Theoretically, you can upgrade RAM & SSD on your M1 Mac mini, but you shouldn't

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 38
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,139member
    ...there are of course pros and cons to onboard everything, however the strategy that seems most plausible is towards hardware a consumable... This seems to be consistent with peripherals too, such as onboard battery keyboards, mice, headphones and others... I've moved back to wired everything save airplay which still seems plug and pray every time I fire up the audio system, even with Apple's own Airport Express and TC...

    I am still using a 17" mbp and can order a new battery or larger SSD from OWC for a modest sum, and replace them in under an hour myself with a screwdriver and care, as I did upgrading the RAM and the original HD once SSDs became affordable...

    I understand developers (how many such fanboys here?) have a vested interest in obsolescence, although I may be wrong about that...?
    GeorgeBMacelijahgdarkvader
  • Reply 22 of 38
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    So, you are suggesting that because Apple chose to do this that justifies their decision?
    I miss the logic of that kind of circular logic.  
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    I left the Mac platform in 1994. 
    Then why are you here? Makes no sense.
    Because Apple is screwing up one product doesn't mean they've screwed them all up.
    It’s a absolutely not a screwup just because you don’t understand it. Integrated components perform better and are cheaper. This is the nature of “appliance computing”, and Apple has been working on it for decades — going way back to Jef Raskin and his published ideas on what the Macintosh should be. You may not like it, you may prefer DIY projects, but that isn’t the sort of computing Apple is interested in building. Plenty of other options...Get yourself a Dell, or build a nice beige box for yourself.  

    Raskin's 1979 "Design Considerations for an Anthropophilic Computer":

    http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/primary/docs/bom/anthrophilic.html

    ...it's still a great read:

    - This is an outline for a computer designed for the Person In The Street (or, to abbreviate: the PITS); one that will be truly pleasant to use, that will require the user to do nothing that will threaten his or her perverse delight in being able to say: "I don't know the first thing about computers"

    - The computer must be in one lump.

    - There must not be additional ROMS, RAMS, boards or accessories except those that can be understood by the PITS as a separate appliance

    - Seeing the guts is taboo. Things in sockets is taboo

    - There must not be a plethora of configurations. It is better to offer a variety of case colors than to have variable amounts of memory.

    - And you get ten points if you can eliminate the power cord.

    - It would be best if it were to have a battery that could keep it running for at least two hours when fully charged.

    edited April 2021 bestkeptsecretwatto_cobraweirdsmithDetnator
  • Reply 23 of 38
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    So, you are suggesting that because Apple chose to do this that justifies their decision?
    I miss the logic of that kind of circular logic.  
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    I left the Mac platform in 1994. 
    Then why are you here? Makes no sense.
    Because Apple is screwing up one product doesn't mean they've screwed them all up.
    It’s a absolutely not a screwup just because you don’t understand it. Integrated components perform better and are cheaper. *
    *For Apple. If RAM fails out of warranty it's a £400 logic board, not a £20 RAM stick.

    Consumers don't see the benefit of soldered on components. Consumers have to pay Apple's massively inflated SSD/RAM prices at the time of purchase, meaning they can easily double the cost of the machine for an extra 8GB RAM (£200 at Apple, £40 on Amazon) or an extra 768GB SSD space (£400 at Apple, £90 on Amazon). This makes the sticker shock even worse, as not only does Apple skimp on RAM and SSD, people have to pay massively over the odds to get their machine to match a PC that costs 30% less. A Dell OptiPlex 3080 SFF for example has 8GB RAM, 256GB HDD and an 11th gen Core i5. It's just £515. The Mac Mini starts at £699 with the same specs, and a much cheaper (and of course faster, but the i5 is fast enough for almost anyone) M1. Oh and the Dell comes with a keyboard and mouse too. Throw in an Apple keyboard and mouse and it's £100 more. People used to be able to get the base machine for less and then upgrade when prices fell, which is all the more relevant now that CPU speeds are not advancing as they were.

