When Apple first unveiled its 2018 refreshed Mac mini lineup last month, it highlighted the fact that it came with SO-DIMM RAM. This meant that the RAM was not soldered on the mainboard and that user replacement/upgrade was possible.

The Mac mini uses DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM which one can easily get from Amazon or any other retailer. Upgrading the RAM manually is going to be a far cheaper route than asking Apple to do the same as the latter will charge users a premium of anywhere between $300 to $500 additional just for upgrading the RAM.

If you plan on buying the 2018 Mac mini and upgrading the RAM yourself, iFixit has now published an 11-step guide which shows how to upgrade the memory on it. The detailed guide should make it easier for anyone looking to upgrade the memory of their Mac mini now or down the line. The process is relatively easy, with iFixit ranking the difficulty as “Easy” and saying the time taken for the whole process will be around 10 minutes.

To upgrade the RAM on your 2018 Mac mini, you will have to slide out the logic board from the housing. This is a delicate process as it requires one to disconnect various antenna cables and connectors on the logic board. You will also have to remove the cooling fan during the process.

If you have ever upgraded the RAM or HDD/SSD of your previous Mac mini, you will find the steps to be remarkably similar. If you are new to the whole process though, follow the iFixit guide closely and make sure to have access to all the tools beforehand. And if you are still not confident enough of doing the job yourself, you can always take your Mac mini to a third-party repair shop who will charge you a small fee for the upgrade.