Prototype of an M4 Pro Mac mini SSD upgrade — image credit: iBoff RCC
Following multiple vendors offering internal SSD updates for the M4 Mac mini, one has now revealed that it has prototyped a model for the M4 Pro version.
Externally, the M4 Mac mini and the M4 Pro Mac mini are identical, but internally they require different SSDs. They do have a lot in common, though, including that Apple charges vastly more for SSD storage than any other vendor.
Consequently, it was very soon after launch of the Mac mini that the first third-party upgrades began to appear. Unusually, if Apple doesn’t encourage upgrades, it at least hasn’t made this one impossible, and so many firms have now released SSD upgrades that can be fitted into an M4 Mac mini.
It is not a complex upgrade, but it also isn’t for everyone, and there remains the issue that Apple may object. When AppleInsider tried out an early such upgrade, the advice was to keep the old Apple SSD and fit it back if the Mac ever has to go in for Apple servicing.
The latest firm to release such an upgrade, iBoff RCC, details at some length how it designed its SSD from scratch. While matching Apple’s physical profile, the company insists it has improved on Apple’s design instead of in any way copying it.
But alongside the details of how the firm believes it has made a fully legitimate SSD upgrade for the M4 Mac mini, there was also an updated reference to a version for the M4 Pro model.
In a brief aside during a very detailed YouTube video about designing and fitting the M4 Mac mini version, the company reveals that it has an 8TB edition specifically for the M4 Pro edition. Unfortunately, it’s still at the prototype stage.
But given that there is a prototype, and given reports that the M4 edition keeps selling out, it appears that the M4 Pro Mac mini will soon be as upgradeable as the M4 version.
There is still the issue that Apple has not sanctioned any upgrades whatsoever. It’s not likely to, either, but it has positively chosen to make its SSDs removable.
Then there is how the company is also under pressure about making its products repairable. It’s likely that its design of its SSD is a nod to regulators who want users to be able to repair and replace components.
Nonetheless, iBoff RCC remains concerned about being sued or forced to stop by Apple. And in the meantime, it has a re-engineered M4 Mac mini upgraded storage that it claims is faster than Apple’s own.
