While iFixit hasn’t been too happy with Apple lately when it comes to repairability, Apple has seemed to gain back a few respect points when it comes to the latest iteration of the Mac mini. Heck, iFixit gave the mini an 8 out of 10 when it comes to repairability, and to put that into perspective, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display only got a 2.
Here’s iFixit’s reasoning for giving the device such a high repairabiity rating:
- No proprietary screws are found within the device.
- You can easily upgrade your RAM and hard drive, as well as add a secondary drive.
- There’s no glue anywhere inside that needs to be removed while disassembling the mini.
- The CPU is soldered to the logic board and not user-upgradeable.
- While not difficult to do, you still have to remove almost all the internals in order to replace the power supply.
As someone who has completely disassembled their 2011 Mac mini to install an SSD, I have to completely agree with iFixit’s repairability rating. Though it was a bit traumatizing at first, replacing a Mac mini’s drive is a heck of a lot easier than it looks as long as you’re patient and have the right tools.
If you’re unaware, the Mac mini was refreshed this week at Apple’s iPad mini event. The 2012 Mac mini starts at $599 in the United States and features the latest line of Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and can be upgraded to include Apple’s new Fusion drive.
