Step 1: Power down your Mac mini and remove all cables and accessories Note: It is recommended that you use an anti-static strap throughout this tutorial. I used iFixit’s excellent Mac mini tear down and RAM replacement guides to help me out during this video walkthrough, and I highly recommend supporting their work.

Although it isn’t a requirement to use iFixit’s tools, I think it’s worth it for anyone who likes to tinker with electronics, as it will no doubt come in handy in the future. You can buy each of the aforementioned tools individually, but all of these tools are provided in iFixit’s Pro Tech Toolkit. Note: For the record, Apple recommends that all 2018 Mac mini RAM upgrades be performed by an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. RAM for the 2018 Mac mini should meet the following requirements: The good news is that you can use this tutorial to do whatever RAM upgrade you wish to do on your Mac mini. Apple charges $600 for a 32GB Mac mini upgrade, but I ordered 32GB of Crucial RAM from Amazon for less than half of what Apple charges.Įventually, 64GB of RAM will increase in availability and come down in price. The sweet spot appears to be two 16GB modules, which will give you 32GB of RAM in the 2018 Mac mini. Unfortunately, two 32GB memory modules are still fairly rare, and quite expensive. The base Mac mini comes with two 4GB memory modules for a total of 8GB of RAM. This means that you’ll want to upgrade using one of the following configurations: The 2018 Mac mini can accommodate up to 64GB of RAM, and features two SO-DIMM slots. Apple uses standard SO-DIMM modules for the memory in the Mac mini, meaning you can buy RAM at a much cheaper price and install it yourself.

Upgrading the RAM in the 2018 Mac mini isn’t what I would call simple, but it can be done relatively easily with a little patience and know-how. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube now for more videos To help offset some of the cost, I decided to upgrade the Mac mini RAM myself instead of choosing to upgrade during the build-to-order process. Although the machine still remains the cheapest way to buy a brand new Mac from Apple directly, the price has ballooned from $499 to $799 for the entry-level model. However, the one major downside of the new Mac mini is its cost.

Needless to say, as noted in our 2018 Mac mini review, we thought it proved to be a great upgrade. If you’re comfortable with opening your machine, you can save a significant amount of money upgrading Mac mini RAM yourself. Watch our step-by-step hands-on video walkthrough for the details.Īpple recently brought a desperately-needed refresh to the Mac mini, which included faster processors, memory, storage, and more. In this hands-on video walkthrough, we show you how to upgrade the RAM in the 2018 Mac mini.

Apple mac mini ram upgrade 2018