Methods to improve your M2 Mac mini with out paying Apple’s excessive costs

The Mac mini now boasts an extremely quick M2 or M2 Professional processor, and rivals even Apple’s most professional computer systems regardless of costing considerably much less. Nevertheless, as nice as it’s, there’s a downside with the Mac mini—the upgrades are dear and after you purchase one, it’s unimaginable to improve its inside parts. Nevertheless, we’re right here to assist.

Most of the following tips work with the Apple Studio, too.

Apple doesn’t allow you to improve the Mac mini with cheap third-party parts akin to RAM or inside storage, and it costs its custom-build choices on the very excessive finish of affordability. Like the remainder of the Apple silicon Macs, the Mac mini, Apple has mounted the RAM to the processor and the SSDs to the logic board, to allow them to’t be swapped out after you purchase one.

Right here we have a look at your greatest M1, M2 and M2 Professional Mac mini improve choices, including: storage, reminiscence, display screen, audio system and microphone.

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Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including reminiscence

Apple built-in the RAM proper into the M2 chip package deal within the Mac mini (2023) and Mac mini (M1, 2020) and so it might probably’t be upgraded. You should as a substitute configure the quantity of reminiscence you need in your Mac mini if you buy it. Sadly, there’s merely no manner of including extra RAM to the Mac mini after you purchase it. Relying on the mannequin you purchase, there are three choices: 16GB, 24GB, and 32G, which price as much as $400. In the event you want greater than 8GB of normal reminiscence, you’ll must pay for it on the time of buy.

Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including storage

Just like the RAM, Apple has soldered the SSD (stable state drive) storage onto the Mac mini’s logic board, that means that you would be able to’t take away it and plug in a brand new one. As with the RAM, you should as a substitute configure the quantity of flash storage you need in your Mac mini if you buy it. Nevertheless, there are a number of methods that you would be able to improve your Mac mini with additional storage—at a fraction of the price you’d must pay Apple at construct time.

SSD or HDD?

Stable-state drives don’t have any transferring elements. Information is saved on interconnected flash reminiscence microchips, which permits for knowledge to be pulled from many various locations directly and considerably will increase reminiscence learn speeds. Onerous disk drives (HDD) depend on spinning metallic disks to learn and write knowledge.

SSDs velocity up boot occasions, enhance the responsiveness of your applications, and customarily make your laptop really feel quicker. Nevertheless, you’ll pay extra money for a similar storage capability on SSDs as HDDs. SSDs price extra per gigabyte than mechanical HDDs and aren’t typically out there in ultra-high capacities. Whilst costs of SSDs proceed to drop, HDDs will all the time be cheaper.

technique is to make use of an HDD for backup, secondary storage or archiving, and an SSD for the information you’re employed on day-after-day. We advocate a backup drive not less than twice as giant as the overall capability of your Mac—for instance, you probably have 1TB of storage in your Mac, a 2TB backup drive will can help you make a full backup whereas maintaining different information or archived backups on the identical drive.

For each HDD and SSD, there are a lot of trusted storage manufacturers, together with Samsung, Seagate, Essential, and Kingston.

Including exterior storage

The only manner so as to add storage to a Mac mini is similar as every other Mac: Join an exterior laborious drive or SSD utilizing one of many Thunderbolt ports on the again of the pc. Even the slowest SSDs are quicker than mechanical laborious disk drives (HDD), however look out for velocity variations—entry-level SSDs present speeds of round 500MB/s, whereas extra superior fashions can step as much as 1,000MB/s and even 2,000MB/s.

Exterior HDDs are an awesome resolution for backups and archives as velocity is much less of a difficulty, and the costs are less expensive than SSDs. No HDD, until mixed in RAID with others, can outstrip the 5Gbps (roughly 500MBps real-world after overhead) throughput of USB-C. The place Thunderbolt undoubtedly helps is with RAID laborious drive setups, or extra seemingly an exterior SSD.

One other manner so as to add cheap transportable storage is by way of an SD or microSD card—as soon as the go-to storage format for digital camera customers but in addition an awesome format for reasonable and transportable backup and archive storage. Sadly, the Mac mini doesn’t have a card reader slot, so that you’ll want so as to add one, akin to this UGreen USB-C SD Card Reader for $13.

However there are admittedly ugly strategies. You’ll have wires hanging out of the again of your Mac mini and a desk cluttered with drives.

Including Inside storage

The most suitable choice is to get extra inside storage in your Mac mini, however Apple’s custom-built pricing means upgrading a 512GB mannequin to 1TB will price you an additional $200, and 2TB will price $600, whereas M2 Professional choices price much more: 4TB is $1,200 and 8TB will set you again a whopping $2,400. Moreover, having the storage soldered to the logic board makes it quicker, so when you can afford it, it’s one of the best ways to go.

