Surprisingly, among this wave of M4 series Mac products, the highest interest came from the once “low-profile” Mac mini.
Beyond its excellent price-performance ratio, the M4 Mac mini abandoned its 14-year-old design in favor of a miniaturized form factor that can be held in one hand, sparking considerable discussion.
Comparing old and new side by side, the new Mac mini is significantly smaller than its predecessor, only slightly larger than an Apple TV.
▲ Source: Reddit
How did Apple achieve this slimdown for the Mac mini? With this question in mind, several tech enthusiasts disassembled the latest Mac mini to discover what secrets lie within the smallest Apple computer ever made.
First, let’s review the teardown of the previous Mac mini generation:
▲ M2 Mac Mini with fan removed, source: iFixit
After adopting Apple Silicon chips, the Mac mini’s motherboard had already shrunk considerably, occupying barely half the chassis space besides the fan. The extra space was jokingly referred to as “enough to keep fish.”
Therefore, the new M4 Mac mini’s size reduction isn’t an “industrial miracle” – it simply eliminated the excess space in the original body. The new Mac mini’s interior is extremely compact, with every inch filled with components:
▲ Source: Max Tech
To create more internal space, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules aren’t integrated into the core of the body but are placed on a small auxiliary board above the bottom cooling shroud. The metal shroud cleverly doubles as an antenna – a very efficient and ingenious design.
▲ Source: Max Tech
The compact chassis means the new Mac mini can’t rely on passive cooling like its predecessor. Apple designed a new cooling solution: the fan is near the front, exhaust at the back, with air drawn from the bottom, circulating internally before being expelled.
The exhaust is angled to help hot air escape more quickly, directing it away from users at the rear of the device.
Under the shroud lie the Mac mini’s motherboard and power supply, arranged in two layers.
Removing the motherboard reveals that the Mac mini’s core components actually occupy less than half the chassis space – meaning it could potentially be even smaller if the power supply were external.
On the motherboard, one notable feature that sparked discussion is the SSD storage module.
Unlike most current Mac products, this storage module isn’t soldered to the motherboard but uses a modular design that can be easily removed with a screwdriver.
▲ Source: Max Tech
This design resembles the Mac Studio, though the storage slot is Apple’s proprietary design and incompatible with standard PC NVMe slots.
Online technicians have found that storage capacity can be upgraded by replacing the NAND chips while keeping the original storage board. While technically easier than replacing soldered chips on MacBook Pro motherboards, it’s still beyond average users’ capabilities.
▲ Source: Bilibili @FengZhuRen Phone Repair
iFixit attempted to transfer a 512GB drive module from one new Mac mini to a 256GB model. After simple configuration with official tools, the device booted normally, suggesting genuine potential for storage upgrades.
▲ Source: iFixit
Since the M2 series, Apple only equipped 256GB Mac products with single NAND chips, resulting in half the read/write speeds of dual-chip higher capacity models, drawing criticism from users.
The new Mac mini shows Apple “listened” – the entry-level 256GB version now features two NAND chips, matching the storage performance of higher capacity models.
The M4 Pro Mac mini’s storage module is longer than the M4 version, possibly to better support Thunderbolt 5’s 120GB/s transfer speeds.
iFixit’s attempt to install a non-Pro storage module in a Pro machine resulted in failed boot.
▲ M4 Pro Mac mini internal structure, blue circles indicate SSD module screws, source: MacRumors @ MikeBoss
Additionally, the M4 Pro has a larger heat spreader, thicker heat pipes, and denser cooling fins, providing better thermal management for its more powerful chip.
A minor but welcome update: the new Mac mini’s built-in speaker features a new chamber design, finally offering sound quality beyond just “audible,” though still not matching other Mac products.
▲ Source: Brandon Geekabit
Below the motherboard is the power supply. Apple’s elegant solution for connecting power voltage to the motherboard: two motherboard screws directly connect to the power bus, eliminating additional connectors.
▲ Source: Brandon Geekabit
The power supply itself is noteworthy – capacitors pass through the entire circuit board rather than standing upright. While costlier, this approach better controls the power board’s thickness.
▲ Source: Snazzy Labs
After examining the new Mac mini’s internals, one significant change stands out: it’s remarkably easy to disassemble.
The most technically challenging part might be the bottom cover: it uses clips, and forceful removal could cause cracks.
Once the cover is removed, everything is easily accessible. Despite high integration, most components are secured with screws or clips, making disassembly straightforward and intuitive, with minimal use of one-time adhesives or soldering.
▲ Source: Brandon Geekabit
For context, this year’s similarly slimmed-down iPad Pro achieved its thin profile by extensively using adhesives instead of screws.
The new Mac mini even surpasses its predecessor in repairability. While the M2’s ports were all soldered to the motherboard, the new model’s front USB-C and 3.5mm headphone ports use modular designs easily removed with a screwdriver, not to mention the surprisingly removable SSD module. This significantly reduces repair difficulty and enables potential storage upgrades.
Renowned repair assessment organization iFixit gave the new Mac mini a 7/10 repairability score, one point higher than its predecessor, and Apple provides detailed repair guides.
After thoroughly examining the new Mac mini inside and out, two types of “longevity” stand out:
- The M4 processor’s powerful performance, high repairability, and potential for modifications suggest this Mac mini will serve users for many years
- The compact external design and ingeniously integrated internal layout will likely become the standard template for Mac mini for quite some time
Though already quite small, I’m still hoping for an even more extreme, pocket-sized Mac mini – wonder how many years we’ll have to wait for that?
▲ Above: @Snazzy Labs’ modified M2 Mac mini, almost pocket-sized