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Oof - once you bump the base model to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage it doubles the price Apparently Mini RAM hasn't been user upgradable since the 2014 model ht

Oof - once you bump the base model to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage it doubles the price Apparently Mini RAM hasn't been user upgradable since the 2014 model https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041#2020 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041#2020

shortformblog 4y ago
It was upgradeable in 2018, but they the teardown to reach the RAM needlessly complicated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQq4hLKv1Cc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQq4hLKv1Cc
octotoad 4y ago
The 2018 model has socketed RAM.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  And could do 64GB too.
peanuty1 4y ago
[flagged]
- jimsmart 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure your (repeated) comment here goes against HN guidelines — arguably: it's a shallow dismissal, it's snarky, it doesn't provoke thoughtful conversation, it supports an idealogical battle, etc., etc. Please don't do that! (This is not Reddit) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
coder543 4y ago
On the plus side, with a desktop like this that isn't going to be moving frequently, there's really no compelling need to upgrade the internal storage. You could attach an external 1TB (or bigger!) NVMe SSD and you should be able to install macOS on that. You could just use the internal SSD as an extra storage drive. AFAIK, you're not required to use the internal SSD at all.
- isolli 4y ago
  Is it realistic to have an external drive for photos that integrates seamlessly with the native Photos app?
  - coder543 4y ago
    If macOS is installed on it, Photos won’t even think of it as an external drive. However, yes, you can: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517
    - isolli 4y ago
      Oh, I see. I thought of MacOS installed on the internal drive, supported by an external drive for extra storage. Thanks.
      - coder543 4y ago
        Photos would work that way too, as shown in the help article I linked.
    - jbverschoor 4y ago
      Big question for me is - how will it behave when you also use icloud photos as well? And what if it's an encrypted disk? I'm asking because of the following: Let's say your laptop is 1TB, but everything except photos and for example dropbox is under 512gb. If you then need to restore, your new laptop has to be able to contain the full restore (1TB, or whatever is used). This also means you can't just run to the store an get a standard model (instead of built-to-order) and restore, unless you buy something that has enough storage. Having multiple apfs volumes helps here, and I'd love to have all cloud storage off of my main one.
      - coder543 4y ago
        I’m not recommending any of this for laptop users, at all. If the external drive won’t be connected 100% of the time, there are all sorts of headaches that can occur because Apple doesn’t really design their software to handle intermittently available disks, in my experience, except (for obvious reasons) for Time Machine.
dougSF70 4y ago
You can walk into an apple store and buy 8GB models all day long but 16GB models are special orders...this has always seemed sketchy to me
- tracker1 4y ago
  Think it varies by location... I know the N. Scottsdale Apple Store had 16gb with the M1 models at launch.

shortformblog 4y ago

It was upgradeable in 2018, but they the teardown to reach the RAM needlessly complicated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQq4hLKv1Cc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQq4hLKv1Cc

octotoad 4y ago

The 2018 model has socketed RAM.

goosedragons 4y ago
And could do 64GB too.

peanuty1 4y ago

[flagged]

jimsmart 4y ago
I'm pretty sure your (repeated) comment here goes against HN guidelines — arguably: it's a shallow dismissal, it's snarky, it doesn't provoke thoughtful conversation, it supports an idealogical battle, etc., etc. Please don't do that! (This is not Reddit) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

coder543 4y ago

On the plus side, with a desktop like this that isn't going to be moving frequently, there's really no compelling need to upgrade the internal storage. You could attach an external 1TB (or bigger!) NVMe SSD and you should be able to install macOS on that. You could just use the internal SSD as an extra storage drive. AFAIK, you're not required to use the internal SSD at all.

isolli 4y ago
Is it realistic to have an external drive for photos that integrates seamlessly with the native Photos app?
- coder543 4y ago
  If macOS is installed on it, Photos won’t even think of it as an external drive. However, yes, you can: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201517
  - isolli 4y ago
    Oh, I see. I thought of MacOS installed on the internal drive, supported by an external drive for extra storage. Thanks.
    - coder543 4y ago
      Photos would work that way too, as shown in the help article I linked.
  - jbverschoor 4y ago
    Big question for me is - how will it behave when you also use icloud photos as well? And what if it's an encrypted disk? I'm asking because of the following: Let's say your laptop is 1TB, but everything except photos and for example dropbox is under 512gb. If you then need to restore, your new laptop has to be able to contain the full restore (1TB, or whatever is used). This also means you can't just run to the store an get a standard model (instead of built-to-order) and restore, unless you buy something that has enough storage. Having multiple apfs volumes helps here, and I'd love to have all cloud storage off of my main one.
    - coder543 4y ago
      I’m not recommending any of this for laptop users, at all. If the external drive won’t be connected 100% of the time, there are all sorts of headaches that can occur because Apple doesn’t really design their software to handle intermittently available disks, in my experience, except (for obvious reasons) for Time Machine.

dougSF70 4y ago

You can walk into an apple store and buy 8GB models all day long but 16GB models are special orders...this has always seemed sketchy to me

tracker1 4y ago
Think it varies by location... I know the N. Scottsdale Apple Store had 16gb with the M1 models at launch.