I Replaced The Officially Non User Replaceable RAM On My MacMini 2018 (MacMini 8,1)

#Macmini8,1 #RAM #Upgrade

I thought about doing a tutorial but got so engrossed in doing the upgrade that the tutorial bit flew right out of the window. I did however shot some things I thought are still worth sharing.

The various MacMini iterations all had their idiosyncrasies, the first models hardly were user serviceable while Apple eventually change that around leaving some quite serviceable and upgradable and other models not at all.

I have a couple of old school MacMinis and also a newer 2014 modem, that model has user upgradable storage but the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. My newer 2018 MacMini has storage soldered to the motherboard and the RAM is upgradable. Although Apple states on their website it is NOT user upgradable. This is because of various small cables need to be detached from the motherboard: wifi, power led, fan cable, power cable. Then the fan has to be disassembled from the motherboard and after that the motherboard itself has to be slid out of the case in order to service the RAM. Different Torx screwdrivers are needed 6, 5 and 10 I believe. You do need to have acces to those – you won’t be able to do it if you don’t have the appropriate driver bits. But if you do it’s surprisingly easy to undertake.

Note: in the thumbnail is pictured DDR2 RAM – whereas the MacMini 8,1 needs DDR4 RAM!