M2 Mac Mini Teardown / Disassembly (4K - Up Close)

[@JohnEboyee]

Amazing how powerful computers have gotten with such a small footprint. Cool stuff!

[@NotBROLL]

Riiight, it's basically the same size as a Raspberry Pi but way more powerful. It's crazy.

[@blutsx]

Apple doing the unthinkable

[@MKamois]

@@NotBROLL wait what? it's like 5 times bigger than rpi...

[@TheWorld4all]

It's a shame that it only runs MacOS and can't upgrade when Apple decides you need to buy a new one.

[@WolfiiDog13]

@@TheWorld4all there's a huge ongoing effort from the Linux community to reverse engineer and make Linux work perfectly well on Apple Silicon Macs. You can install other OSs on these Macs, Apple doesn't prevent it, they just haven't made any effort to make it easy

[@aravjain]

Wow! That machine is incredible and very compact for its power! And great video, I love the 4K quality and step-by-step teardown!

[@tobias_dahlberg]

Absolutely insane that such a powerful machine is that small.

[@w2385-i2s]

It's just a iPhone in a different form factor.

[@adredy]

this was possible long time ago but ;) apple like $$$ .... like samsung dex 5 years ago

[@Terandium]

@@adredy bro i have an s21 and the samsung dex is nothing compared to a full fledged pc os XD

[@krsaccountingsolutions6135]

iPhone, Mobiles, Android is a difference form factor so don't compare that's with Mac or windows

[@peterv1602]

Thank you for showing us the teardown video. 7:11 what you pointed to is LPDDR5 SDRAM memory.

[@quickmaker2280]

Yes, SSD drive - silver chip on the right

[@NicVandEmZ]

@@quickmaker2280two chips right next to apple chip are soder ram chips and he called them sold state drives the actual sdd is silver chip on right of because there is a second placement are with pin hole were apple can put another sdd chip

[@brandon20904]

CORRECTION! To the right of the M2 chip are 2X SK hynix H58G56AK6HX052 4 GB LPDDR5 SDRAM memory. There is only one SINGLE NAND chip for storage.

[@brandon20904]

@Milan Lucky Sure do you have a prefrence on which app to use? Blackmagic?

[@mohamedfarag798]

@@brandon20904 Black Magic

[@DestroyCode]

@@brandon20904 yes black magic please

[@brandon20904]

@@DestroyCode kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqXFpIuDhaeri8U

[@brandon20904]

@Milan Lucky kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqXFpIuDhaeri8U

[@yuan.pingchen3056]

This M2 Mac Mini spec just like my 15 inch MacBook Pro bought 11 years ago, 8G RAM and 256GB SSD, it's so nice..

[@adredy]

facebook and youtube :)

[@Alexdghfgbfgbfg]

С той лишь разницей, что для архитектуры 8086 и arm требуется различная производительность железа)

[@D9ID9I]

Non-expandable ram - fine. But non-replaceable drive is not acceptable at all.

[@allanjunli]

Thank you for sharing. Basically, it’s not upgradable. Miss those 2012 design.

[@imamfajar930]

7:11 Actually that is RAM, not SSD SSD is on the right top of it, something with like a glue around it

[@dougall1687]

Yup, my thought too.

[@vishnuvardhanv4151]

thank you for doing the tear down of the mac mini.. Outstanding work

[@daleharper5361]

Brandon Geekabit: if you get the 1TB drive, what is the NAND count? If you get 16gb does it have 4 4gb scram chips or 2 8gb? If you get 32 GB what is the chip configuration?

[@akus3526]

The 16gb version will be my first own mac ever, very nice to learn how it looks on the inside! Indeed there’s a lot of space inside, but I guess the current form factor isn’t an issue for most people

[@theands2724]

Would you rather go with 16gb ram or the 512gb ssd because it’s faster?

[@andre88223]

@@theands2724 didn’t know yet if the 512 also got one nand.

[@akus3526]

@@theands2724 good question, I just went with the assumption that 16gb would be enough for the software I mostly use, after doing a bit of research. About storage I already have an external ssd so don’t see the need to pay the extra. I know having the 256gb ssd in the mac could be a bit slower than 512gb but afaik it shouldn’t be an issue for me

[@earnistse4899]

@@akus3526 upgrading to 512gb will make your machine faster.

