First third-party SSDs for M4 Mac Mini... are they worth it?

Has anyone used these yet? Never heard of this brand, but $170 for 1TB sounds like a good deal. Thoughts?

The website looks super dodgy. I think it might be a scam. I wouldn’t risk it unless others confirm they’ve received their orders successfully.

@Jo
The domain info is hidden, and the site looks like a rushed landing page. It’s better to avoid it completely.

Wouldn’t a new drive need to ‘pair’ with the Mac Mini?

Charlie said:
Wouldn’t a new drive need to ‘pair’ with the Mac Mini?

Yeah, but you can do it yourself with some effort.

kane said:

Charlie said:
Wouldn’t a new drive need to ‘pair’ with the Mac Mini?

Yeah, but you can do it yourself with some effort.

How exactly? Genuinely curious.

@Charlie
You’d need another Mac and run something called Configurator, if I remember correctly.

Perry said:
@Charlie
You’d need another Mac and run something called Configurator, if I remember correctly.

Got it, thanks.

For $170, you can get a 2TB SK Hynix Gen 4 SSD plus an external enclosure and still have cash left over.

Jory said:
For $170, you can get a 2TB SK Hynix Gen 4 SSD plus an external enclosure and still have cash left over.

Can that be used as an internal SSD? Or are there limitations?

Check this out instead: Satechi’s CES 2025 Announcements

This seems overpriced to me.

Drew said:
This seems overpriced to me.

Don’t forget that Apple charges $400 to upgrade their base model to 1TB.

This is cool, but Apple might push an update to block third-party SSDs, like they did with the iPhone 6 and TouchID. And people will still defend them, claiming it’s about security.

Zeek said:
This is cool, but Apple might push an update to block third-party SSDs, like they did with the iPhone 6 and TouchID. And people will still defend them, claiming it’s about security.

I’m not sure they can do that. The storage controller is part of the M chipset, so these SSDs are just flash chips. It looks like these third parties are using the same flash modules Apple uses anyway.

@Vey
Apple always finds a way. For example, older MacBooks with non-Apple SSDs had issues with EFI updates. It’s not new for them to make life harder for those using third-party hardware.

Zeek said:
This is cool, but Apple might push an update to block third-party SSDs, like they did with the iPhone 6 and TouchID. And people will still defend them, claiming it’s about security.

Your comparison to the iPhone 6 is way off. That was about TouchID security, not storage. If you’re going to criticise Apple, at least use valid examples. Otherwise, it just sounds like a rant.

@Blake
I’ve had people try to argue that requiring another Mac to reimage these SSDs is somehow better for users. It’s not—it’s just a side effect of Apple using iPhone chips in Macs now.

Hollis said:
@Blake
I’ve had people try to argue that requiring another Mac to reimage these SSDs is somehow better for users. It’s not—it’s just a side effect of Apple using iPhone chips in Macs now.

Exactly. It’s just Apple trying to keep everything locked down, not some magical benefit for us.