    Why is the Mac Mini £200 more than the Dell? Dell charges £70 for an extra 8GB RAM. Why does Apple charge £200? Dell charges £120 for an extra 256GB SSD. Why does Apple charge £200? 5 or 6 years ago I used to do this comparison and the Mac was usually 10-15% more expensive, now it's 25-30%+. I'd defend Apple against people who said that Macs were overpriced. Now, I am sad to say I agree with those people - Macs are overpriced, especially now that Windows is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, and macOS is not as good as it used to be.

    Oh and despite what you like to claim, sockets for components rarely fail and other than RAM, are not performance bottlenecks. There are at least 20 other sockets in the machine that are just as likely to fail as the M.2 or RAM socket. There're sockets for microphones, speakers, backlights, aerials, ports, battery, trackpad, keyboard, keyboard backlight, touch bar, temperature sensors, fans, etc. So if sockets "perform better", why aren't these components soldered too? Why is it the best graphics cards run over PCIe rather than some proprietary interface if sockets are such a bottleneck?

    Finally, non-upgradable and non-repairable components are extremely wasteful. Throwing away an entire 5k display just to upgrade the CPU is utterly absurd. As things become more green, people will look upon companies for their repair policies, and Apple's green agenda looks very hollow when you look at their desperation to prevent repairs and upgrades. The UK and the EU requires parts for some appliances (white goods) to be available for 10 years for repair - this will soon hit Apple too. No more of this vintage after 5 years and obsolete after 7 crap, Apple will be required by law to keep components available for 10 years. And to top it off, no more anti-repair pentolobe or triwing screws, repairs have to be possible with commonly available tools.
    edited April 2021 muthuk_vanalingamdarkvader
  • Reply 24 of 38
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    sflocal said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    As it has been proven and reported countless times before... 99% of all consumers will NEVER upgrade their RAM or SSD after purchase.

    Like it or not, that's where it's going.

    I bought a 2020 iMac and for three months my brand new machine was nearly unusable (would crash/reboot every 10 minutes).  With no help from Apple, I myself finally narrowed it down to bad RAM that a reseller used when I purchased additional memory at purchase. OWC swapped the RAM, machine still crashed.  I bought new memory from Crucial (128GB & $700) and works perfectly now.  Long story short, it's crap like this that was also another reason why Apple will most likely not allow RAM upgrades because of problems like this, and I fully support it.  The 3rd-party RAM suppliers will take a hit because they don't play nice at times.  OWC still hasn't fessed-up and admit there was a problem.
    Totally agree. I had that bad RAM experience before and it was so time consuming to figure this out and fixed it. I maxed out my 2018 Mac mini with 64GB of RAM at the time of purchasing and I am glad I don't have to mess with it in the future.
    I'm just lucky that my reseller refunded my money for the bad RAM three months after I bought it.  They didn't have to do that.  OWC only allows 30 days (I think).  

    Even I was beginning to blame Apple for it, when in reality how many issues like this happen where it was never Apple's fault, but they get the blame anyway?  No.... kick them all out and integrate memory right into the machine.  I just hope Apple is not going to overcharge for this kind of memory like they did (do) with prior models.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 38
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    sflocal said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    As it has been proven and reported countless times before... 99% of all consumers will NEVER upgrade their RAM or SSD after purchase.

    Like it or not, that's where it's going.

    I bought a 2020 iMac and for three months my brand new machine was nearly unusable (would crash/reboot every 10 minutes).  With no help from Apple, I myself finally narrowed it down to bad RAM that a reseller used when I purchased additional memory at purchase. OWC swapped the RAM, machine still crashed.  I bought new memory from Crucial (128GB & $700) and works perfectly now.  Long story short, it's crap like this that was also another reason why Apple will most likely not allow RAM upgrades because of problems like this, and I fully support it.  The 3rd-party RAM suppliers will take a hit because they don't play nice at times.  OWC still hasn't fessed-up and admit there was a problem.
    You had a machine that crashes "every 10 minutes" but did not return it to Apple? You did no RAM diagnostics with the built-in diagnostics tool (D at startup)? It took you 3 months of crashing every 10 minutes (6 hours usage a day, over 90 days = 3240 crashes, yeah, bollocks) before you worked out it was RAM, commonly regarded as the most failure prone silicon in a computer?

