14 DAY TRIAL // iFixit is good at repairing your broken gadgets, but they also love breaking stuff themselves – for informational purposes, of course. The latest such activity at iFixit involves the late-2012 Mac mini, which is highly repairable, according to the tinkerers.
The Mac mini (late 2012) teardown analysis begins with a list of components that iFixit was eager to confirm for its fans. According to the repair shop, the computer packs:
- a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (depending on what configuration you choose to buy); - a 500 GB hard drive or 1 TB hard drive (configurable to a 1 TB Fusion Drive or 256 GB solid-state drive and upgradable with an extra hard drive or SSD using our dual hard drive kit); - 4 GB, 8 GB, or 16 GB of DDR3 SDRAM; - Intel HD Graphics 4000; - Thunderbolt and HDMI ports, and an SDXC card slot.
The techies say the port layout is consistent with last year's version of the Mac mini, and that the new Mac mini is still compatible with iFixit’s dual hard drive upgrade kit.
The teardown describes every major component in detail, but it seems everything is almost identical to the 2011 version, except for the upgraded processor and memory.
iFixit gave the Mac mini (late 2012) a repairability score of 8 out of 10 (where 10 is the easiest to repair).
“It is beginning to feel repetitive to say how repetitive Apple is in the design of the Mini; nonetheless, the power supply appears identical to last year's model,” the repair shop notes.
“In this case, we have to say that repetition is a good thing, as the Mini continues to be one of the most repairable devices that Apple produces,” the company concludes.