• Sunshine (she/her)@lemmy.caOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    2 months ago

    The teardown video also reveals that storage is modular in the new Mac mini, meaning that it can be easily removed since it is not soldered down. As we saw with the Mac Studio, however, replacing the modular storage is complicated.

    • The Hobbyist
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Indeed, totally an Apple approach to modularity: it is a proprietary Apple SSD…

      • fourish@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Apple decided they want memory modules that only contain memory because the storage controller is on their own silicon and they have direct low level access to the storage chips if they do it themselves. Probably cheaper (for them) without redundant controller parts they don’t need too.

        Surprised nobody has reverse engineered this yet to make compatible upgrade modules. Probably not enough money in it. Edit: there’s a kickstarter for some homebrew modules which seem to work but they’re still pretty expensive.

        I just got mine with 1TB. I added a second external SSD for a bit more space. Good enough for me. The only issue is that I can’t point the Dropbox app at the external drive. The new one has to point to the user home folder (guess I could move all of that to the external drive).

          • fourish@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            I’ve heard it doesn’t due to Apple restrictions on the new operating systems for Apple silicon but I’ve never tried it myself.

            • B0rax@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 month ago

              Symbolic links work just fine.

              In fact, there is very little that works differently between Intel and Apple silicon on macOS.

              From what people told me macOS shouldn’t even work AT ALL on Apple silicon. Don’t believe everything you read online ;)

      • datavoid@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        And presumably if you switch the SSD yourself, you’ll brick the whole thing!

  • veee@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    On the bright side, if you sell the device someone else could upgrade the storage after the fact.