    Anyway, aside from the fabrication above, you have proven how stupid soldered on RAM is. And if you are so anti-third party RAM, why did you not spend the $2600 on Apple RAM, since you had the choice and seemingly want to give Apple $2000 extra for $700 of RAM? Only the Apple RAM is no better than any other branded RAM, in Intel Macs it's identical to the RAM in any old PC with 2667MHz SO-DIMMS. I have cheap Amazon RAM (Samsung chips) in my 2019 iMac and it's perfect.

    Why remove the choice of third party RAM? It means only that more people will get shafted by bad Apple RAM when out of warranty. Cook's got a clever little double-dip money spinner on the soldered RAM: If yours went bad out of warranty and was soldered, not only did you pay $2600 for the RAM upgrade, you're $3000+ out of pocket because they'll charge massively for a new logic board with $2600 of RAM on. Socketed on the other hand, you could swap a single stick for ~$350 or all of it for $700, and done. Plus many RAM manufacturers guarantee it for life, so it would be a free replacement - Apple doesn't do that. Apple's RAM prices are a joke. If Apple's RAM wasn't an unbelievable 4 times the price of third party RAM I'd agree - buy RAM from Apple. But as it is, Cook is just laughing all the way to the bank. The sooner we are rid of him the better.

    TL;DR: Your third party RAM failed but you could replace it for $700, rather than the $3000 Apple would charge. Proving how absurd soldered on RAM is.
    muthuk_vanalingamGeorgeBMacdarkvader
  • Reply 26 of 38
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    So, you are suggesting that because Apple chose to do this that justifies their decision?
    I miss the logic of that kind of circular logic.  
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    I left the Mac platform in 1994. 
    Then why are you here? Makes no sense.
    Because Apple is screwing up one product doesn't mean they've screwed them all up.
    It’s a absolutely not a screwup just because you don’t understand it. Integrated components perform better and are cheaper. This is the nature of “appliance computing”, and Apple has been working on it for decades — going way back to Jef Raskin and his published ideas on what the Macintosh should be. You may not like it, you may prefer DIY projects, but that isn’t the sort of computing Apple is interested in building. Plenty of other options...Get yourself a Dell, or build a nice beige box for yourself.  

    Raskin's 1979 "Design Considerations for an Anthropophilic Computer":

    http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/primary/docs/bom/anthrophilic.html

    ...it's still a great read:

    - This is an outline for a computer designed for the Person In The Street (or, to abbreviate: the PITS); one that will be truly pleasant to use, that will require the user to do nothing that will threaten his or her perverse delight in being able to say: "I don't know the first thing about computers"

    - The computer must be in one lump.

    - There must not be additional ROMS, RAMS, boards or accessories except those that can be understood by the PITS as a separate appliance

    - Seeing the guts is taboo. Things in sockets is taboo

    - There must not be a plethora of configurations. It is better to offer a variety of case colors than to have variable amounts of memory.

    - And you get ten points if you can eliminate the power cord.

    - It would be best if it were to have a battery that could keep it running for at least two hours when fully charged.

    "Because I don't understand it?"   LOL...
    The advantages that soldering give you are quite slim if not entirely imaginary.  The only one with any possible meaning is "Cheap" -- but how does a manufacturer of high end, high priced products justify "cheap"?

