-)
@@FelixAn You can wait until Polysoft or another person or group reverse- engineers the carrier PCB so they can start making and selling SSD modules.
I bought the first Mac Mini in 2005. It was the cheaper way to go to have a Mac.
at least they made something removable like the one from the 70s and 80s
apple should be concerned, when the brand image is changing from elegant to "against users' self upgrade".
Luke Miani found that M4 pro uses different board for SSD. It's Apple being Apple here 🤣
I can't believe Apple invented SSDs with a massive 256gb in 2024. Such future tech! 😅😂
The SSD physical size is the same for 256GB to 2TB. The only thing they do is remove flash modules, but the circuit barely changes.
However, it is criminal to sell 256GB as minimum spec.
@@armandsolermarti4349my 2013 mbp is 256GB and it’s only got 20 gig free. I don’t even store anything on jt except maybe 50 gig of personal files! 500GB should be bare minimum. 1TB for storing anything or windows dual boot etc
@@armandsolermarti4349this is so post Jobs.
I have plenty of 256gb nvme drives and they are almost e-waste at the moment. 😂😂
@@armandsolermarti4349 They do that to convince you to spend more money. People will see a $600 super computer and be like "hmm, maybe if I spend an extra $100, I could get 500gigs instead" and then it keeps compounding on and on.
Now if they make that you can upgrade extra ram yourself that would be neat.
Probably not, since all M-series silicon uses on-package memory, where the RAM chips are attached directly on top of the SoC, which prevents easier upgradeability but allows for MUCH faster memory access, bigger memory buses and higher memory bandwidth, which is why Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) processors are some of the best mobile chips but every RAM configuration is its own SKU.
This is just a token feature so people can praise Apple for doing something that was once standard feature then it was taken away.
Nothing prevented Apple to use NVME 2230 or 2242 SSD since it's about as small as their module. They just don't want to so they can charge 200$ for 256/512GB of storage upgrade that costs 30-50$
So, nothing to praise here. They should be criticized for using proprietary storage modules.
Im pretty sure they have been heavily criticized over the years
Instead of the praise they should get regulated by the governments and forced to use standard M.2 SSDs. It will be better for everyone except them - better for the environment and consumers since it extends the life of a product - 2011 Macs are still good enough for office tasks and you can replace and upgrade memory and drives (except Macbook Air where RAM is soldered, Apple still used a non-standard connector for the SSD, but you can fix it with $5 adapter to M.2 SATA SSD).
But if they were replaceable with standard parts, they couldn’t get away with charging users £200 to go from 256-512GB, when that much would normally bag you a couple of terabytes.
I believe Apple is using some type of secure access system for their storage. This was the same for the Mac Pro as well.
Can it be upgraded to an 8TB local storage tier? The money it costs to get an 8TB local storage tier using Apple's website is just nuts.
You can get an 8TB thunderbolt 5 external SSD for around $500 … and the speed is almost double the internal storage.
As soon as I heard "replaceable ssd" I said "no way" out loud.
This is the first time I had a reaction to a video that was automatic and was something else than laughing.
It's a similar deal to the mac studio. Until someone actually reverse-engineers the thing fully and makes a compatible one, you will need to source the NAND chips from another mac, like a dead mac mini with higher storage capacity.
@xmlthegreat still an improvement from previous macs
@@xmlthegreat If the boards are similar to those in the Mac Studio, reverse-engineering shouldn't be too hard. It's a multilayer PCB, and Polysoft now offering replacement boards for the Mac Studio reverse-engineered it by carefully sanding away each layer, scanning the traces and then creating a matching PCB themselves. Which someone could do in a few hours up to the point where they can upload the design to a company like PCBWay for manufacturing.
And dosdude1 has already replaced the 256GB NAND chips on a Mac Mini M4 with non-Apple 1TB chips, so (with some try and error) it should be possible to quickly pick compatible chips for use in production. In contrast to the Mac Studio, the Mini doesn't seem to lock the modules to a certain capacity.
@@faduci Actually, they are probably still Apple chips, since Apple are the exclusive customer of these particular chips, meaning that you can only find them on Apple devices.
