Mac Mini M1: no user upgradability, right?

[rjalex]

I seem to understand that the RAM is part of the chip and therefore not upgradable.

What about the SSD? If I order a 256GB and in a couple of years find that too small, what are the expansion options?

Or you feel it's better do dump another 200 and go with 16GB+512GB from the start? (I am a guy that keeps his machines as long as possible. Just buried a Late 2009 iMac RIP

Thanks

 

[r6mile]

I seem to understand that the RAM is part of the chip and therefore not upgradable.

What about the SSD? If I order a 256GB and in a couple of years find that too small, what are the expansion options?

Or you feel it's better do dump another 200 and go with 16GB+512GB from the start? (I am a guy that keeps his machines as long as possible. Just buried a Late 2009 iMac RIP

Thanks

The SSD looks to be non-expandable as well.

But of course, unlike RAM, you can expand the storage externally - and USB is so fast now that there is not really a noticeable speed penalty. If I were in the market for a Mac Mini, which is a desktop so static anyway, I would get the 16GB of RAM but keep the 256GB SSD which is plenty for a boot drive - you can then get a large USB storage drive and tuck it away at the back of the monitor, under the desk, etc. In my view it's not worth it to spend another 200 just for an extra 256GB.

That's what I have on my 2012 Mac Mini which serves as a home server - I have a two FW800 daisy-chained hard drives, under my desk and out of sight.

Obviously in a laptop you need portability so it's a different story.

 

[Kcetech1]

0 upgradability, 0 repair of the board. except I assume an external drive or two on TB/USB

 

[Kcetech1]

The SSD looks to be non-expandable as well.

But of course, unlike RAM, you can expand the storage externally - and USB is so fast now that there is not really a noticeable speed penalty. If I were in the market for a Mac Mini, which is a desktop so static anyway, I would get the 16GB of RAM but keep the 256GB SSD which is plenty for a boot drive - you can then get a large USB storage drive and tuck it away at the back of the monitor, under the desk, etc. In my view it's not worth it to spend another 200 just for an extra 256GB.

That's what I have on my 2012 Mac Mini which serves as a home server - I have a two FW800 daisy-chained hard drives, under my desk and out of sight.

Obviously in a laptop you need portability so it's a different story.

Might argue with you on that point. I've been having fun with newer 4700/4300 PCIE v4 M2 drives that will murder TB3 and USB4.0 and im looking at some newer ones that say close to 7500/7100. but that's also not exactly a normal persons workflow or need for speed either.

 

[r6mile]

Might argue with you on that point. I've been having fun with newer 4700/4300 PCIE v4 M2 drives that will murder TB3 and USB4.0 and im looking at some newer ones that say close to 7500/7100. but that's also not exactly a normal persons workflow or need for speed either.

Sure, in benchmarks they perform a lot better. And of course there will be professional use-cases where an insanely-fast (non-boot) SSD will make a noticeable difference. I just think that for most users (and I would include the OP in that category, who has been using a 2009 iMac until now!) the speed difference will not be perceptible, so getting a large external USB SSD will be more cost effective than paying an extra 200 for 256GB of super-fast internal storage.

 

[Kcetech1]

Sure, in benchmarks they perform a lot better. And of course there will be professional use-cases where an insanely-fast (non-boot) SSD will make a noticeable difference. I just think that for most users (and I would include the OP in that category, who has been using a 2009 iMac until now!) the speed difference will not be perceptible, so getting a large external USB SSD will be more cost effective than paying an extra 200 for 256GB of super-fast internal storage.

Oh I agree.

However I do know that in my case it would have been great to have that ability to dump those stupid fast drives into a mini for certain rendering server ideas I had ( and if it panned out I was ordering 3 mini's ). Even today I was bitching about drive speeds on an 8TB MP vs my " new" test beds 5000mb/s Rocket drives. ( which were about $240USD for 2T )

 

[ADGrant]

I seem to understand that the RAM is part of the chip and therefore not upgradable.

What about the SSD? If I order a 256GB and in a couple of years find that too small, what are the expansion options?

Or you feel it's better do dump another 200 and go with 16GB+512GB from the start? (I am a guy that keeps his machines as long as possible. Just buried a Late 2009 iMac RIP

Thanks

Spec with at least 512gb.

 

[garylapointe]

Or you feel it's better do dump another 200 and go with 16GB+512GB from the start? (I am a guy that keeps his machines as long as possible. Just buried a Late 2009 iMac RIP

That's normally my thought process too, BUT...
That $200 for 16GB and $200 for 256GB, for a machine that retails at $699 (and sells for less).
I'm tempted to keep that $400 and use it for a higher M3 machine when they come out (and then deck that out to last a few years).

Normally, my main machine is a top of the line larger MacBook Pro with lots of storage and RAM (which I use as my main machine at home with a monitor), so when you're already talking $2,500+ plus AppleCare another $400 is a small percentage. But on a machine this cheap, in its first generation I'm tempted to go cheaper. Get a fast external USB-C drive for less than the upgrade cost and now I've got a portable fast drive.

