tadd

I'm really confused by the positions you all are taking.  Apple has always had the right to tell somebody about the damage they did to the computer received for repair.  Sometimes they didn't pursue that right.  Sometimes they did. 

There is a great reason to restore a computer to spec before servicing it.  For one thing, all of the test-cases and procedures the techs want to use are appropriate.  If something not-normal is present, they have to have the expertise to know what that means.  If everything is "normal", then they don't need expertise, just procedure.  There is a place for techs having full knowledge of the art they are working in.  Generally speaking I would think a repair shop that services 1000s of units a day is not such a place.  It would be either boring (for the talent to have to follow the procedures), or it would be expensive and/or transient, because people who are better than the procedures will not want to be bored and so they will leave.  You want procedures because if the techs don't follow the procedures, the documentation becomes way more difficult to manage.  Good documentation and good procedures makes things less expensive and you need things to be less expensive to cut costs, and make other things possible in the business. 

To me, the cool thing about being able to upgrade the RAM is to provide some proof against future obsolescence.  There are some critical requirements for long life of a desktop personal computer.  RAM size, HD size, CPU speed, Display size, compatibility with software, compatibility with external hardware.  We're told we can't update the CPU but all that has done to us is make the old computer slow.  Apple still gives us 8 or so years of Software support.  In this architecture the HD can be external and there is lots of potential for external HW capability.   So do we need more RAM 4 years in the future?  Will RAM be just as expensive then as now?  If Yes and Yes, then buy now.  If RAM will be cheaper in 4 years, or we can only guess if we will need more in the future, then we buy for today and then be happy we have upgrade capability in the 2018 Mini. 

The Mac Mini 2014 made it so if we didn't buy enough RAM, at time-of-computer-purchase, for 4 or 8 years in the future, we were screwed.   I'm pleased that the 2018 Mini gave us that upgrade capability, even though I'm not going to take advantage of it immediately after receiving the computer.  

Similarly I really love the existence of the 4 x M.2 OWC "Express" enclosure.  I don't want to pay the price for one today, but it's a dead giveaway that I can add fast storage to the Mini 2018.  Hopefully when I feel the need for it, the price comes down a tadd. 

I'm pondering this item 

at Amazon:

This unit from Akitio looks like it does RAID of a pair of M.2 SSDs.  that should be pretty darn fast.

What do you think?

SSD is soldered down.  They're saying it is PCIe FLASH so really really fast, like Mac Pro fast. 

I had ordered 256GB.  I just got nervous and cancelled and re-ordered with 512GB.