Mac mini Late 2018 Disassembly

Written By: Wouter de Vries
  • Comments: 9
Mac mini Late 2018 Disassembly

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

19

Time Required

30 minutes - 1 hour

Introduction

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    • So here it is, exactly the same form factor as the previous Mac mini, but now in Space Gray

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    • Once flipped over, a familiar black cover is revealed.

    • Pry open the lid to release it from the three large screws

    • The lid had a soft foam inside to dampen the vibrations of the beefed up fan

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    • The lid is secured with the same TR6 screws as the 2014 model

    I had to use a T7 torx for all 6 of these. All other screws were the size specified in this guide.

    max -

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    • The antenna cable is very short, so watch out; rotate the cover to reveal the internals

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    • The antenna cable is held down with a little TX6 screw

    • It has a tiny washer to make sure no stress is applied to the cable

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    • The fan has four identical TX6 screws holding it down

    • The screws go trough a rubber tube to reduce vibration

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    • Underneath the fan the connector pops off easilly

    • The fan feels solid. Much better than previous models

    A word of warning about taking the fan out. The fan cable snaps easily in and out of its socket on the motherboard, but there’s not much holding the socket to the motherboard. No solder, no glue that I could see. After taking the fan out and replacing it repeatedly one day, I managed to bring the socket out with the cable plug. I don’t know at the moment what I can do about it, but I’m not about to plug the computer in and find out what happens.

    Birck Cox -

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    • Now, lets take out the motherboard

    • Massive (for the mini) TX10 screws secure the motherboard to the chassis

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    • The power supply can be unplugged by as many wires as possible between your iFixit tweezers and pull upwards

    • Also take off the tiny power led connector

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    • Slide the motherboard out by gently applying pressure to the heatsink

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    • Some interesting design choices made here. A full size CMOS battery

    • The wifi wiring runs underneath the large speaker

    • The power button is attached to a ultra flat cable that runs in an arc along the heatsink

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    • We flip over the motherboard to see a massive amount of tiny components

    • Also some familiar pieces of foam all over the place

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    • But now what we are all here for. The RAM

    • Four TX5 screws holt it down

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    • The memory cover slides off at an angle

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    • These rubber parts will be a pain to put back on later.

    • There are tiny pieces of rubber in it that need to slide into the metal clips holding the memory in place

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    • The memory itself sits upside down in its sockets

    • The springs are very strong and will shoot the memory in your face if you're not careful!

    Does anybody knows if this memory is ECC?

    ECC modules have a chip-count divisible by 3 or 5. Usually the extra chip is smaller than others.

    I see only four chips but the extra smaller fifth one maybe is hidden behind the sticker.

    Agnostos Gnostos -

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    • The power supply is secured in a similar way as with the previous models

    • A little clip has to be removed, and the connector can be rotated

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    • The power supply is held down with three TX6 screws

    • They look just like the fan screws, but they appear just a little bit thicker and with longer thread

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    • After taking out the power supply we are left with an empty shell

    • I really enjoyed taking this mini apart. My verdict is it's much easier than the 2014 model as cables are in a more logical place

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Wouter de Vries

Member since: 08/11/18

487 Reputation

6 comments

What happens to the machine if the SSD fails? Will the entire logic board need to be replaced? I have a feeling that the chances of SSD failing would be significantly higher than Ram… So shouldn’t apple make SSD removable as well?

Sam -

Failing SSD means a failing motherboard. In my experience, apple ssd-s are very reliable. Upgradable memory allows you to use a device longer. If you configure it with 16GB today, you might want to max out the memory in the future, once prices go down.

Wouter de Vries -

What about the CPU, is it in a socket or soldered in?

Steve Seg -

I didn’t have the courage to take the heatsink off. So we’ll have to wait for someone who does.

Wouter de Vries -

Mich würde interessieren, wie die CMOS Batterie getauscht wird, bzw. welcher Typ es ist.

Sven Arendsen -

Please advise. How can I change pram battery? It seems very hard to take off cover? from battery.

居谷道康 -