The New Mac mini Has Slot-In, Removable SSD Storage, But Don't Expect Updates

Mac mini and Mac mini teardown – Image credit: KianWee Lim/iFixit and Apple

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Apple doesn't solder the SSD to the logic board in the M4 Mac mini, But given the company’s history with Apple Silicon, don’t expect any updates.

The older Intel-based Mac minis offered intrepid users the ability to take apart the machine and upgrade a few components. The 2018 model had upgradeable RAM, but easily replaceable internal storage on the Mac mini has been a thing of the past for a decade.

A question posted on the iFixit forums innocently asks if the SSD in the 2024 Mac mini is soldered. Soldered storage is a practice Apple has used throughout the Apple Silicon era, for the most part, making replacement extremely difficult.

One response from a new forum user identified as “KianWee Lim” posts a single photo in response, accompanied by the text “It’s not soldered.” The photo appears to show the insides of a new Mac mini with the base plate removed and some components removed.

In the middle of the image is a slot board equipped with a large chip similar to the boards used in the Mac Studio and Mac Pro for storage. There is also an empty slot at the bottom of the image where a small board fits.

Still Not Really Upgradable

The photo shows that the storage can be removed and potentially replaced with a different board. However, this is not a proof of easy upgradeability.

For starters, the small board that houses the storage chip is not a part that consumers could easily purchase themselves. It is a custom Apple part, so it is more intended for at-home repair.

That hasn’t stopped more motivated hardware enthusiasts from coming up with their own solutions.

YouTubers have posted videos of themselves desoldering the original memory chips from the board before carefully replacing them with other chips in a delicate process.

There have also been attempts to create custom PCBs for similar memory cards used in the Mac Studio, as well as the MacBook Pro. Again, these were complex processes, requiring careful soldering and going through a setup process to get them to work.

They certainly demonstrate that you can replace the memory chips, but it is a risky and difficult task.

There's also no real chance that Apple will make user-replacement kits for these memory cards anytime soon, as it would have done so for other models by now. Apple has shipped memory replacement kits for the Mac Pro, but that seems to be the exception to the rule.

AppleInsider recommends that anyone looking to upgrade their Mac's storage consider buying an external drive. The drives are certainly fast enough to use, and they're significantly safer to use as an upgrade without risking your hardware.