Memory is not user upgradable.
SSD is user extendable, either within the box or external addition.
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expiredyoungliu posted May 6, 2025 1:19 PM
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Great buy though- excellent value. Very pleased with mine from last time - which serves as a very capable 'desktop replacement' - and uses only 2-4.5W of power consumption during real-world use, driving two large format displays (at/near 4K). I barely even use my desktop PC anymore because it uses ~100W to do the same thing, and it's no faster or smoother than the M4 Mini for general use.
1 - It has "only" 256gb of storage. Yes, it sucks. USB4/Thunderbolt external NVMe/SSD will be a cheap addition, or get the aftermarket internal chip upgrade.
2 - It's still expensive. Ok, provide a link to machine that has comparable performance and capabilities in a similar form factor for this price.
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Good price on external drive, plenty fast enough IMHO
I have a logi MX mouse and keyboard, a 27 inch Samsung monitor, a logi webcam, Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers, and an external SSD to complete my desktop.
You can either go with retail drives or roll your own with an enclosure and NVME drive.
If you're looking for the fastest R/W speeds, check this article for a discussion of chipsets in enclosures. It lists retail drives as well. Certainly there is discussion on diminishing returns on drive speed and whether you'll notice 1000MB/s vs 3800MB/s but if you want to max out the speed you're going to get over TB4, this article describes the enclosures/chipsets that will allow it.
https://dancharblog.wor
This guy (r/NewMaxx) did GREAT work categorizing the NVME drives into categories so you can make an educated pick too.
https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...id=
Here's another list from r/NewMaxx with Apr 2025 list of drives and prices
https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...id=
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Granted this one is $400 more but I don't have to worry about getting an external keyboard and a mouse. Plus the portability advantage of taking the MacBook anywhere.
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They sell it for $500 on Apple education store if you have Apple GCs to use (can't PM with edu discount) -- I would wait until June for the back to school sale to start since they'll throw in an Apple GC on top of edu price
Last year it was $100 GC but not sure if it'll be the same this year due to tariffs and M4 mini selling much better than the M2 mini -- they'll probably do $50-$75 GC but could be $100 GC again
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