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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If it's that critical to the workflow, I would look into buying a 2TB internal and replacing it. I know it's not a fun task, but it's now documented / videoed so well that if you're at all handy with a basic screwdriver, you should be able to do it without issue.
I just make do with the 1TB USBC. I think it cost me all of $9.
There is also a risk that Apple decides to write something into the OS after some updates that causes an error if the storage is not genuine Apple.
The other thing that isn't always mentioned is that you need to have a 2nd Mac to restore the image once you replace the drive.
Finally, there are some reports of those NAND replacement chips failing after a few months.
I'll take my chances with a quality external drive for now. This is really a MacOS experiment for me to see if I can replace my mid-tower Windows PC and still do everything I normally do with a fraction of the space. Possibly, it will fail, or I'll make some changes down the line.
So far its working great. I have my Photos and Downloads on that drive and it is actually faster than the internal Mac M4 drive.
https://www.microcenter
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Yes. That's what "comparable" means. 16gb of ram is a joke for 99% of users, but most users are using a mobile phone for nearly everything. They've been conditioned to accept a sub-par experience. And many people care about internal storage, but hey, if you're not doing anything with your computer, then you don't need as much. Enjoy your shiny fruit.
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