UPDATE 6/8/2023
I can no longer recommend this unit. I have had two units fail and I’m looking to refund it. The unit simply drops off the Mac.
DO NOT BUY
Last year I was forced into a situation where I had to update my Mac hardware. In the irrefutable forced upgrades Apple loves to force on it’s customers, they dropped support for my laptop. So being that I just needed a Mac for compiling software, I went for a Mac Mini base model. Honestly, it’s a great little machine in a seriously nice little package. But it has storage capacity issues and & mac mini hub would solve that and the rear ports issue.
Mac Mini Storage Issues
One of the issues of going for a base model for a productivity role is the lack of storage in the base model with a 256Gb SSD. The problem here, as ever with Apple, is the price of upgrades.
Apple upgrades are not just expensive in my opinion, they are outright theft, criminal even. To upgrade the base model to a 1Tb drive is an ADDITIONAL £400 … !!!!
That takes a £699 device to £1099 … insane.
For reference, as an end user I can walk into a shop and purchase a seriously fast 1TB NVMe SSD, remember this is the walk-in high-street price, of £118 … a 1/4 of the upgrade price.
Yes, yes I know it’s not a direct comparison blah, blah but it’s still a valid comparison in terms of end-user value added. Which is why I refused to buy the upgrade at the time of purchase. It’s just an outrageous price hike however you want to cut it.
I cannot find a 1TB SSD even remotely approaching that price on the high street. So you can imagine how little Apple has to pay for that extra storage before then gouging their customer …
Hubs
Since I got the mini I’ve been on the lookout for a solution to my issue of storage. I’ve got some large development projects on the go and have now nearly run out of storage a number of times. Having a bit of a clean up every few weeks to keep things ticking along.
So you can imagine my delight when I found this …
It bridges all the gaps and issues with the ports. Adds card readers and ports to the front of the machine … AND … adds an M.2 SSD expansion …
The fact it doesn’t work with NVMe SSDs is the only gripe, but given the fact I can upgrade to a 1tb SSD AND get all the other features of the Hub for a total cost of £179.43 (yes, this price includes the 1tb drive) it puts that £400 1TB upgrade into perspective doesn’t it … £400 price hike to get just one of the features provided by this hub.
The long and short of it is – don’t pay for Apple upgrades. They are criminally over-charging for everything.
You can read more about the device here – Satechi Hub For Mac Mini
They also have a support page here detailing SSDs they have tested with the device here, it’s unfortunately a tiny list but is at least something to refer too when picking a drive. The hub supports up to a 2TB SSD.
Once I have bought the hub and used it for a while, I’ll update this review.
UPDATE 6/8/2023
Last year I was forced into a situation where I had to update my Mac hardware. In the irrefutable forced upgrades Apple loves to force on it’s customers, they dropped support for my laptop. So being that I just needed a Mac for compiling software, I went for a Mac Mini base model. Honestly, it’s a great little machine in a seriously nice little package. But it has storage capacity issues and & mac mini hub would solve that and the rear ports issue.
Mac Mini Storage Issues
One of the issues of going for a base model for a productivity role is the lack of storage in the base model with a 256Gb SSD. The problem here, as ever with Apple, is the price of upgrades.
Apple upgrades are not just expensive in my opinion, they are outright theft, criminal even. To upgrade the base model to a 1Tb drive is an ADDITIONAL £400 … !!!!
That takes a £699 device to £1099 … insane.
For reference, as an end user I can walk into a shop and purchase a seriously fast 1TB NVMe SSD, remember this is the walk-in high-street price, of £118 … a 1/4 of the upgrade price.
Yes, yes I know it’s not a direct comparison blah, blah but it’s still a valid comparison in terms of end-user value added. Which is why I refused to buy the upgrade at the time of purchase. It’s just an outrageous price hike however you want to cut it.
I cannot find a 1TB SSD even remotely approaching that price on the high street. So you can imagine how little Apple has to pay for that extra storage before then gouging their customer …
Hubs
Since I got the mini I’ve been on the lookout for a solution to my issue of storage. I’ve got some large development projects on the go and have now nearly run out of storage a number of times. Having a bit of a clean up every few weeks to keep things ticking along.
So you can imagine my delight when I found this …
It bridges all the gaps and issues with the ports. Adds card readers and ports to the front of the machine … AND … adds an M.2 SSD expansion …
The long and short of it is – don’t pay for Apple upgrades. They are criminally over-charging for everything.
You can read more about the device here – Satechi Hub For Mac Mini
They also have a support page here detailing SSDs they have tested with the device here, it’s unfortunately a tiny list but is at least something to refer too when picking a drive. The hub supports up to a 2TB SSD.
Once I have bought the hub and used it for a while, I’ll update this review.