A teardown of the new Mac mini has surfaced on the forum eGPU.io (via Reddit), providing us with a real-world look at Apple's new M1 chip, which is soldered onto a much smaller logic board than the one found in the 2018 model of the computer.
The M1 is the silver chip labeled with APL1102, housing the 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, I/O controllers, and more all in one. The unified system memory is also visible on the right side of the chip, and takes up far less space than the standalone RAM modules used in the previous Mac mini, contributing to the smaller logic board.
As expected, the switch to unified system memory also means that there is no user-upgradeable RAM, as there was with the previous Mac mini, so choose wisely between 8GB or 16GB of memory when configuring the Mac mini on Apple's online store. The SSD also remains soldered to the logic board, so there is no user-upgradeable storage either.
A video teardown of the new Mac mini has also surfaced, revealing that the overall disassembly process is similar to the 2018 model:
There's also a video teardown of the new MacBook Air, providing a peek inside the notebook, although many components are covered with shielding. We'll have to wait on iFixit for its more in-depth teardowns of the new Macs for a closer look.
They couldn't make a smaller enclosure for this? Really?
Why do multiple engineering challenges at a time when you don't have to?
Odds are the Air and mini will both receive a redesign in the next two or so years.
Both the 68k-to-PowerPC nor the PowerPC-to-Intel transitions came with mostly identical cases:
* the 6100 was the same cases as the 660AV * the 8100 as the 840AV * the 7100 was a little different to the 650, I believe * the MacBook Pro was virtually identical to the PowerBook G4 except for things like adding a webcam * the (Intel) iMac looked just like the iMac G5 * the Mac mini was identical * the MacBook that came after a few months was a noticeable change from its preceding iBook
So, we might see a model or two next year that looks noticeably (but not drastically) different. The iMac would be one obvious choice.
I am so excited to see what is inside my new Apple Silicon Mac mini! I am especially happy to learn that the M1 Mac mini has 2 Thunderbolt 3 controller chips (one for each Thunderbolt/USB4 port) so they do not need to share bandwidth, nor reduce device speed, between the 2 Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps ports.
I just received my custom order M1 Mac mini yesterday with 16GB RAM and 1 TB SSD Flash drive. I love it! Although 8GB RAM seems to be fine for most people, I chose to go 16GB because of Final Cut Pro video editing. From everything I see the M1 Mac mini works great for video editing (even 8GB RAM). See The Everyday Dad video about Mac mini M1 video editing:
Technicians in China have reportedly succeeded in upgrading the memory and storage of the M1 chip, suggesting that Apple's integrated custom silicon for the Mac may be more flexible than previously thought.
Reports of maintenance technicians being able to expand the memory and storage of M1 Macs began circulating on Chinese social media over the weekend, but now international reports have...
Tuesday November 10, 2020 10:32 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple today introduced a new Mac mini, one of three new Macs powered by the company's new custom M1 chip with integrated graphics.
Thanks to the introduction of the M1 chip, the Mac mini's 8-core CPU provides faster performance than the previous generation. Specifically, Apple says that the M1-powered Mac mini is able to compile code in Xcode up to three times faster, play a...
Tuesday April 27, 2021 1:38 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's custom next-generation Mac processor entered mass production this month, claims a new report today from Nikkei Asia. Tentatively dubbed the "M2" after Apple's M1 chip, the processors take at least three months to produce and could begin shipping as early as July in time for incorporation in Apple's next line of MacBooks, according to the paper's sources.
The next generation of Mac...
WWDC is quickly approaching, and that means rumors are starting to ramp up including the possibility that we might see the long-rumored MacBook Pro redesign at the keynote. This week also saw rumors about future updates to the AirPods and AirPods Pro, as well as a redesigned Mac mini.
In other news, Apple has released iOS 14.6 with new features like Apple Card Family and podcast...
Apple is working on a high-end version of the Mac mini, featuring a more powerful Apple silicon chip and extra ports, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a wide-reaching report, Gurman explained that Apple is developing a more powerful version of the Mac mini, positioned as a high-end version of the current M1 model. The new Mac mini is expected to use the same chip as the...
Thursday March 25, 2021 2:32 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Some customers who have purchased an M1 Mac mini have been experiencing an issue that causes the machine not to wake a connected third-party display from sleep.
This is not an issue that's affecting all M1 Mac mini owners, but there are numerous complaints on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities dating back to November when the Mac mini was first released. MacRumors reader...
Despite Apple offering the M1 iPad Pro in configurations with 8GB and 16GB of RAM, developers are now indicating that apps are limited to just 5GB of RAM usage, regardless of the configuration the app is running on.
The M1 iPad Pro comes in two memory configurations; the 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB models feature 8GB of RAM, while the 1TB and 2TB variants offer 16GB of memory, the highest ever...
Apple is working on a high-end version of the MacBook Air that will feature an improved iteration of the current M1 Apple silicon chip, featuring improved graphics, but the same number of high efficiency, and high performance cores, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple updated its 13-inch MacBook Air alongside the 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini with the M1 Apple silicon chip in...
Apple last Friday released the first M1 iMac models to customers and began selling them in stores, and iFixit has now started one of its traditional teardowns on the new machines.
iFixit is tearing down the mid-tier purple iMac model with an 8-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, and 8GB RAM. It's worth noting that the internals of this model will look different than the internals of the base model with ...
Apple's more powerful "M2" chip is set to come to a wave of new Macs, bringing significant performance and efficiency improvements to a range of new models, according to recent reports.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously said that Apple is working on higher-end Apple silicon chips that are expected to "significantly outpace" the performance of the latest Macs that still contain Intel chips,...
Top Rated Comments
I think the number of people in the “the Mini would be nice but it won’t fit my available space” crowd isn’t much of a crowd.
Odds are the Air and mini will both receive a redesign in the next two or so years.
Both the 68k-to-PowerPC nor the PowerPC-to-Intel transitions came with mostly identical cases:
* the 6100 was the same cases as the 660AV
* the 8100 as the 840AV
* the 7100 was a little different to the 650, I believe
* the MacBook Pro was virtually identical to the PowerBook G4 except for things like adding a webcam
* the (Intel) iMac looked just like the iMac G5
* the Mac mini was identical
* the MacBook that came after a few months was a noticeable change from its preceding iBook
So, we might see a model or two next year that looks noticeably (but not drastically) different. The iMac would be one obvious choice.
I just received my custom order M1 Mac mini yesterday with 16GB RAM and 1 TB SSD Flash drive. I love it! Although 8GB RAM seems to be fine for most people, I chose to go 16GB because of Final Cut Pro video editing. From everything I see the M1 Mac mini works great for video editing (even 8GB RAM). See The Everyday Dad video about Mac mini M1 video editing: