New Mac Mini Teardown Provides Look Inside Apple's Smallest Mac Ever

YouTube channel Brandon Geekabit today shared a teardown video for the new Mac mini base model with the M4 chip, 256GB of storage, and 16GB of RAM. The video provides the first complete look inside Apple's smallest Mac ever, revealing the computer's logic board, built-in power supply, cooling system, and other components.


While previous Mac mini models with Apple silicon chips had plenty of unused internal space, since the computer had not been redesigned since it used Intel processors, components take up nearly all of the space inside the new model.

The bottom metal plate on the Mac mini continues to double as an antenna. Once that is removed, you can see the fan and heat sink that help to keep the computer running cool. Beyond that, you can see the Mac mini's modular storage that we reported on earlier today. The base model with 256GB of storage has two 128GB chips, which means it will no longer have slower SSD speeds compared to higher-capacity models. Last, you can see the Mac mini's logic board with the M4 chip and the power supply below that.

The new Mac mini has an innovative thermal architecture, in which air is guided from the bottom foot to different levels of the computer.

mac mini thermal architecture feature
As far as the new Mac mini's repairability is concerned, we will have to wait for the website iFixit to share its own teardown video.

Overall, the new Mac mini is an impressive engineering feat made possible by the industry-leading performance-per-watt characteristics of Apple silicon. The new Mac mini launched in stores today, and we recently shared our own hands-on video.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac mini

Popular Stories

Apple AI Command Center Concept Mock 3

Apple Expected to Launch This All-New Device Next Year

Wednesday November 27, 2024 1:05 pm PST by
Apple is expected to kick off 2025 by launching an all-new smart home hub, also referred to as a "command center," as early as March. The hub is expected to feature around a six-inch display that can be attached to a tabletop base with a speaker, or mounted on a wall. The device is said to run a new "homeOS" operating system with a customizable widget-focused home screen, and it is expected...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.2

Thursday December 5, 2024 11:48 am PST by
Apple seeded the release candidate version of iOS 18.2 today, which means it's going to see a public launch imminently. Release candidates represent the final version of new software that will be provided to the public should no last minute bugs be found, and Apple includes release notes with the RC launch. The iOS 18.2 release notes provide a look at all of the new features that are coming...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp to Drop Support for These iPhones Starting May 2025

Monday December 2, 2024 2:57 am PST by
WhatsApp is set to end support for iOS versions older than iOS 15.1 from May next year, removing the chat platform's compatibility with several iPhone models in the process. From May 5, 2025, WhatsApp will no longer be compatible with iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus models. Users with those devices won't be able to access the encrypted chat service after the specified date unless they ...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 27, 2024 5:05 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in early December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as...
Flip iPhone Thumb 1

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Could Reinvigorate Stalling Market

Monday December 2, 2024 4:04 pm PST by
The foldable smartphone market has stalled with customer interest in foldables waning, but that could change when Apple debuts a foldable iPhone, according to display analyst Ross Young. In a report on the current foldable smartphone market, Young says that Apple is expected to "enter the foldable market" in the second half of 2026. Apple's "dominant position in flagship smartphones" could...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Expected Next Year: Here's What We Know

Thursday November 28, 2024 3:30 am PST by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Rectangle Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Already Rumored to Have These 8 New Features

Wednesday November 27, 2024 12:19 pm PST by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch for 10 more months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. An imaginative iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models so far: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro ...
Tim Cook WWDC 2024

Apple CEO Tim Cook Opens Up About AI Plans, Vision Pro Future, and More in New Interview

Wednesday December 4, 2024 5:40 am PST by
WIRED today shared in an in-depth interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook, asking questions about AI, Vision Pro sales, pre-recorded keynotes, and more. The wide-ranging interview covers Apple's pivot toward AI technology, including what Apple Intelligence features Cook finds most useful, Apple's partnership with OpenAI, and the environmental impact of AI. For example, WIRED asked Cook about...

Top Rated Comments

Chuckeee Avatar
4 weeks ago

Max Tech does unboxing the right way.


Sorry Max Tech cringe inducing clipbait commentary makes me want to puke.
?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
4 weeks ago
Remember when M2 came out and some people invented ridiculous excuses for Apple using a single NAND?

“but THeY dOnt MaKe 128gB cHIps aNyMoRe”

Glad to see Apple listening a bit to customer feedback on price/performance and external display support.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DavidSchaub Avatar
4 weeks ago

The ****ing RAM is not ****ing soldered onto it. It is integrated in the ****ing CPU.

But unfortunately, the SSD is not user replaceable, which honestly is inexcusable at this point.
No, the RAM are just standard LPDDR5 chips connected to the package that the SoC die is also connected to.

Three distinct chips on the package:



At least the flash chips are repairable, if not really end-user replaceable. Given that the Mac would otherwise be bricked when the flash chips failed, this is a nice change.

Attachment Image
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrhick01 Avatar
4 weeks ago
dosdude1 has done a teardown and an upgrade of the storage from 256GB to 1TB (the 2TB upgrade failed because of a bad chip).

It's doable, but not by any user. Takes technician-level skills and some tools.

Given the SSD speeds, a good attached TB4/USB4 drive with an NVMe2 SSD can beat the speed of the base 256 GB (1700 read/2000 write), and match the 1 TB upgrade (3000 read & write).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Victor Mortimer Avatar
4 weeks ago

The ****ing RAM is not ****ing soldered onto it. It is integrated in the ****ing CPU.

But unfortunately, the SSD is not user replaceable, which honestly is inexcusable at this point.
The ****ing RAM is ****ing soldered onto it. It is not integrated in the ****ing CPU.

And the SSD IS user replaceable as soon as 3rd party parts show up. I suspect there weren't enough Studios for OWC to build the parts. That will not be the case with the mini.

No, I'm not joking about the RAM. It's NOT integrated in any way, it's just soldered onto the same package as the CPU.
It's separate chips.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zdigital2015 Avatar
4 weeks ago

No SD card reader and limited ports?
No thank you.
They had a sale until I didn't see an SD reader.
Mac mini hasn’t had an SD Card reader since the 2014 model. A high quality reader plus a USB-C cable to run it will be ~$50 at most.

If you really need a new computer, then you outfit what they sell you with the stuff you need. Otherwise, you really don’t need a new computer.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)