[@DisgruntledPigumon]

@@earnistse4899 Why is that?

[@segiatera]

2:50 Just wanna make sure so they changed the screws holding the fan from Torx T6 on the M1 to Torx T5 on M2?

[@subramaniamchandrasekar1397]

Give the man a beer. Great work. Thank you for showing us.

[@Bugatti12563]

this base model is gonna be my first mac. Should be able to buy it in February. I'm already deep in the apple ecosystem with my iphone and apple tv 4k!

[@SpencerKraisler]

Nice, it looks like a fantastic computer. I have a macbook air (M1) and it runs great. It's crazy I can still run matlab and program with it.

[@karaokedogs2618]

I sincerely suggest extending your budget for a larger SSD. There is a significant difference in speed (and long-term longevity) between a single NAND option (which definitely includes the 256GB size) and the dual NAND options (which may start at the 512GB size, but could require reaching up to the 1TB size). Best to research these small but important details before buying, so that you will have a computer that serves you well for at least the next 4~5 years.

[@awesomeapple4540]

@@karaokedogs2618 i highly disagree. apple storage is extremely overpriced. buy the base model because the value is insane and if you are worried about speed just buy external ssd‘s and connect them via usb c they can be plenty fast. longevity of those really hasn‘t been an issue anymore for years in the industry.

[@georgelyras1978]

@@awesomeapple4540 in this case, its not a mater of speed... research a little about m chip Macs, if ssd dies , the whole computer is useless...

[@RestoreTechnique]

Great teardown thanks 👌

[@maximilianschwab9668]

I thought the chips under the black strip at the right side of the processor were the RAM modules, while the SSDs are further right and a little above, with two suckets available for either 8 or 16 TB capacity. Didn't I say that already? Your videos are great! I really like them! Thank you very much!

[@taucetus3657]

the solid state drive is single silver chip up yonder. The black chips on the M2 are RAM modules... that is your 8GB RAM

[@FireMunki63]

Why would they make it smaller? You need some weight and size to stop it tipping and for the air grille and inputs/outputs? I don’t get why it needs to be smaller or what benefit being smaller would be? The Mac mini is essentially as small as it needs to be. What would be the pro of it being smaller especially as the pro edition uses the same case. Can you please qualify your statement ?

[@toadlguy]

Are you sure what you identified as the Solid State Drives are correct? Max Tech identified the SSDs as being the chip right next to your middle finger at 7:18 and the place for a second SSD right above it suggesting the base model drive speed will be much slower with one 256GB SSD rather than two 128GB SSDs that were on the M1 Mac mini. If, however, you are correct then that is clearly 2 chips. Perhaps that is the 8GBs of ram, however.

[@brandon20904]

You're right. I got it mixed up because that's how it was when I tore down the M1, I added some notes to the video and description. Thanks!

[@peterpayne2219]

Super useful guide! I'm in the process of hollowing out a G4 Cube which will become the new home of my M2 Mac Mini, with a bunch of extras (extra USB SSD, backup SSD, etc.). I've been trying to analyze how the M2 and M2 Pro motherboards are different, which will make my mounting challenges different.

[@theumacura]

7:10 it is RAM, SSD is the silver one, outside EMI shield

[@LeicaM11]

7:12 I think, those are the RAM modules, right?

[@BrianMegilligan]

Thanks for taking yours apart so my curiosity doesn't get the best of me and I try to take mine apart! I ordered a M2 with 24GB ram and 1TB storage. I wonder if it still all looks the same? Astounding how compact everything is - going from a 27" 2010 iMac!

[@biswajit07]

yeah you can open yours and check

[@JCole78]

The only real difference will be there will be 2 SSD chips. If you look at the 7:12 mark when he points to the “SSD” he’s actually pointing to the RAM. The SSD is actually up and to the right from those. In the video this has a single SSD chip. The second one on yours will be where the grid of solder ball pads are just above the one in this video.

[@winstonalf]

@@JCole78 exactly right

[@NicVandEmZ]

The black thing right next m2 chip is ram not sold state drive like he sad

[@kris2501100]

little beast! My base model M1 MBA still serves me well. It's very nice to see things advance so quickly and pleasantly :)

[@JamiBolin]

This is a very nice tear down video! Thanks a bunch. I did notice you identified two chips on the board as Solid State "Drives", The two chips on the side of the M2 chip are the Dynamic RAM modules, not the solid state drives you mentioned. I believe The storage chip(s) has/have also been soldered on the board. The two chips mounted to the board near the I/O panel look suspiciously like 128GB solid state chips. Alternatively, Apple could have used a single 256GB chip, which the square chip to the top right could be. Also, another technical detail to note is the Hard Drive does not exist on the inside of the South Bridge, The DRAM and PCI-E are the only communicants at that point. Since PCI-Express is on the North of the South Bridge and South of the North Bridge, it is called Express. Since the DRAM is shared by the CPU and the GPU, the Graphics RAM and the Compute RAM are the same chips, The GPU is on the north bridge and the Unified Memory is the only thing between the North and South bridges.

[@tiggercat8689]

Yes, the storage chip is North East of the Memory - around where his top finger is located! Being the 256GB version, there is only one chip. I believe more can be mounted nearby.

[@pineappleapricotjelly4706]

I think the two black chips beside the M2 are the RAM, and the SSD NAND chip is the silver outside heatsink enclosure

[@cbemubarak]

Excellent channel every engineer must watch

[@hesher.]

At 3:25 you can see that he turned off the power only after he unscrewed the main board and then cut everything off at the installation as if he had done everything right

[@MoreReneRebe]

on the right of the Apple CPU is the RAM, not "solid state drives" those are further away on the right edge of the PCB, ...

[@exXwULrFni]

Glad you did size comparison in the end, as I was curious on how much that board is bigger than RPi4 board

[@obc993]

Apple should include an extra ssd slot, that'd be super useful.

[@Vinilo_Flow_Europa]

Bro i do y look ram ?

[@hysan166]

For M2 pro Mac mini ,Is it better to have a 1TB version for a “guaranteed” faster SSD compared to 512GB? Thanks!

[@danielnaron]

Honestly, it really wouldn’t make that much difference when your SSD is reading/writing beyond 1500 or 3000 megabytes per second. Any kind of work will be more than fine with that. What you want to consider are TBW ratings (Terabytes Written). The larger SSD capacity, the higher TBW rating, and the longer it can withstand wear and outlive your use cycle. Consider as well that you cannot just replace the SSD if it’s broken. That’ll render your Mac Mini useless 😅. Since you’re getting the M2 Pro, you must be using it for some powerful stuff. I’d recommend you get the 512GB and get an external SSD drive for files you actively use to avoid wear on your internal SSD. It’s more practical than shelling out money for 1TB when you can get external SSDs just as fast (using Thunderbolt connections) with larger storage

[@lucian5246]

ESD, no worries , SSD and memory are the same thing, that's good!

[@TheFredFred33]

Thank you for this great job about Mac mini M2. Just a comment about that you said at 7min21, I think it is not the SSD chip but the 2 LPDDR5 chip which provide the Unified Memory. these 2 chips have to be close to the SoC and the SSD chip not. You can see the SSD nand chip upper on the right, it is the large light grey chip with transparent and rectangle border. And upper there is a rectangle space for the second nand chip (used when you order 1TB of SSD). Sadly the marketing of Apple decided with M2 family to use only one SSD chip with 256 & 512 GB configurations. And the performances R&W are affected obviously (/2).

[@pino_7428]

Didn’t knew this and lucky that I upgraded the Ram to 16gb and the SSD to 1tb. Logic and final cut pro pre installed for $1,258 with the educational price.

[@cos6449]

I agree what you said, the ssd is further than the ram, but actually there's only one ssd inside the m2 Mac mini,so the disk speed is 50% lower than the previous generation

[@mitchphillips5704]

@@pino_7428 I thuink the 512gb uses 2 sad slots as the read and write speeds double the 256gb version

[@CO8848_2]

It looks like there is only 1 slot for the SSD?

