The good news about the new Mac mini is that it offers very good CPU and GPU performance, whether it’s the M6 or M5 Pro model. But there is some bad news under the hood: Apple has returned to using soldered-on SSDs, which means owners can’t upgrade the storage themselves.

Expand Mac mini took apart the M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini and found the soldered SSD. It’s an unexpected turn, since the previous M4 and M4 Pro Mac mini switched to an SSD design that was implemented as a removable module. As such Expand Mac mini and others made a business out of selling SSD module upgrades.

It gets even worse with the M6 Mac mini. If you look at the pictures in Expand Mac mini’s post above, you can see the SSD module at the bottom of the Mac. The M6 Mac mini pictured is the model with a 256GB SSD, and it’s a single module. As we’ve seen before, having two SSD modules is better for speed. The single module means it’s going to be significantly slower, though users can upgrade to the 512GB model to get the dual design.

The M4 Mac mini was something of an outlier for the Mac mini with an upgradable SSD. If you were going to buy a Mac mini and held out for the new one, you could try to find a used M4 Mac mini for sale, but given the Mac mini’s stock issues, you’ll probably end up paying more than you should (and Apple’s Certified Refurbished Store does not have any in stock).

Everyday Mac mini buyers probably won’t notice either of these downgrades, but the Mac mini has become very popular among AI enthusiasts, who won’t be happy about the changes. They’ll be happy to know that the M5 Max and Ultra Mac Studio still has an upgradeable SSD. However, that model costs a lot more than the Mac mini.