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New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

Friday October 17, 2014 6:46 pm PDT by Juli Clover
macmini1After going more than two years without an update, Apple's Mac mini was refreshed yesterday, adding Haswell processors, Intel HD 5000/Iris graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and PCI-based flash storage options for the higher-end models.

Unfortunately, the upgrade was disappointing to some Mac mini fans as Apple stopped offering a build-to-order quad-core processor upgrade and dual-drive storage options that exceed 1TB.

Many have speculated that the Mac mini also includes soldered RAM, which has now been confirmed by Macminicolo's Brian Stucki. According to Stucki, the RAM in the Mac mini is "not user accessible," which means those who purchase Mac minis are limited to 16GB of RAM that must be upgraded when purchasing the machine from Apple.

All three Mac mini models can be upgraded to a maximum of 16GB of RAM, with the upgrade priced at $300 for the base model and $200 for the mid and high-end models.

While the RAM is not upgradeable, Stucki says that it is possible to replace or upgrade the hard drive, but doing so may void the warranty.

Apple's new Mac mini starts at $499 and comes in three separate base configurations. On the low end, the Mac mini ships with a 1.4Ghz dual-core Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Intel HD Graphics 5000. At the middle tier, the Mac mini comes with a 2.6Ghz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive, and Intel Iris Graphics. At the high end, the Mac mini ships with a 2.8Ghz dual-core Core i5, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB Fusion Drive, and Intel Iris Graphics.

Base configurations of the Mac mini are currently available for purchase from the online Apple Store and will ship in one to three days. Custom configurations ship within three to five days.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Buy Now)
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gugy
56 months ago
Lame Apple.
Rating: 185 Votes
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n0cus
56 months ago
The 2012 mini with a quad core processor is looking more attractive than the new ones.
Rating: 165 Votes
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taptic
56 months ago
Apple... You aren't helping any PC versus Mac debates with this...
Rating: 130 Votes
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Shirke
56 months ago
I'm gonna build my own Hackintosh.
Rating: 104 Votes
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Renzatic
56 months ago

If it's because normal RAM takes too much space because of its connectors, why not create a new one, just like they did at the beginning for the SSD drives in Retina MacBooks?
It's becoming annoying to see everything being soldered and not replaceable!


That'd be a decent excuse if Apple were going for a super thin laptop, but here it's just money gouging. You have to pay them $300 for an $80 upgrade of ram.

Intel NUCs are a helluva lot smaller than the Mini, sport roughly the same hardware (the Mini does have a better integrated GPU), yet have replaceable HDDs and ram. The Mini, on the other hand, is exactly the same size as it was before, and was well known for being easy to upgrade.

There's no excuse for it, other than, quite literally, Apple doesn't want you to.
Rating: 93 Votes
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KellydenAdel
56 months ago
I own 4 Mac Mini


used to repair notebooks, ......Mac Mini is my fave. desktop computer




NOW ITS RUINED


Thanks Apple, you just took a DUMP on the Mac Mini.....


then pissed on it to boot
Rating: 82 Votes
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batting1000
56 months ago
I'm soldered into the Apple ecosystem.
Rating: 77 Votes
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MrGIS
56 months ago
Love ya Apple, but this is LAME...
Rating: 65 Votes
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Tough Guy
56 months ago
LOL. Classic Apple.
Rating: 62 Votes
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phairphan
56 months ago
As predicted. So glad I picked up a 2012 Mini refurb earlier today.

When Apple transitioned to Intel, and I transitioned fully to Apple, it was great. A lot of PC-standard, user-replaceable parts across the lines. Top of the line processors. Over the past few years, Apple has managed to screw up pretty much every one of their product lines, for my purposes/preferences at least. Looks like I'll be sticking with my fully-upgradable cMP. It's getting harder and harder to remain a Mac user.
Rating: 57 Votes

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