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Become a Six Colors member to read exclusive posts, get our weekly podcast, join our community, and more!By Dan Moren for Macworld
How repairing an old Mac mini made me anticipate a new Mac Pro
I spent the better part of this week with my 2012 Mac mini in pieces in my living room, as I attempted to fix an issue with a dead drive. The problem that sparked it is still plaguing me, but the experience has given me both some appreciation for the way Apple used to do things, as well as the way it might once again.
This isn’t the first time I’ve taken apart a Mac–it’s not even the first time I’ve taken apart this particular Mac mini. Diving into hardware has always been a task that I enjoy. It’s fun not only to see how everything fits together (especially with Apple’s famously small tolerances) but also to realize that this amazing box, which can do all these cool things, is a clever combination of so many parts working in concert.
This particular Mac mini has the benefit of being a model that’s both reasonably easy to disassemble (assuming you have the right tools) and actually fairly upgradeable. Not all Macs, past or present, have quite that level of flexibility and lately the company’s products have seemed to trend towards the other end of the spectrum.