Nevertheless, when you can’t swing the costs for extra storage or simply determine later that you simply want extra, there are {hardware} options that connect with the mini with out messing up the footprint of the small laptop. Two of our favorites are the Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure ($100) and the OWC ministack STX ($280), which function bays for each an SSD drive and a 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA laborious drive.

We’ve written extra on these Mac mini storage equipment later on this function.

Both of those Mac mini hub options upgradeable and cheap inside storage plus a spread of additional ports. They each assist the slim M.2 SSD and NVMe kind components that resemble a stick of chewing gum. On the time of writing, we may discover SSD drives from revered manufacturers for $50/£50 (1TB) and $150/£120 (2TB). 4TB will be discovered for between $250 and $500—round a 3rd of what you’d pay Apple to spice up the interior Mac mini storage.

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You’ll be able to add inside storage as much as the utmost appropriate SSD you could find contained in the Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure and OWC ministack STX. Set up is straightforward, with the whole lot bar the SSD board itself included (screwdriver and screws). It’s slightly fiddly however nothing to be apprehensive about—if you should utilize a screwdriver, you possibly can set up the SSD board your self.

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Observe that the unique model of the Satechi Stand & Hub’s enclosure didn’t assist NVMe (Non-Risky Reminiscence Categorical) SSDs, whereas the OWC ministack does. Satechi has now up to date the stand/hub to assist NVMe in addition to M.2 SSD.

NVMe M.2 SSDs are designed to be quicker through the use of a extra direct path to a pc’s processor over PCIe.5. That stated, the NVMe slot on the OWC has just one lane of PCIe allotted to it, so the efficiency is restricted to 770MB/s in real-world use.

Whereas the Satechi stand/hub has caught up with the OWC by supporting NVMe, one remaining benefit of the OWC miniStack STX is the second drive bay, which helps a 2.5- or 3.5-inch mechanical laborious disk drive (HDD). These old-school laborious drives provide far-greater storage capacities at a a lot decrease price than SSDs. 2TB HDDs can price round $50. A 12TB HDD may cost underneath $200.

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Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including front-facing ports and additional enlargement

Whereas the Mac mini has loads of ports across the again, Apple didn’t bless the Mac mini with any ports on the entrance just like the Mac Studio. Which means you’ll want to achieve over to attach a peripheral machine—which could possibly be tough when you’ve slipped the very hideable laptop out of sight.

However there are alternatives for including them. For instance, the Satechi Stand & Hub provides a number of front-facing ports. At 10Gbps, they aren’t as quick because the mini’s back-racked 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports, however they’re helpful for micro thumb drives that you simply may need to plug in. You additionally get SD and microSD card readers, that are tremendous helpful for including cheap transportable storage. You should purchase a Samsung reminiscence card with 256GB of storage for underneath $30/£30 and half a terabyte for round $50.

The OWC ministack STX, however, mimics the Mac mini with no ports on its entrance. However its again has extra highly effective connectors than the Satechi hub. It boasts 4 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports (one upstream to the pc) and three 5Gbps USB-A ports, however lacks card reader slots.

One other port-adding possibility is to purchase your self a Thunderbolt 4 hub. Our favourite is the Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Factor Hub, which options 4 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports (together with one side-mounted upstream to the pc), 4 10Gbps USB-A ports, and an influence provide. We’ve examined the greatest Thunderbolt hubs and docks in order for you much more ports than that. Granted, they received’t be as neat because the Satechi Stand or OWC ministack, however there are tons of choices on the market.

Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including quicker ethernet

One of many build-to-order choices supplied by Apple is to improve the Mac mini’s ethernet from Gigabit to 10 Gigabit. As with the RAM and storage, when you’ve picked your Ethernet velocity, there’s no strategy to improve the interior connector later. However you should buy adapters fairly cheaply. TrendNet has a 5Gb Ethernet adapter that connects to one of many mini’s Thunderbolt ports. OWC sells a 10G Ethernet Adapter, though it’s really costlier than the Apple built-in possibility.

Observe although that simply having a 10GB Ethernet port in your Mac doesn’t mechanically 10x all of your networking. There are few 10Gb routers out there, and even fewer that don’t resemble a rack mount unit from a knowledge middle. And so they aren’t low-cost both. In case your ISP is providing 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps or 10Gbps, be ready to substitute your current community gear to truly use the upper speeds.

Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including higher audio system

The Mac mini does have a built-in speaker, however it’s actually ok just for system bings and bongs—even Zoom calls sound tinny, and music sounds such as you’re listening to the most affordable transportable radio.

