Soldered on Storage

[nikaiyo2]

I have been contemplating upgrading my mac mini for ages. Its a 2011 model, so whilst it still works it is getting a bit slow (I did take it to bits over lockdown and cleaned out loads of dust and that has helped!) and no longer gets the latest OS.

Is having non replaceable storage a problem? The HD in my current one died a couple of years ago, so I replaced it with an SSD, is soldered on more reliable?

It kind of worries me spending £1000 on a computer and not being able to replace anything, is that the having stty old PCs at work and frequently having to swap HDs from one machine to another clouding my judgement?

[alorotom]

I have recently gone from a 2010 MBA to a new iMac - I upgraded the RAM to 40gb as it is very easily accessed. I did wonder about the drive as its got the 1TB fusion but decided that an external USBC drive will add more than enough and can be booted from if needed. It turns out that the OEM drive is actually replaceable but is a delicate job.

TBH external storage etc... is so cheap I wouldn't be too concerned personally and I have never had a drive fail in a Mac.

[devnull]

Nothing is impossible - if you really really want, you can re-solder on new storage chips. But very few people have the equipment and capability to do that.

[nikaiyo2]

Think I might have clouded the issue

Essentially my question suppose should be...

Are the soldered on storage more reliable than the old plug in storage and has there been reports of major issues with "disks" failing ?

[devnull]

Not really - solid state storage in general has a finite life, and you should always prepare to backup your critical data. But that finite lifetime usually outweighs the useable life of the device anyway. The only difference is that soldered on storage can usually 'write off' the device out of warranty.