[@Bourboelettah]

Great video! Now waiting for the m2 Pro variant.

[@pietrosilvestrone6044]

Can you make a video were you upgrade the ram memory?

[@mueez.mp4]

Great teardown video, man!

[@brandon20904]

Thanks for the visit

[@jujumao8678]

Amazing work by you. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

[@HHuzz]

I'm new, is the mac mini m2 with 16GB and 512 useful storage space for games? If you have any advice, listen.

[@SakilAhmed-mc6sv]

Apple is really going in right direction! Love the compact size

[@Lykaon01]

Well, its surely full of engineer craft but for me, it’s a bit too much due to the reason of no possibility to upgrade things like ram or storage.

[@khalilmakhloufi-d2c]

@@Lykaon01 wrong, they are trying to force the end user to use the cloud, so you can't upgrade the storage

[@khalilmakhloufi-d2c]

@@Lykaon01 wrong, they are trying to force the end user to use the cloud, so you can't upgrade the storage

[@danieleppelsheimer9273]

Thank you for the last image of comparison with the iPhone 13

[@indiekiduk]

Thanks for sharing, shame about the ssd mistake but not a big deal

[@JohnWindberg]

Why do I keep hearing that ram is onboard the SOC, when clearly they are separate chips? Love to see a close up of the M2 SOC and those ram chips. Still, no reason ram and storage could not have been made replaceable/upgradeable.

[@mohamedamjedhossain1822]

THANK YOU IT WORKED. I AM SO HAPPY.

[@kerisuma]

Do we need to buy a UPS or maybe surge protector considering how small the psu is? For my desktop pc i just plug it straight to the wall without problems for years bc i trust the psu capability and features.

[@TR-707]

awesome teardown.

[@abhishekraj9272]

can't wait for an M2 iphone

[@のびさん-o8y]

I am considering purchasing a MacBook." If I choose the "Apple M2 Pro MacBook Pro (Base Model) with 10 core CPU, 16 core GPU and 1TB SSD, will it be 2 chip NAND and will there be any performance degradation?

[@barrywilmeth3554]

Awesome - thanks for sharing, Brandon. My m2 comes in on 5 Feb. Looking forward to it.

[@barrywilmeth3554]

Actually it came in early from Apple - todayJan 27 - hooking it up as I write this. So happy

[@matta4513]

Always wondered, if I could make a "extension" for an Ipad pro, with reworking and rehousing an M2 MAC MINI with a Pro chip, and give it extra computing power when needed with the usage of Mac Apps and MacOS. oh well.

[@lenshibo]

Given just how much empty space there is, its frustrating that there STILL soldering the ssd to the board.

[@the_truth_seeker]

You are a real pro! ❤

[@nir0pilot]

7:10 it is not SSD, it is RAM

[@josiptuan7623]

hello im wonderig what hepend to video from 3.20 to 3:31. :)

[@stcstwwlove]

will I be able to upgrade the RAM ?

[@xg4381]

Wonder if m2 pro model used beefier cooling solution.🤔

[@titustucan9654]

Thanks a lot for the review. What SSD size should one buy in order to have the best SSD R/W performance. If a 512gb has 2 NAND chips and reaches 3000, would 1tb give 6000? Is there anyone there who owns a MM M2 Pro with 1tb to test the speed ?

[@Jan-xf8sk]

They modified the base model M2 Mac mini's SSD arrangement, just like what they did with MacBook Air M2 and 13" MacBook Pro M2 (I can't verify if that's the same case with the 14" and 16" MacBook Pro M2 Pro and Max.) All the base models use a single NAND SSD chip. DO NOT buy the base model if read/write speeds matter to your workflow. Otherwise if you're just a casual (non-technical) user go for it. The slower SSDs won't matter to you.

[@Hedorah3]

Thanks for the video sir! Waiting for M2 Pro version - its heavier and I wonder whats changed comparing to base M2.

[@bernaferrari]

Probably has an active fan

[@MrMegatau]

Only Apple can make a beautiful inside design.

[@thecolorhero1078]

Wow. Thank you.

