kharvel

macplusplus said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

That particular config, the box is included, and it is not cheap. The drive as pictured is $1300, with the enclosure if you want it separately for $199.

Twice the price of basic Mac Mini, (almost, @ $1300). Apple’s 1 TB internal SSD upgrade is $800...

Twice the price NOW.  6 months down the road, it will probably drop to $800.  1 year down the road, probably gonna cost you $400.  2 years?  Do the math.  Meanwhile, the Apple internal NVME remains. . . .wait for it .. . . THE SAME!

About the internal SSD:

I'm debating getting either the 512GB or the 1TB which is an astounding $400 more.  I looked into external Thunderbolt 3 SSD drives and found out that they are at least $700 for a 1TB version (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Portable-SSD-Thunderbolt-MU-PB1T0B/dp/B07GBWZJFG?th=1).  

So if I were to get the lowest spec'ed Mac Mini with the max CPU upgrade (6-core i7), 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, and 10-GB Ethernet, my cost comes to $1,200.  Add in $700 for the external Thunderbolt 3 SSD and it comes to $1,900.  Throw in another $300 for 32GB RAM kit upgrade from outside of Apple, it goes to $2,200.  

Now, suppose that I opt for the internal 1TB SSD with all the specs remaining the same (i7, 8GB RAM with the $300 32GB kit, 10-GB Ethernet) and excluding the external Thunderbolt 3 SSD.  My cost would then be $2,300.

So the difference is really only +$100 more for an internal 1TB vs. 128GB, assuming that you buy an external 1TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD to compensate for the latter.  

Thoughts?  Is the internal 1TB SSD option better than an external 1TB if the total cost is more or less the same?