Apple would like you get out your bank card for one in all its HomePod audio system by way of AirPlay, however there are cheaper desktop audio system out there that join by way of USB or Bluetooth.

We’re followers of the Artistic Pebble V3, which might join utilizing both USB-A or USB-C or Bluetooth.

Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including a webcam

It’s seemingly that you simply’ll be wanting a webcam for video calls, both perched on high of your display screen or angled in your desk. There are a number of really useful webcams out there for Mac. We have now rounded up the greatest Mac webcams for you.

Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: Including a microphone

The Mac mini doesn’t have its personal mic as Apple presumes that you simply’ll most certainly need to use the one on the third-party webcam you utilize.

If you’d like a devoted microphone, you possibly can connect utilizing USB or by way of an audio interface for the very best audio high quality. Try our roundup of the greatest microphones for Mac.

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Upgrading the M2 Mac mini: The final word Mac mini setup

It might be excessive for a lot of, however my eventual Mac mini improve resolution incorporates each the Satechi and OWC hubs. On the backside sits the OWC miniStack STX, with a 3.5-inch 4TB HDD and 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD, plus its 4 quick Thunderbolt 4 ports (one used to hook up with the Mac mini). Above that, and with its helpful vary of front-facing ports, is the Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure. Inside that, I’ve a 2TB M.2 SATA SSD—my setup began with the non-NVMe Satechi hub however I’ll improve to the NVMe model.

And sitting on high is my M2 Professional (12‑core CPU & 19-core GPU) with 32GB of RAM and an inside 1TB Apple SSD. Because the Mac mini ships with out a keyboard or mouse, I caught with Apple’s trusty Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.

The identical Mac mini with 8TB of storage would price $4,399 (£4,499 within the UK) to construct at Apple, however price me underneath $3,000 (£2,850), and I get an additional 9 usable ports—an additional TB4 port, as two on the Mac mini are used to attach the 2 hubs, and three USB-A, one USB-C, an audio port and SD and microSD card readers on the entrance.

As I used to be changing my trusty previous 27-inch iMac (classic 2015 and beginning to present its age) I wanted a decent-sized monitor for my new Mac mini. I selected the 27-inch Alogic Readability show, which is 4K relatively than a 5K Retina however includes a terrific adjustable stand that makes the previous iMac look positively static.

1. OWC miniStack STX

Professionals

• NVMe M.2 SSD bay
• 3.5-inch HDD bay
• 4x Thunderbolt 4 ports

Cons

• No entrance ports
• No card reader
• Black solely coloration selection

Worth When Reviewed:

From $279.99

Suitable with: Mac Mini M2 & M2 Professional 2023; M1 2020; Mac mini 2018; Mac Studio 2022

Measurement: 7.8 x 7.8 x 1.5 inches

Ports:

• 4x Thunderbolt 4 ports (40Gbps, 15W)
• Inside SSD enclosure
• Inside HDD bay

This double drive bay Mac mini accent is an honest Thunderbolt 4 hub in its personal proper—therefore its greater price ticket in comparison with the USB-C Satechi hub.

Its 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports can help you create three impartial daisy chains with as much as 5 whole Thunderbolt gadgets with a USB machine on the tip of every chain (eight gadgets whole).

However the true good thing about the miniStack STX is its bays that may be pre-configured or self-installed with one 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch laborious disk drive and one speedy NVMe SSD.

Purchase a cheap (however reliable HHD for a Time Machine backup or secondary storage, and a quicker SSD for operational file storage. The miniStack STX gives the very best of each worlds when it comes to storage flexibility.

2. Satechi Stand Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure

Professionals

• SSD bay
• Entrance-facing ports
• Helps SATA SSD and quicker NVMe
• Card readers
• Silver coloration matches mini

Worth When Reviewed:

$99.99

Suitable with: Mac Mini M2 & M2 Professional 2023; Mac mini M1 2020; Mac Studio 2022

Measurement: 7.8 x 7.8 x 0.9 inches

Ports:

• 1x USB-C (10Gbps)
• 3x USB-A (10Gbps)
• SD card reader (UHS-I, 104MBps)
• microSD card reader (UHS-I, 104MBps)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Inside SSD enclosure

This cheap USB-C hub provides much-needed ports to the entrance of your Mac mini setup. These ports embrace SD and microSD card readers, that are missing from the mini itself.

You should purchase a barely cheaper model with out the SSD enclosure however we advise spending the additional $20 even when, proper now, you don’t suppose you want any additional storage. In case your Mac mini has a 512GB inside SSD, then a 1TB or higher SSD throughout the hub gives glorious and speedy Time Machine backup or simply additional house on your information. Keep in mind you possibly can’t return and improve the capability of the Mac mini’s built-in SSD.

