Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Soldering Iron
[Ian:A warning tale for all of us tinkers from Richard! ]
It was supposed to be so easy. Give a late 2012 Mac Mini a bit of boost with some RAM and an inexpensive SSD. The RAM was easy. The SSD, a bit more involved. Still, it seemed simple:
Step One: open the base of the Mac
Step Two: unscrew the fan
Step Three: unscrew the wireless antenna
Step Four: disconnect the fan from the motherboard…
…Oh heck. My mighty ham hands exerted just a little too much pressure on a connector last touched by far more careful fingers and the fragile strands of solder holding the socket to the motherboard gave way. In the time it takes to deliver an appropriate expletive, I had created a fan-less Mac Mini. I had also turned an entry-level Apple into scrap.
A simple upgrade became a rescue mission involving a micro soldering iron (last used for installing a mod chip in an original xbox), a magnifying glass and some very steady hands. Once repaired, I didn’t dare try and fit the SSD. This Mac Mini is now relegated to serving back-up duties while another takes up the heavy lifting of IOS development.
The moral of this story is that when a tech company designs a computer to not be upgradable, they really mean it. No matter what YouTube might have you believe.
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I bought my second ipod because of a similar story. I’m still looking to replace my Nexus 7 with a post DIY screen replacement 🙁