New Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro: soldered SSD and slower 256GB model

In the new Mac mini models with M6 and M5 Pro chips, NAND storage is soldered to the logic board, while the M4 and M4 Pro versions had removable storage that could be upgraded. The 256GB configurations use a single NAND chip instead of two, making SSD speeds roughly half those of 512GB models.

• NAND in the M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini is soldered, so no aftermarket upgrades
• The M4 and M4 Pro models had removable SSD, now a one-off exception
• 256GB: 3,216.8 MB/s read and 3,000.2 MB/s write vs 6,371.5 and 6,577.4 MB/s at 512GB
• Even the base model beats the previous 256GB Mac mini (2,792.5 and 2,014.5 MB/s)