Imagine a Mac mini that you could upgrade, or at least add RAM to (as in previous models) or switch drives. The side popped off easily, making upgrades simple. With that computer, you could easily swap hard drives, add PCI cards, and even add a second optical drive.

Apple might choose to offer what many people call the “mythical mid-sized tower Mac” – a small, upgradable Mac that can be opened as easily as the “cheese grater” Mac Pro of yore. The Mac mini could be a very different Mac from what is currently available. If Apple were to update the Mac mini, I might buy a new one depending on what features it offers. Most of my file transfers are over Wi-Fi, and it’s connected to my router via Ethernet. I considered upgrading to a newer model, mainly to have USB 3 connections, but realized that it’s not really necessary for how I use this Mac. This is the longest I’ve had a Mac in use, and it’s still running fine, even though it’s on all the time. That computer still runs as a home server: it hosts my media library using Plex and I use it for backups. In late 2011, I bought the then current Mac mini and tricked it out with the then uncommon SSD for primary storage, a second hard drive (that model allowed you to configure it with two drives), the fastest processor available at the time, and extra RAM. I used one for a couple of years as my main desktop Mac. It’s small, yet it’s sufficiently powerful for these tasks. Sure, it’s used in some datacenters, where people lease Mac minis to run as servers, but this diminutive Mac desktop computer is most widely used by home users wanting to run a simple server, often to host media, files, or to use for backups. The Mac mini is, for the most part, a “hobby” computer.

Apple Why Apple’s Update to the Mac mini Could Be a Big Deal

Last upgradeable mac mini