In a shock transfer, the M4 Mac mini features a detachable, swappable SSD. Apple actually ought to give clients the choice to purchase high-capacity variations of those as storage upgrades for the tiny desktop. It will be a win for each the Mac-maker and its clients.
The choice could be welcome addition even when the SSDs solely got here from Apple at pretty excessive costs.
Mac mini SSD storage improve: It’s doable!
There was a time when storage upgrades for Mac had been pretty routine. Even MacBooks could possibly be upgraded. However that stopped years and years in the past… precisely when varies by mannequin. Suffice to say that in the present day no Mac working an M-series processor can get a storage improve.
Nevertheless, the newly launched M4 Mac mini is an exception. A teardown of the pc by iFixit discovered that a bigger SSD may be put in within the tiny desktop pretty simply. If any can be found, that’s.
Apple, do it to your clients
Picture: Piñata Farms
Apple made completely no point out of swappable storage when it unveiled the newest Mac mini in late October. That doesn’t bode nicely for it promoting SSD upgrades sometime.
However the firm actually ought to. The $599 base mannequin needs to be one of the crucial in style choices however it comes with a modest 256GB SSD. That’s an honest quantity of storage for somebody’s first pc however it’s additionally an quantity that’s straightforward to outgrow.
In a number of years, whereas the speedy M4 processor and 16GB of RAM can nonetheless do all the things they want, the SSD is more likely to be jammed full. The choice to swap in a 1TB drive would give that pc new life.
After all, an exterior SSD is all the time an possibility, however individuals desire built-in storage. If that weren’t true, there’d be completely no marketplace for Macs with something however the minimal capability — we’d all plug in exterior SSDs as a result of they’re cheaper. Because it seems, although, further drives carry further problem. We wish built-in storage.
Apple, do it for the cash
Apple fees a further $400 to configure a brand new Mac mini with a 1 TB drive. Charging that a lot to improve an current unit to that capability appears affordable. It’s nonetheless a substantial financial savings over a brand new mini.
And most of that cash would go straight to Cupertino as a result of the SSD improve would absolutely require a visit to an Apple retailer or at the very least a licensed restore store. That’s the one possibility to purchase the particular drive wanted.
And discover the experience, too. Swapping out a pc’s solely SSD isn’t a trivial course of — particularly when it’s a Mac.  Every little thing on the previous drive have to be copied to the brand new one, together with the working system, which is considerably difficult as a result of the previous drive have to be faraway from the pc earlier than inserting the brand new one. And specialised software program have to be used to get the Mac to acknowledge the brand new drive.
None of that is rocket science however it additionally may be past the abilities of full newbies. You already know, the precise kind of people that purchase the bottom mannequin Mac mini.
Backside line: providing storage upgrades on Apple’s tiny desktop would herald cash for the Mac-maker.
Do it earlier than regulators power you
It’s straightforward to argue that Apple doesn’t let individuals improve their older Macs as a result of the apply forces customers to pay much more for brand spanking new Macs. Whereas true, that’s precisely the kind of factor that EU regulators are beginning to crack down on. Computer systems made to be intentionally non-upgradable find yourself as utterly pointless e-waste.
And even america, which has completed little to control Large Tech, is beginning to see Proper To Restore legal guidelines handed by particular person states. These legal guidelines power corporations to make elements wanted to make repairs — like SSDs — obtainable to the general public.
With that coming down the pike, it might look higher for Apple if it began providing Mac mini SSD storage upgrades voluntarily earlier than it will get pressured to by laws and regulators.
And whereas we’re on the subject, the SSD improve program ought to embody the Mac Studio, too. Just like the mini, the SSD within the Studio may be swapped out by an knowledgeable, however there are not any alternative drives obtainable. The choice to increase the storage capability on this highly effective desktop could be even be welcome.
