Apple Mac mini M4 gets thumbs-up from iFixit for repairability but not without downsides around SSD upgrades

Date:
Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:11:27 +0000

Description:
Mac mini M4 is commendably repairable, but there are issues with some
soldered ports, and notably with the proprietary SSD.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Mac
mini M4 has been rated for repairability by iFixit The compact computer
scored a 7/10 with a laudable modular design There are sticking points with the proprietary SSD, though

Apples Mac mini M4 has been given the teardown treatment by iFixit, and
there are generally positive findings here, albeit with some catches.

The website is famous for taking apart hardware and rating it in terms of design and repairability considerations, and iFixit begins its video teardown by underlining just how much smaller the new Mac mini is compared to the computer in the past.

Apple achieved this by cramming a lot of components into a small space in an impressive manner, and something to note is that the power supply has been changed from a single module to a board that runs across the top of the chassis.

Theres also a large fan inside the Mac mini M4 and an innovative cooling design which is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of keeping the
power used in check given the limited space in the more compact chassis.

Another interesting move on the cooling front is that the Mac mini with vanilla M4 has an aluminum heatsink, whereas the model with the M4 Pro SoC
has a larger copper heatsink to better cool the more powerful processor,
which makes sense of course.

Theres good news on the storage front: the SSD is removable, as weve already heard about, so upgrading to a bigger drive is possible. We say that, but there are caveats here, which well come back to in a moment.

The plus point of removable and replaceable ports is also noted, at least on the front of the Mac mini sadly the rear ports are soldered (as is the
system RAM, alongside the M4 chip itself at the heart of the machine).

The controversial position of the power button on the underside of the Mac mini also gets a mention, inevitably, along with an observation that perhaps Apple is overly concerned about aesthetics here.

Overall, iFixit praises the thinking about the modular design, with the likes of those ports (on the front), and the storage, pinning a 7/10 (provisional) score for repairability on the Mac mini M4. Analysis: Storage and Apples proprietary choice

Coming back to the issue of storage, while the SSD can be upgraded, there are catches as mentioned ( which we already touched on in a previous report ).
The drives are physically different between the Mac mini with M4 and the computer with the M4 Pro, so you cant swap SSDs between those models.
However, iFixit did successfully upgrade a base Mac mini M4 with a 512GB SSD from another model replacing a 256GB drive.

The other fly in the ointment here is that the SSD is a proprietary Apple drive, so you cant just go and buy any old solid-state drive and plug it into your Mac mini. Youll need an SSD from another Mac mini, or one sold by Apple if the company starts offering these (which isnt the case yet). So, that rather limits the storage upgrade options as you can imagine.

There is the possibility that third parties will produce compatible SSDs for Mac mini upgrades, and indeed there have already been announcements to that effect. The downside of such a fudged (well, unofficial) drive installation could be that Apple closes off this avenue via firmware updates that render the third-party SSD inoperable, but were getting ahead of ourselves here.

Lets just hope Apple sells SSDs for Mac mini storage upgrades itself, but skeptics are already doubtful this might happen and the point of the replaceable drive here is more about facilitating repairs, than upgrades. You might also like Apple Mac mini M4 PC gets rare $50 discount in early Amazon Black Friday surprise offer A new dawn for Mac gaming? Apple's M4 Mac mini will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing Apple just declared a bunch of Macs obsolete these are the affected MacBook and iMac models



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/macs/apple-mac-mini-m4-gets-thumbs-up-from -ifixit-for-repairability-but-not-without-downsides-around-ssd-upgrades


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