“RAM in the Mac mini is upgradeable,” David Gewirtz reports for ZDNet. “That said, it’s a tiresome and fiddly process that’s not for the faint of heart.”
The “RAM is hidden inside what’s almost a Faraday cage of metal. To remove the RAM sticks, you have to remove the cage,” Gewirtz reports. “The cage is screwed down onto the motherboard, and yes, you have to remove the motherboard.”
“I only used three Torx bits, a T10, T6, and T5. I also used some tweezers and a little plastic prying tool,” Gewirtz reports. “Before I describe this process, I have to caution you. We haven’t yet gotten a definitive answer from Apple, but the odds are you’re voiding your warranty. You also might break the machine, since everything is so very tiny. This is what Apple means when they say upgrading RAM in this computer is not for consumers. It’s not. But it is doable.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Have at it!
Yep. Advertise its upgradable, then make it hard to do for the average Joe. That’s Apple, once again thinking about it’s customers. Good job.
Apple doesn’t advertise the memory as upgradable.
semantics
Thanks so much for making this video. It did one important thing for me. It taught me that there is no way I’m doing this.
It taught me that if I were going to that much trouble I might as well build a Hackintosh.
I was hoping everyone would order the 8Gb Mac Mini model and put in their own RAM to teach Apple a lesson but with this news that idea becomes more troublesome for many. But unless you absolutely HAVE to use a Mac a small PC Workstation can be had much cheaper. The Mac Mini I’d want would cost $3399 from Apple! Just to be a little future proofed You have alternatives at that price range even if it means switching platforms.
All my interest in using Macs is for the DESKTOP, contrary to seeming trends. I have a 2014 MBP that is fully tricked out but it’s doubtful I will ever buy another portable. All I ever wanted was a 2017-18 updated Mac Pro cheese grater powerhouse and instead all we got was the run around.
When Apple sucks it’s a doozy since they are the only manufacturer of Macs. And therein lies the problem of having no competition to counter corporate laziness with a dash of cluelessness and apathy. They have left so much money on the table others scooped up. My order at Puget Systems is still standing by…
$3399 is not a lot of money for a machine that is practically on all the time, used for hours daily, works well for years, likely will never require maintenance and presumably is used as a tool to make many multiple times that amount in its lifetime. If someone expected a car to run like that they’d be considered crazy. Bet on the Mac Pro you want to cost double or triple that.
That may all be true, but there’s still no need for them to charge such outrageous RAM and SSD prices.
Bye !! Miss you already……..
Do I detect a disingenuous tone?
Simply no excuse for these types of unfriendly designs, especially when Apple is trying to transition itself toward a service business. They should be finding ways to improve our loyalty and faithfulness. Once upon a time sites like this were inhabited by the faithful with a few envious PC trolls hanging around. Now they are followed by the disillusioned, and even the trolls have left.
This is where Apple should stop and think:
If we make this device an inch wider which will allow the average Joe to upgrade the RAM and the HD, will that in any way detract from the aesthetics or the user experience?
In fact, might it enhance the user experience?
Could it be that a desktop computer doesn’t have to be as tiny and light as possible, but that other factors, such as serviceability and flexibility are more important?
Apple missed another opportunity.
There WAS a Mini model you could upgrade the RAM .
Go look at for example 2012 model RAM install videos, screw bottom of Mini off, no screwdrivers needed, snap off the spring clip and pull out the RAM. … Takes a couple of minutes max (includes time for taking RAM out of packaging and admiring them… )
then in 2014 (I believe) they shrunk the Mini slightly and made the RAM non-upgradable and removed the quad core.
Before that the Mini was bestseller. (I actually checked Amazon in early days and it was always in the top five or so Bestseller Desktops).
WHY a DESKTOP needs to be tad smaller and lose so much functionality? It’s on a DESKTOP not a mobile… !
Fashionista ? Make more money selling RAM? Both thoughts are scary.
It’s NOT that the new Mini is a TOTAL wreck like the Cylinder (non upgradable GPUs and TB2 makes the Cylinder useless a ‘PRO’ device) but if they had made it slightly bigger and easier to upgrade RAM and if they had HD options for budget consumers who can’t afford bigger SSDs it would have been way better.
I still think the new Mini is a reasonable machine for SOME users but it could have been so much more.
The could have gained marketshare. Many many PC users have Monitors and don’t want to switch to a iMac.
Also:
As I said the other day : Apple is missing a Mid Tower, between the Mini and the Pro.
Upgradable RAM, Drives, GPU. Twice to three times the size of the Mini. I think this would hit a ‘sweet spot’ for Desktop users.
As for the Mac Pro (I’m typing on an upgraded Cheese Grater right now , with two more in the house), I echo other commenters, they could have created a modified Grater with new internals and perhaps smaller lighter case years ago.
If they used standard PCI slots etc, I think the R&D costs would have been minimal. Thus making a ‘niche’ machine viable. Trying to cram internals into tiny weird cases which cost an arm and leg to design and build is crazy when it is NOT NEEDED, making them such means Apple won’t want to upgrade them anytime soon.