The RAM on Apple’s new Mac Mini can’t be upgraded

Good news: the Mac Mini is back! Bad news: ain’t no way you’re going to be upgrading the RAM yourself. It’s been confirmed by a number of people over the weekend that the RAM in Apple’s little desktop isn’t upgradable. You can upgrade the hard drive—but in doing so you will void the warranty. Sorry. It’s perhaps not massively surprising. Apple hasn’t been making products any easier to upgrade, and given the small computer is essentially a MacBook in a different box, we aren’t too shocked. But the old Mac Mini was surprisingly easy to upgrade, so it’s a shame that’s had to change.

After 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.