For my needs, I need the higher power when at home, lots of apps and I'm Zooming which is killing my old MacBook, I'm thinking of getting the Mini for when I'm doing that which will let me wait for an M2 or M3 before I go high-end MacBook that I'd beef up to last a few years.

 

[pshufd]

What I'd like to do is to find a USB 4 RAMDisk and make it the swap device. I have been unable to find consumer devices like this though. One approach in the old days was a bunch of DIMM slots in a device and you could just put in old DIMMs to use for really fast, but non-persistent storage.

 

[Zazoh]

I think @garylapointe has the strategy for longevity. But, the whole point of the mini line is to rack it or put on a desk and attach stuff to it. I’d do max ram, min storage and attach stuff to it. Your going to have to anyway, even if you maxed SSD you’d need to back up, so your still going to attach.

 

[UBS28]

Nothing is upgradable anymore. That is why 16 GB are not available as Apple cannot plug and play additional RAM into a computer anymore.

The same issue with storage, which is why there is a huge delay for these models with more RAM and storage.

 

[ADGrant]

That's normally my thought process too, BUT...
That $200 for 16GB and $200 for 256GB, for a machine that retails at $699 (and sells for less).
I'm tempted to keep that $400 and use it for a higher M3 machine when they come out (and then deck that out to last a few years).

Normally, my main machine is a top of the line larger MacBook Pro with lots of storage and RAM (which I use as my main machine at home with a monitor), so when you're already talking $2,500+ plus AppleCare another $400 is a small percentage. But on a machine this cheap, in its first generation I'm tempted to go cheaper. Get a fast external USB-C drive for less than the upgrade cost and now I've got a portable fast drive.

For my needs, I need the higher power when at home, lots of apps and I'm Zooming which is killing my old MacBook, I'm thinking of getting the Mini for when I'm doing that which will let me wait for an M2 or M3 before I go high-end MacBook that I'd beef up to last a few years.

Problem is external USB-C drives aren’t actually that fast on the M1 Macs. Also, if you are running lots of apps, you would definitely benefit from more RAM.

The mini isn’t the ideal machine for Zoom calls since you will also need to buy a web cam. How old is your MacBook? Could you just keep it while waiting for the next generation of Apple Silicon?

 

[rjalex]

Thank you all guys. Writing from my Macbook Mini M1 with 256GB SSD and 16GB RAM.

Happy so far (save for horrible fonts in the terminal; will open thread)

 

[turbineseaplane]

Problem is external USB-C drives aren’t actually that fast on the M1 Macs.

Go Thunderbolt 3 (with USB-C plug) and you can get exceptional speeds (up close to 2700 MB/s)

 

[rjalex]

Do Thunderbolt 4 external SSD or other drives exist? The Mac Mini M1 has two TB4 ports if I'm not mistaken.

 

[chrfr]

Do Thunderbolt 4 external SSD or other drives exist? The Mac Mini M1 has two TB4 ports if I'm not mistaken.

They're USB4 ports but Thunderbolt 3. There are plenty of USB and Thunderbolt 3 SSDs available.

 

[VitoBotta]

Might argue with you on that point. I've been having fun with newer 4700/4300 PCIE v4 M2 drives that will murder TB3 and USB4.0 and im looking at some newer ones that say close to 7500/7100. but that's also not exactly a normal persons workflow or need for speed either.

Are those numbers actual speeds? If yes which drives do 7GB+/sec??

 

[garylapointe]

Problem is external USB-C drives aren’t actually that fast on the M1 Macs. Also, if you are running lots of apps, you would definitely benefit from more RAM.

The mini isn’t the ideal machine for Zoom calls since you will also need to buy a web cam. How old is your MacBook? Could you just keep it while waiting for the next generation of Apple Silicon?

But I already have a web cam.

It's from 2015. The thought is, if the Mini does what I want, I could wait even longer until the 3 gen of Apple Silicon and then go crazy with the upgrades on the MacBook Pro. It's really only when I'm "broadcasting" that it's a real issue. But I teach from home and any little thing to make that a little smoother would be helpful...

 

[jlc1978]

The mini isn’t the ideal machine for Zoom calls since you will also need to buy a web cam. How old is your MacBook? Could you just keep it while waiting for the next generation of Apple Silicon?

If you have an iPhone Epoccam turns it into a nice webcam. I have an older one that I no longer use for a phone for that purpose; but even my normal phone would work as well.

 

[Kcetech1]

Are those numbers actual speeds? If yes which drives do 7GB+/sec??

yes, and in my case a new WD-SN850 and an A-data S70. Both I have running on a TR 3990X. Should have a new Samsung rated at 7GB/Sec arriving around the 7th. up side is the SN850 2T is under $400 CDN some days too. and YES they do run hotter than the PCIE 3.0's for sure. the Adata throttles without its heatsink. IOPS is better on the WD and Samsungs for certain though. Real world data moving though ..... both fly for moving information around when im editing video.

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