    The disadvantages to the consumer though are very real. 
    That disadvantage becomes particularly real when, for instance, he dumps his Starbucks on the keyboard and realizes he hasn't backed up his machine while working on that critical project.  That may call for not only a new machine, but a new job.

    elijahgdarkvader
  • Reply 27 of 38
    tylersdadtylersdad Posts: 310member
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    I left the Mac platform in 1994. 
    Then why are you here? Makes no sense.
    I mean...Apple makes more than just Macs, right? 
    elijahgdarkvaderGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 28 of 38
    lwiolwio Posts: 110member
    Very few people upgrade the storage on their machines these days. 
    A rule of thumb is buy as fast and big, in terms of memory, a machine you can afford.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 38
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    jimh2 said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    None of the MacBooks MacBook Pro’s sold since 2016 have been upgradeable. Nothing new here. 

    Untrue.


    It's just more work and requires more skill than swapping DIMMs.

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 38
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,630member
    People really miss the point of this article.  

    It’s not about whether one should do this, one should risk it or not, etc.  

    It’s knowledge that it is possible.   

    Backed into a corner, someone may chose to pay a skilled company to do this some day to their machine.   It won’t be to save money.   It won’t be to screw apple out of paying more for ram.   It will be because they HAVE to do it and the reason or scenario is not important.

    It teaches us about the M1 design.   Knowledge is power and power is energy per unit of time.   
    watto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 31 of 38
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member

    More importantly, any modifications of this nature will instantly void your warranty.
    Can we PLEASE stop it with the warranty disinformation?

    First, Magnuson-Moss is still the law.  It's ILLEGAL for Apple (or any other company) to void your warranty because you used third party components unless those third party components or the act of installing them caused the malfunction.  Change the RAM chips, and EVERY OTHER COMPONENT IN THE COMPUTER IS STILL LEGALLY UNDER THE ORIGINAL APPLE WARRANTY.  If you break the logic board changing the chips, that's on you.  If you change the chips and your display fails because of something else, that's on Apple.  Apple would even be on shaky legal ground voiding the warranty on the logic board if you can prove you successfully upgraded the RAM and the board failed later for unrelated reasons.

    Second, THE WARRANTY IS ONLY A YEAR ANYWAY.  Most people don't immediately upgrade new machines, chances are good there already isn't a warranty by the time they decide to upgrade the RAM.  Even if you buy Apple's expensive extended service plan (You know those are all scams, right?  Almost pure profit for the warranty seller.) the maximum warranty is still only three years.  You can't void a warranty that has already expired.
    elijahg
  • Reply 32 of 38
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    edited April 6



    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 
    I left the Mac platform in 1994. 
    Then why are you here? Makes no sense.

    Because we want to see what can be improved with failed Apple ideas. Do you hget it now? And yes I used to design hardware and computers in '90 so soldering for me or ordering electronic parts reserved for suppliers may not be that much problem.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 33 of 38
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 

    Yes I will. The last macOS is with Catalina. So I asked friend who left Apple development at Cupertino about 2 years ago. He said the same. He is on his last Mac. In fact you can get now Linux desktop computer that has everything that macOS has including store for apps that you can install from. It works the same as on mac computers and in fact even better because apps downloaded outside integrate with App Store installer at the moment you start installing app instead bothering you with notorious and dumb questions if you want to start downloaded application (I have disabled that "security" check option from Catalina permanently). Most of remote work applicatuions including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Citrix client, Amazon Workspaces, Slack and many others work on Linux desktops natively now (yes now manufactirers brought them to Linux) and if something does not work you can always run Windows version of software using Crossover emulation layer (or WineHQ if you want to experiment and tweak). Apple macOS e-mail client sucks like hell with its limitations comparing to eM Client that runs just like that on Linux and natively on macOS and Windows 10.

    In fact, you can get nowadays ASUS small footprint 8 core AMD computer - something Apple should have considered before making not oso wise decision on going M1 - that does not have Spectre or Meltdown security issues and outperforms majority of computers on the market including Apple M1. It also takes Linux Mint that resembles Windows 10 interface and if you want other proven desktop and setup looking almost exactly ike macOS then you can get Ubuntu and reconfigure it. It is more secure without gimmicks applied by Apple on SSD, EFI and proprietary hardware. On top of that it runs 4 4K monitors at the same time or 8K. All other newest protocols and all shebang that Apple will be coming probably soon with, but after AMD.