[@brandon20904]

You're welcome!

[@Япохожнакота]

apple needs to change the case to a more compact one, the old big cases for mac mini look bad.

[@KeremKrm-p3u]

Where is the wifi kit located exactly?

[@augustya7543]

@Brandon Geekabit Are you sure even in the 2023 Mac Mini the 256 GB SSD has only one Nand Chip where as the 512 GB SSD has two ?

[@_harris]

Hope the 512 SSD version will come with 2 NAND chips. Thanks for the video.

[@DanielBlaney]

Nope. Its confirmed to have a single NAND chip as well.

[@youknownothing3766]

@@DanielBlaney Do you mind sharing the source for this confirmation?

[@mitchphillips5704]

@@DanielBlaney this is incorrect. It comes with 2 as the read and write speed doubles the base model with 256gb

[@brawer]

hdmi 2.0? 4k 60hz, and 2k 120hz or more?

[@colindoyle9876]

Very good - Do you think case can be swapped with a 2018 for a black mini m2?

[@guycortesi]

Wondering that too…

[@colindoyle9876]

@@guycortesi surprised no-one tried it - asked all over KZbin and creators just ignore comment. Instant views of that for sure. Guess they are rich.

[@filip0112]

4k and normalized to something like -20 dB FS. Is it really that hard to normalize sound?

[@ChihHaoChen]

That's so good and useful. Thanks.

[@turkalpkucur]

thanks. I think memory is not upgradeable.

[@andestryu6186]

Someone knows that new mini still share bandwidth on those 2 c-ports like before?

[@seanperscky]

Is that BCM57762 chip a BT/WIFI combo?

[@jie1379]

So the m2 Mac mini downgrade SSD to single chip which same as what happened to m2 MacBook. Not recommend to get m2 Mac mini basic version, I would keep my m1 Mac mini which has faster ssd.

[@brandon20904]

People are saying the 512gb one has faster SSD.

[@TeddyCavachon]

I migrated from 2007 iMac to iPads and am just now upgrading my desktop to an M2 Mini Pro model to edit photos and video on a new mirrorless camera. Will my old iMac corded KB and Kensington Orbit trackball work or will I need to buy a new wireless KB / Trackball or Magic Mouse?

[@adredy]

no

[@christianhotter]

If the antenna is on the bottom and the case it metal, do we need to lift up the Mac mini on the desk to get a better line of site to the antenna?

[@Karti200]

I cannot wait for linux to be fully usable with Apple "M" series chips

[@svensyoutube1]

the question is why is the m1 not in in the iphone

[@pyrosun01]

Things on the right it’s ram chips

[@Asifur_Rahman]

I like the build quality of Apple...

[@soberhippie]

It is like one of those Chinese box puzzles

[@IsmaelMartinezPR]

What is the other Apple logo chip next to the M2?

[@montatheralmosuy3240]

fantastic 😍😍😍

[@C919]

good job！

[@easysimple7191]

the good news from this video is. we cannot upgrade ssd and memory... for those who have already bought. Enjoy this extraordinary innovation

[@kanwar061]

Compny should realy need to give space to upgrade. Like RAM and SSD

[@742Timbox]

that's cool thanks

[@danielmoraes9637]

thanks

[@milotxh]

Can u upgrade ram on mac mini m2, 8g to 16g

[@robnation2475]

Such a small footprint but I can't fit it in my shoe just yet. Maybe someday!

[@Kilohercas]

Not solid state drives on the edge of processor, but RAM !

[@haploguy]

that's the ram to the right of the cip, i think.

[@StarGhost-1100]

can you tell what is name of wi-fi Module in it?

[@RandomGermanBrit]

That's the memory on the soc. Not the ssd.

[@hasanuzzaman3272]

FINE. THANKS

[@wesleytang0730]

Thank you for sharing~

[@brandon20904]

My pleasure 😊

[@danlovesayu]

MacMini have gone a very long way. This is one of the simplest architecture build from Apple.

[@ItsHonestlyAsh]

Damn, I never said I wanted an iPhone, but now I have an iPhone. issue is, I said the same thing about a mac mini