The M4 Mac mini has removable, modular storage – and an important SSD upgrade

The new Mac mini (Image credit: Future)

The M4 Mac mini has removable storage, it's been revealed
It also uses two SSDs for each configuration
The changes could enable custom upgrades for the Mac

In our Apple Mac mini (M4, 2024) review we described it as potentially the best Mac ever – and certainly the smallest to date – and as users start to pull apart the dinky computer, we're finding even more to like about it.

First up, from an iFixit post (via @MudkipOnYT) we now know the internal SSD storage is modular and can be removed, rather than being soldered to the motherboard. That means there's the potential for custom storage upgrades.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's worth pointing out that the Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) has a similar storage setup, but custom upgrades are difficult to do: the computer uses Apple's own bespoke SSDs, you can't just slot in any off-the-shelf replacement.

Two for one

Partial teardown of M4 Mac Mini /w 16GB RAM & 256GB SSD. Interesting revealation: Wifi chip & antenna on the back of bottom air intake. SSD on a daughter board. And even the base 256GB version comes in two chips. No compromise in speed. Theoretically also end user upgradable. pic.twitter.com/vA2vQwkl7JNovember 8, 2024

While questions remain about just how viable it's going to be to start swapping SSDs in and out – potentially at a lower cost than buying the equivalent configuration from Apple – it's a promising step forward for Mac mini repairability and customization.

The other upgrade over the previous Apple Mac mini (M2, 2023), as spotted by @ohgkg (via MacRumors), is that even the lowest 256GB version makes use of two SSD modules – allowing for faster read and write speeds, compared with a single chip.

As a consequence, there shouldn't be any difference in SSD speeds between the 256GB storage configuration and any other, which is reassuring for those thinking about buying the cheapest M4 Mac mini option direct from Apple.

Again, it's a welcome change, one that we've also seen happen on the 13-inch MacBook Air (M3, 2023). The Apple M4 Mac mini is available to buy now from Apple, with pricing starting at $599 / £599 / AU$999 for the base model.

See more Computing News

TOPICS

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.