    Guess what in experiment i installed Linux Mint 20 on old MacBook Air from 2011 on replaced SSD (Samsung 860 EVO) installed in that old unsported mac and it seems to run better than macOS without complaining about hardware, no support or speed issues and freezing apps.
    muthuk_vanalingamGeorgeBMacelijahg
  • Reply 34 of 38
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    lwio said:
    Very few people upgrade the storage on their machines these days. 
    A rule of thumb is buy as fast and big, in terms of memory, a machine you can afford.

    Which is why Apple lures them in with low spec, lower cost devices then charges an arm and a leg to add the insurance upgrades they need since the buyer is locked into whatever originally was installed in the system he bought.   Very slick marketing ploy.
    elijahg
  • Reply 35 of 38
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    lwio said:
    Very few people upgrade the storage on their machines these days. 
    A rule of thumb is buy as fast and big, in terms of memory, a machine you can afford.

    Which is why Apple lures them in with low spec, lower cost devices then charges an arm and a leg to add the insurance upgrades they need since the buyer is locked into whatever originally was installed in the system he bought.   Very slick marketing ploy.
    Not dissimilar to the HDD-only iMacs they were still selling up until a couple of years ago, when everyone else had long switched to SSD. I have a friend who is very loyal to Apple, but doesn't know much about computers and assumed the base 21" iMac was good. Until she had it for a while and realised it was much slower than the 5 year old MacBook with SSD it was replacing. Now she's rather bitter toward Apple, after spending £1200 on a computer that has sub-par hardware - especially after being a long-time aficionado. Cook is happy to shaft customers just to make a few extra dollars, despite the long-term damage that does as people move away from the Mac platform. That is not the way to keep customers loyal, its exactly the same tactics Asus/Dell *used to* pull, and now Cook is doing the same in a short sighted attempt keep Apple's Mac profit rising.

    edited April 2021 GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 36 of 38
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 

    Yes I will. The last macOS is with Catalina. So I asked friend who left Apple development at Cupertino about 2 years ago. He said the same. He is on his last Mac. In fact you can get now Linux desktop computer that has everything that macOS has including store for apps that you can install from.

    I am seriously (and quite sadly) considering moving away from Macs after 20 years of beating the Apple drum. I was happy to pay higher prices whilst Apple products were excellent, but now we're paying more and more for less and less. Especially now that soldered RAM and storage is the only option. Under Jobs, Macs became much less proprietary and more compatible. Mac sales were exploding, huge rises year-on-year. They were great value. Cook however is intentionally steering things the other way in a misguided attempt to lock people in and a desperate attempt to keep Mac profits rising from flat sales. The M1 is great, but it's a massive step away from compatibility, and toward mid-90's Apple.

    Unfortunately for Cook, Windows isn't anywhere near as bad as it was in the XP/Vista/7/8 years, whereas macOS is getting buggier, losing more and more power-user features, becoming less compatible, more closed and with more ridiculous security features I don't want or need. Apple is putting in hurdles at every turn if you want to do more than edit a Pages document (I mean that's all Cook does on his iPad, why would anyone else need anything more 🙄 ) I am saddened to know more people now that have switched back from Mac to Windows than have from Windows to Mac. In the early 2010's people were surprised when I said you could get an iMac for £799. Now when I say the base iMac is £1099 they are shocked for an entirely different reason. Especially since they then have to fork out £200 for a decent amount of RAM (and it has an unupgradeable measly 256gb SSD).
    edited April 2021
  • Reply 37 of 38
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    darkvader said:

    More importantly, any modifications of this nature will instantly void your warranty.
    Can we PLEASE stop it with the warranty disinformation?