Fortunately, Apple is using similar chips throughout their products, which makes finding NAND chips easier on the grey market since a broken iPhone's NAND chips can be used on a Mac, for example.
@@fujinshu According to dosdude1, the NAND chips have to be new/never been written to to be usable on the replacement boards, as the Mac Studio/Mini writes certain parameters identifying them during the first use, and refuses chips not first written to by the same type of Mac. So using chips from broken phones probably isn't an option.
Polysoft uses Kioxia NAND chips which apparently are also used on the original Mac Studio boards, and dosdude1 mentioned that he had ordered 1TB chips to try to bring the Mac Mini M4 to 2TB. Since he isn't a official Apple repair center, he'd only have access to non-Apple specific Kioxia NAND chips, so I'd expect at least those similarly specced to the ones Apple uses to work. Polysoft was a licensed Apple repair center in the past, but voluntarily dropped out of the program as participants are prohibited from doing any board repairs themselves, so they must rely on readily available chips too.
Replacing NAND chips on Apple devices is such an exotic, high effort use case that it seems unlikely that Apple bothered to lock down the accepted chips to only a few ones exclusive to Apple. But if third party SSD replacement boards become popular on the Mac Mini 4 because some Chinese companies start throwing them onto the market at low prices, Apple probably could still lock them out by checking the type of the used chips. Whether they dare to do that is another question, as regulatory authorities already forced them to accept cheaper 3rd party components used in repairs that Apple had artificially locked out stating dubious security reasons. As adding an external NVMe SSD via USB/Thunderbolt will be a cheaper option providing almost the same speed without any danger of guarantee loss, using internal replacement boards on the stationary Mac Mini will probably remain a niche option, not really endangering Apple's massive markup for storage on anything going beyond the base configuration.
Even if OWC or another created M.2 adapter it still wouldn’t work. The storage controller is embedded the m4 SoC- therefore must be blanked without controller. If there was some way to disable controller via firmware..
You can make a controller that will emulate direct chip access, but it will be slower and much more expensive.
Now I just need an OSX dual boot iPad Pro and I’m set.
OMG replaceable sssdddd that's so cool windows users have been real quite since this dropped
Yes. After 10 years it’s time for me to buy a new mac. This is what I’ve been waiting for. I shall never buy a computer with soldered storage.
You can't replace the storage on this, just the NAND-chips, and they're non-standard, so you need to buy the proprietary, ~400% overpriced Apple ones.
@ i have no issue with overpriced. I do however have a BIG issue if I can’t replace at all a failed SSD.
So, the mini does NOT hardware-lock its supported SSD size, unlike the studio? (The Studio locks its SSD slots for only its initial SSD size; you cannot use a SSD of a different size. This includes blocking an unused slot from accepting a SSD!)
Could we get a teardown of the M4 Pro model? On the teardowns of that model that I've seen the easily accessible SSD was missing. Also, there still are no clues as to how the package looks like. You should do an in depth analysis like you did with the M2 Pro MBP.
It’s not necessarily something that the average “joe or jane” can do, perhaps your tutorial can help make it easier to perform. What about the voided warranty after completing the internal upgrade? Is the upgrade possible on the m4 Mac mini pro also?
So how long until someone like OWC designs an adapter that lets you use 3rd party M.2 cards instead?
Definitely not OWC, probably will come from Polysoft again, since OWC has an active relationship with Apple and Polysoft recently broke up with them.
I'd be surprised if there was space inside the Mac Mini case for an adapter. I'm hoping that manufacturers see a market in creating the full replacement module.
Just with Apple Configurator?
What did he mean by this?
It’s mini NvMe Edith a proprietary connector.
If I was an engineer I’d be trying to reverse engineer the storage module or make an adapter.
Hopefully the Chinese will come up with a way to mod the proprietary M2 to allow ordinary M2 to mimic an authentic one.
My car engine is replaceable, I just need a car to donate its engine to start.
where did you get the replacement 512gb ssd from then?
Probably another Mac Mini M4
By swapping between two new mac minis
lol i thought they made 256 model to 512 gb just by doing software mod from what the footage says
How did you upgrade the SSD is the big question (I know you said Apple Configurator but how?)
