M4 Mac mini teardown shows future upgrade possibilities in a seriously packed package

iFixit has posted its video teardown of the new M4 Mac mini, and as usual it’s a fascinating study of how design, engineering and technology come together – or in this case, are taken apart

While many people are interested in the inner workings of Apple’s products, the Mac mini may generate more interest than any other product. There is a widespread belief that users should be able to perform some level of customization and upgrades on desktop computers, even Macs. And the Mac mini has been used in unique situations and projects. Teardowns like iFixit’s not only satisfy curiosity, they also provide useful information.

Watch iFixit’s video and then here are some tips from the teardown.

It’s chock full of gills

The M1 and M2 Mac minis used an old design and left a lot of space inside. With the new design, the Mac mini packs a huge punch. It’s an incredible feat of design and engineering, but it also poses a serious hurdle for do-it-yourselfers. Which leads us to…

It can be upgraded by the user… but is that really the case?

Apple clearly has an idea of ​​which components should be accessible, and that’s clearly evident in the Mac mini. For example, the CMOS battery is designed for access without delving deeper into the machine. In fact, this is the only part that is easily accessible.

We heard early reports about the Mac mini’s SSD is upgradeable and the iFixit video provides more information. The M4 and M4 Pro Mac minis use different sized modules, and iFixit couldn’t get its Mac mini to work when they tried to swap the SSDs.

iFixit often refers to the Mac mini as upgradable, but “upgradable” means the ability to remove a part and replace it with a available part. There is currently no part available for the Mac mini. Apple uses a proprietary SSD module that looks nothing like the NVMe SSDs used on Windows PCs and is made by third parties such as Crucial. You can’t buy an NVMe and put it in the Mac mini.

Can a company make a Mac mini compatible SSD module? Maybe, but would it be worth the investment for them? It’s hard to say. The Mac mini’s SSD is similar to that of the Mac Studio, and a Kickstarter project to make a third-party Mac Studio SSD upgrade has exceeded its funding goal, but has only 142 backers. Granted, the Mac Studio is more niche than the Mac mini, but it still seems like a low-volume endeavor.

In case you’re wondering, the RAM is built into the M4 chip, just as it has been since the M1. There is no way to upgrade the RAM after purchase.

The fan is large

The ring of vents on the bottom of the Mac mini leads to a fan that takes up a significant amount of space (and even more space in the M4 Pro model). I wonder if smaller cooling units could be used, which would make the Mac mini even smaller.

For example, Frore System makes ‘solid-state active cooling chips’ that are super thin and effective. Last year I discussed how they do that has modified a MacBook Air with its cooling chipsallowing it to stop throttling to maintain a good operating temperature. I don’t know what a system like Frore’s would cost to implement, but I imagine it’s not as cheap as a fan, so it may be too expensive to consider.