Teardowns

Mac Mini: Return of the Upgradeable RAM

2018 is the year of the Mac, and Apple has finally maxed out their much-loved Mac mini with a monster upgrade. Removable RAM, oodles of ports, and a serious fan make us wonder why this mini didn’t earn a “Pro” moniker. Back in the good old days, a Pro Mac was a Mac you could configure, upgrade, and connect to your heart’s content. The dismal Pro notebook line has strayed from the light in recent years, but these late 2018 devices are starting to make us feel a little hopeful again.

The revived mini’s SO-DIMM announcement was met with cheers, and our users are so excited that they already mocked up a 2018 mini RAM replacement guide. We took the liberty of updating the user guide with some teardown pics, so you too can upgrade your brand new mini. Stay tuned for the official guide and upgrade kits!

removable RAM in the Mac Mini teardownTeardown highlights:

  • When we don’t see the right holes for prying with a Mac mini logic board removal tool, we try some good old-fashioned thumb pressing. It looks like this time around you won’t be needing a tool!
  • The RAM is held captive under a perforated shield. Also seen in older iMacs, this EMI cage lets the memory sticks operate at a high frequency without interfering with other device functions.
  • Alas, the processor and storage remain firmly rooted on the logic board, as do those many lovely ports. If any one of those breaks, it’s taking the whole logic board with it. In the end, the mini earned a 6/10 repairability score.

Mac Mini teardown