2011 Mac mini gets the iFixit teardown treatment
I love the iFixit site. They jump in where wimps like myself fear to tread, and give us the courage (and instructions) to pop open our Macs and see what's inside the Apple-logoed aluminum box. Yesterday we gave you the iFixit details of the new MacBook Air models, and now the site has lovingly disassembled a mid-2011 Mac mini to show you its electronic entrails.
The first thing that iFixit pointed out in their post was the lack of a SuperDrive. As if we needed any more of a sign that Apple is abandoning optical drives, the removal of the SuperDrive from the Mac mini is a real indication that the company wants to move bits, not atoms.
iFixit points out that there's an empty hard drive cable port that's easy to get to, and that there's even enough room to pop in another drive (as found in the Mac mini Server model). The only barrier to that additional drive is availability of a special SATA hard drive to logic board cable, and I'm sure that someone will find a source for that component shortly.
In terms of repairability, iFixit gives the new Mac mini a score of 8 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest possible device to service. That should give any potential Mac mini modders out there the impetus to grab their Torx screwdrivers and spudgers, and then get to work on creating the ultimate Mac mini.