Do you se face on the radiators
I can live with a small on board SSD, however it is much harder to live with little RAM. I rather having the memory upgradable.
just seen the mac pro ssds on the apple website can you use this mac pro ssd in the mac mini?
How about the Adaptor to normal small m.2 drives ???
If this works It will be a huge game changer!! I am serious
The idea of shipping a pc with only 250gb in 2024 is crazy to me
what kind of slot is this?
I have to find
Easy to open is a little misleading, since you can break things if you aren't careful, and the design overall really wasn't built for users to be easily serviceable.
If SSD replacement done, how to install the mac OS again
Waiting for full video 😳😳😳
You know it's a cult if people go crazy over replacable SSDs 😂
PC: NVMe
Mac: nvm
Wow a 256 base drive is deplorable. Here I am swapping a 1tb for a 4 today and apple still shipping stuff with calculator tier storage.
Imagine Apple being Apple. Whodathunk.
I have 4 and 8Tb drives in my laptop.
What an amazing features, upgradeable SDD 👏🏻 it'll change the world forever
I hope your being sarcastic.... This has been common place on hundreds of devices. It's been standard for many many years
@@Axalotl8Your room temperature IQ is showing.
Actually it not "easy" upgradeable. You need to desolder two nand flash memories and solder the newer ones.
How ‘innovative’ is Apple
@@SuzukiGsxr7500 Did you even watch the video?
Please do m4 pro chip Mac mini also so we can see the board and 2 ssd slots thanks in advance 😊
I hope one day we will see M2 230
Hopefully some can make an M.2 to Apple SSD converter😅😅😅
I'd love to know if RAM might be upgradable, too!
Definitely not. It’s right on the SOC
Is this standart nvme ssd ?
No
*standard
Proprietary only from Apple for the moment.
Are they swappable between the Mac Studio and the Mac mini?
You need to get some better glasses, the words simular means NOT THE SAME!
Removable SSD means nothing if the memory is serialised or uses proprietary connections.
There's 0 excuse for these drives to be in every Mac. Even if they are propriety, there's no reason macbooks shouldn't be that easy to upgrade
Where can i find this ssd ?
Unexpected Apple W
2005 mini was same small
that should be a crime
Is it possible for someone to come out with an m.2 adapter?
Nope. A regular NVMe M.2 SSD has a controller, DRAM, and other things on it, as well as the NAND flash memory.
Apple’s only has the NAND flash and a little circuitry too keep it operating. No controller. It’s integrated into the SOC. No DRAM. It uses main memory for caching, I presume.
@ I mean the ssd
@@Littlebrownchicken an M.2 adapter for Apple’s SSD so
You can use it in a non-Apple computer? Definitely not.
@ so you can use an m.2 ssd on the Mac, but there’s probably not enough space anyway so never mind.
@@Littlebrownchicken no, you couldn’t use a regular NVMe M.2 SSD with an adapter. And it’s not a matter of physically fitting. It’s all to do with incompatible electronics.
With a regular NVMe SSD, the controller is on the SSD. With an Apple Silicone Mac, the controller is built into the SOC. So the Apple “SSD” is just the NAND flash memory and whatever electrical circuitry it needs to operate. No controller, no DRAM, just the NAND flash.
Now think if the controller on a standard NVMe SSD trying to interface with the built in controller in the SOC. The one built into the SOC is expecting to connect to a bunch of NAND flash memory chips. When instead you connect the controller on the SOC to the controller on the NVMe SSD, the results are not going to be good.
Are apple feeling ok
So apple just remotely limits their preinstalled storage hardware that is capable of higher amounts?
Wow that's very surprising
THANK GOD
What about the RAM?
Soldered to the board, like with any M based mac.
But hey, the base model comes with 16 Gigs :)
The bets about the price are open! 😅
Wow. A whole 512 gigs. Plenty for the creative minds that will use it. Im sure
They would use NAS and external Thunderbolt devices instead, so pretty much a non-issue for creatives unless they ONLY use internal storage.
