The M4 Mac mini is a significant upgrade over its predecessor in many ways, including a faster processor, smaller form factor, and 16GB of RAM as standard. Several teardowns now indicate that the internals have also been improved.

The previous generation Mac mini had SSD storage soldered to the logic board, but several teardowns of the new model show removable modules.

But while this is a big win in terms of ease of official repair, there is no reason to think this will directly benefit the average buyer, even if they are happy to crack open a small shell of a Mac mini.

Modular SSDs were also part of the 2022 Mac Studio, but according to iFixIt, swapping drives look-alike between studios works with DFU restore, but you can't just plug in a high-capacity drive and have the computer function. nAND chips are part of the SSD, but the controller is still embedded in the SoC.

In other words, user upgrades are still not a simple operation; according to one X account, as an industrious YouTuber has successfully done with Studio, a 2TB upgrade is possible, but it involves surgery to void the warranty, something most people would not want to try at home.

Sure enough, the first video of the M4 Mac mini upgrade is already available on YouTube. But again, this process is by no means for beginners.

When the Mac Studio was launched and modular SSDs were discovered, some speculated that Apple would sell an official upgrade kit for SSD storage, similar to the Mac Pro. However, given that nothing has emerged in the two years since its release, it would be a brave move to purchase a lower-spec Mac mini in hopes that something would appear at a later date.

Instead, those who want more storage in their M4 Mac mini would be wise to pay the price at checkout: the $599 base unit offers the option to upgrade storage to 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB at checkout, respectively There is an additional charge of $200, $400, and $800.

However, the teardown does represent one piece of good news for those who stick with the basic 256GB model. This time, Apple is using two 128GB storage modules instead of one 256GB one like the previous generation. This is what Apple also did with the M3 MacBook Air, and should result in much faster read/write speeds.