The newest model enables you to select between an SATA SSD or extra fashionable NVMe SSD. Both manner, it’s a lot quicker than a mechanical laborious disk drive.

The shortage of Thunderbolt will not be an issue if the 2 (M2) or 4 (M2 Professional) Thunderbolt 4 ports on the again of the mini are all you require. Observe that one of many mini’s Thunderbolt ports can be used to attach the hub.

3. Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Factor Hub

Professionals

• 4 Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports
• 4 10Gbps USB-A ports
• 150W whole energy
• Compact

Cons

• Sits away from Mac mini
• No additional storage capability

Worth When Reviewed:

$199.95

Suitable with: Any USB-C/Thunderbolt laptop

Measurement: 4.5 x 2.8 x 0.7 inches

Ports:

• 4x Thunderbolt 4 ports (40Gbps, 15W)
• 4x USB-A (10Gbps, 7.5W)

This super-compact Thunderbolt 4 hub differs from the OWC and Satechi hubs by being a unique dimension and kind to the Mac mini, and so it’s going to sit exterior of its footprint in your desk

It gives you seven quick ports—plus the upstream Thunderbolt 4 port that connects to your Mac mini—that may even ably cost related gadgets.

In case your Mac mini or Mac Studio has sufficient storage on your wants however not sufficient ports (step ahead the extra restricted non-Professional M2 Mac mini), this glorious hub blesses you with a number of top-rated ports.

Learn the complete Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Factor Hub assessment

4. Alogic Readability 27in UHD 4K Monitor

Professionals

• 27-inch 4K 60Hz display screen
• Glorious adjustable stand
• Additional ports

Cons

• Not 5K just like the previous 27-inch iMac’s display screen

Worth When Reviewed:

$799.99

Ports:

• 1x USB-C (upstream)
• 1x USB-B (upstream)
• 2x USB-A ports (5Gbps)
• DisplayPort 1.4
• 2x HDMI 2.0
• 3.5mm audio jack

If you’d like your Mac mini to copy the display screen glory of the discontinued 27-inch iMac, this same-sized exterior show is a superb possibility. With its excellent adjustable stand, it’s extra versatile than the previous static iMac display screen.

It even has its personal built-in hub providing a spread of ports to enrich the Mac mini’s personal.

The Readability’s two USB-A ports can be utilized to connect peripherals akin to a keyboard, mouse or webcam to the pc. For the pc to see any hooked up gadgets, it should be related to the pc by both the USB-C or USB-B upstream port.

There are actually extra superior variations of the Readability, with a Readability Professional that provides a retractable webcam and a touchscreen model—each. out there in both 27- or widescreen 32-inch sizes.

Learn our full

Alogic Readability 27in UHD 4K Monitor assessment

5. Kensington W1050 webcam

Professionals

• Reasonably priced
• 1080p decision
• Good Mac app

Worth When Reviewed:

$49.99

Kensington’s W1050 is likely one of the most inexpensive 1080p (1920-x-1080) webcams we’ve seen to date. It offers a shiny sharp picture that’s clear, and offers a 95-degree viewing angle, with fixed-focus to make sure that all the picture stays in focus always.

The adjustable stand can relaxation in your desk or connect to your laptop display screen, and means that you can tilt and rotate the digital camera to get the correct viewing angle. Twin microphones function noise-cancelling to cut back background noise, and there’s a privateness shutter on the entrance of the digital camera too.

The W1050 makes use of a USB-A interface, which possibly isn’t a nasty factor because it doesn’t expend one of many Mac mini’s valuable Thunderbolt ports.

Kensington’s Konnect app offers further controls for adjusting brightness, distinction and different settings, however its most helpful function is the flexibility to create and save profiles with settings which are appropriate for various places or lighting circumstances.

6. Artistic Pebble V3 audio system

Professionals

• A lot-improved audio on Mini’s speaker
• Compact
• Bluetooth, USB-A or USB-C

Cons

• Deep bass lovers could be disillusioned

Worth When Reviewed:

$39.99

The Mac mini’s built-in speaker is a feeble affair, which is okay for system alerts however woeful if you wish to fireplace up Apple Music or stream video.

These dinky (123-x-120-x-118mm) stereo audio system stick to the mini’s mini-ness, and can be found in both white or black. They join by way of both USB-C or USB-A, with the added possibility of wi-fi Bluetooth if you wish to pair along with your iPhone.

Sound high quality is exceptional for the dimensions and value. The bass could possibly be stronger however it’s an awesome enchancment on the mini’s speaker.

$1,199

$1273

$1299

$1299

$1299