@@fujinshu That's like excusing a car for not having a trunk by saying you can just add a luggage trailer. If you need to hook up a bunch of stuff to make a PC useful when it's meant to save on desk space and/or be easy to pack in to take it with you that defeats the whole point.
I can't love this machine enough lmaooooo. Can't wait to get mine.
Still they restricted base line with 256 GB rather than 512 GB
Bit of a non-issue thanks to Thunderbolt.
pretty sure Apple would've installed some sort of hardware lock
Nah it's not
yea you need apples ssd, so buy one from the self service store when it comes out or steal from another mac mini
@@xitsjulix it's not lol, mac mini uses same ssd chip as iPhone 14 pro and newer. So you can upgrade up to 1TB using 3rd party or from donor iPhone
@@muhammadragilsaputra3067 The internal SSD in an iPhone is soldered directly onto the device's logic board, making it non-removable and non-replaceable by the average user
@@muhammadragilsaputra3067 iPads and MacBooks won’t work too, and the mac studio has removeable SSDs but they are a bit different so they wont fit
why upgrade it to 512 when they could have gone 2tb or more?
Looks like a customized 2230 SSD. I looking forward to your video on how to configure a WD Black SN770 2230 SSD, or other 2230 ones, to work with Apple Mac Mini.
They’re NAND chips. Don’t think the 2230’s will work but if they did oh boy that would be amazing.
My base model mini feels slow
Release the VIDEO...!!!!
How to satisfy apple fan: upgradable ssd, new color, said 8gb of ram is enough, flashlight thing, customized button, 60hz screen.
When m.2 to whatever this is adapter 😆
256 gb in 2024 man that's an insult
Macs proprietary technology isn't compatible with others and costs much more.
Dont get it twisted, Apple didnt make it for the consumers, they made it for the Apple IT. They know users wont try remove the 10 layers of hardware to get to the ssd. They know the ssd will die easy with the fan design. So they made to change for Apple repair techs.
M1 MBAs are still running fine after four years of fanless work 🤷♀️
Consumer do have Thunderbolt 4 and 5 both of which are on par or almost double internal speeds respectively
Apple knowingly contributing to ewaste with the inability to upgrade SSD after purchase. You can’t just go and buy the replacement later on or get the Apple Store to upgrade you after purchase.
256GB is a bit useless on such a powerful machine. They know that and that it will lead to users being forced to buy again. Even 512GB is insufficient for a lot of users for media creation but Apple are going backwards.
Apple should include 2TB proprietary in and make it extremely fast and then have an additional 2TB compatible with several highest performance brands of NVMe memory that is user upgradable etc without opening the machine like in the video. Actually having a base spec of 2TB or more would be a PC killer.
You can just use an external driver on Thunderbolt 4/5. Speeds are on par / almost double of the internal storage… e waste my a**
Or u can just by sbc
Proprietary SSDs... of course... screw Apple
Exciting
How about a „coming soon“ of a „coming soon“? :/
$200 option 😂
Glad haven’t ordered mine yet 😂
Why 😮
@ Wait to see if it possible to upgrade SSD for cheaper, instead of through Apple for the outrageous price.
@@qin1992 If you need more storage you could always connect an external drive through Thunderbolt instead of paying for the expensive upgrades.
@ I have a whole NAS system and RAID External hard drive that I can connect, but if it is simple to swap SSD, it is always a better option than something external. I don’t really need any storage nor a new Mac mini, just enjoy messing around with something like this 😂
@@qin1992 ah i see
upgrade ram please
it's still bad. we don't need a proprietary ssd format.
Can you post the link to the ssd ?
It’s from another Mac Mini
There is no after sale options at this point. Remember these are Flash (NAND) units not true SSD’s
i got one
WoW upgrading to a whole 512 GB 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
why cant apple do this with the macbook lineup then?
i will not buy another apple product with soldered only storage.
I am guessing because of limited data transfer speeds, which the mini can get away with being a relatively low powered device.
@@Jagdishtemkar1lol no. It's because f**k the customer. Apple is always right.
(PCIe NVMe drives on windows systems offer similar performance, this is just apple being apple.)
Unable to self upgrade
not upgradeable if proprietary