Mac Mini powered by Apple M1 offers zero upgradability
The new Mac Mini powered by the Apple M1 chipset does seem like a huge upgrade over the previous generation, unless you decide that you want to physically upgrade the specifications inside. While the prior generation of Mac Minis had accommodations for end users to throw in more RAM, or in even older ones, to upgrade the storage as well, the latest one doesn’t allow for any of that.
To be entirely honest, this is somewhat expected. The Apple M1 boasts of a unified memory architecture, which sees the memory being part of the same organic package as the chipset itself. This is supposed to lower memory latency, while also shrinking the size of the chipset + RAM assembly, allowing it to take up less room on a PCB.
And Apple did deliver on that. Unfortunately, they didn’t use the extra room freed up by the smaller package for more connectivity options or support for additional storage. All you get is a smaller motherboard and more empty space inside. Apple also shrunk the size of the cooler, which is to be expected considering that the Apple M1 is supposed to be significantly more efficient than the Intel chips that powered the previous Mac Minis.
Pokdepinion: I am actually quite surprised that Apple didn’t allow for support of additional M.2 SSDs given the extra room they have in the enclosure.