    First, Magnuson-Moss is still the law.  It's ILLEGAL for Apple (or any other company) to void your warranty because you used third party components unless those third party components or the act of installing them caused the malfunction.  Change the RAM chips, and EVERY OTHER COMPONENT IN THE COMPUTER IS STILL LEGALLY UNDER THE ORIGINAL APPLE WARRANTY.  If you break the logic board changing the chips, that's on you.  If you change the chips and your display fails because of something else, that's on Apple.  Apple would even be on shaky legal ground voiding the warranty on the logic board if you can prove you successfully upgraded the RAM and the board failed later for unrelated reasons.

    Second, THE WARRANTY IS ONLY A YEAR ANYWAY.  Most people don't immediately upgrade new machines, chances are good there already isn't a warranty by the time they decide to upgrade the RAM.  Even if you buy Apple's expensive extended service plan (You know those are all scams, right?  Almost pure profit for the warranty seller.) the maximum warranty is still only three years.  You can't void a warranty that has already expired.
    You're not correct on "warranty disinformation." Legal precedent is clear on replacement of components on an integrated component, like soldered RAM chips on a motherboard, invalidating the "factory" warranty. Magnuson-Moss applies if you replaced, say, a screen on a MacBook Air, but needed a motherboard swap. This story isn't about a MacBook Air, it's about a Mac mini.

    I agree with you on slotted RAM replacements not invalidating the warranty, but that isn't the case here.

    After a year, go nuts. You're right that you can't invalidate an already expired warranty.
    edited April 2021
  • Reply 38 of 38
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    elijahg said:
    lkrupp said:
    tylersdad said:
    So, in essence, if you don't have the extra funds to pay for additional RAM or drive space and you want to upgrade those at a later time, you're out of luck. 

    No thanks. 
    Then you’ll be leaving the Mac platform shortly, right? Because this is the future of the Mac. 

    Yes I will. The last macOS is with Catalina. So I asked friend who left Apple development at Cupertino about 2 years ago. He said the same. He is on his last Mac. In fact you can get now Linux desktop computer that has everything that macOS has including store for apps that you can install from.

    I am seriously (and quite sadly) considering moving away from Macs after 20 years of beating the Apple drum. I was happy to pay higher prices whilst Apple products were excellent, but now we're paying more and more for less and less. Especially now that soldered RAM and storage is the only option. Under Jobs, Macs became much less proprietary and more compatible. Mac sales were exploding, huge rises year-on-year. They were great value. Cook however is intentionally steering things the other way in a misguided attempt to lock people in and a desperate attempt to keep Mac profits rising from flat sales. The M1 is great, but it's a massive step away from compatibility, and toward mid-90's Apple.

    Unfortunately for Cook, Windows isn't anywhere near as bad as it was in the XP/Vista/7/8 years, whereas macOS is getting buggier, losing more and more power-user features, becoming less compatible, more closed and with more ridiculous security features I don't want or need. Apple is putting in hurdles at every turn if you want to do more than edit a Pages document (I mean that's all Cook does on his iPad, why would anyone else need anything more 🙄 ) I am saddened to know more people now that have switched back from Mac to Windows than have from Windows to Mac. In the early 2010's people were surprised when I said you could get an iMac for £799. Now when I say the base iMac is £1099 they are shocked for an entirely different reason. Especially since they then have to fork out £200 for a decent amount of RAM (and it has an unupgradeable measly 256gb SSD).

    After using both, I see no functional advantage of Macs over Windows machines.   The hardware & software are functionally equivalent.

    But, Macs do offer better privacy and security.
    And, coming soon to a Mac near you will be full integration into the wonderful world of iOS where, like your iPad, it will be a seamless transition from your other Apple devices.

    People tout the advantages of the M1 processor -- but most buyers won't see much of a real world difference.
    The advantage will come as it integrates with iOS devices -- a whole new paradigm.
    elijahg
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