When Apple released the M4 Mac mini two years ago, teardowns quickly revealed a pleasant surprise: the internal SSD was not soldered to the logic board. This allowed for aftermarket storage upgrades, and we even showed you how to do it.
With the new M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini updates, however, it appears the storage is soldered to the logic board once again.
In a blog post, the folks at Expand Mac mini revealed that the NAND is soldered to the logic board, similar to the M1 and M2 versions of the Mac mini. This means the SSD module is no longer removable.
Expand Mac mini sells storage upgrade modules for the M4 and M4 Pro versions of the Mac mini. As it stands right now, however, they say that “support for the M6 and M5 Pro now looks unlikely.”
No slot means nothing to swap, and very little room left for us. In August we said we would extend our coverage once we had tested real hardware. This is the result, and not the one we hoped for.
We will keep looking for an opening, but support for the M6 and M5 Pro now looks unlikely. If that changes, you will hear it here first.
For comparison’s sake, Expand Mac mini’s 1TB SSD expansion module for the M4 Mac mini costs $300. Apple charges $500 to upgrade the M6 Mac mini from 256GB to 1TB. Expand Mac mini’s 2TB module costs $420, while Apple charges $1,000 for the upgrade.
As for the Mac Studio, Apple’s repair guide still shows removable SSDs. We haven’t spotted any teardowns yet confirming that information.
If you have an M4 Mac mini and are considering upgrading the storage, 9to5Mac’s Jeff Benjamin has an in-depth tutorial you can follow along with.
While it’s not the same as upgrading the internal storage, Satechi makes a clever accessory that includes an SSD enclosure along with additional ports for the M6 Mac mini.
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