

There's no memory swapping or rewriting of data between your RAM and SSD. The M1 chip can dynamically use whatever it needs, from whichever component it needs, instantaneously.

Having everything on a single chip changes that fundamentally. RAM is a system's short term memory and having lots of it means you can do more and larger tasks simultaneously without slowing things down.

Traditional thinking has always said, add as much RAM as you can afford. But the more I researched the new M1 chip and how it's performed in the new MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, the less concerned I was.

It will be interesting to see if companies like iFixit and more will dig further into the possibilities and concerns.As someone who falls into that category, I expected to be more upset at the change. While this isn’t something that’s likely to become a mainstream option for upgrades, it is nonetheless an impressive technical feat. And even if that’s successful, there’s the possibility that Apple could prevent the unofficial hardware from working with a future macOS software update. There’s also the question of how durable/reliable the upgrades would be after forcefully removing the original soldered hardware and installing new components. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this process is very risky and of course will void Apple’s warranty. The photos show the RAM and SSD modules removed with screenshots showing the upgraded storage showing in macOS. The discovery, being attributed to the engineer Yang Changshun from Guangzhou, China has been shared across Chinese social media and was detailed by with images (via MacRumors). However, just like we’ve seen with aftermarket iPhone and iPad hardware upgrades, someone has allegedly cracked how to replace memory and storage with M1 Macs correctly recognizing the upgrades. Over the years, that’s become less of an option and for the M1 Macs, it was thought to be impossible with the RAM and SSD directly soldered to the M1 chip. With older Macs, if users didn’t want to pay for more RAM or more storage up front, it was possible with a variety of models to upgrade those components later on. In an interesting development, an engineer in China has reportedly discovered how to successfully upgrade both the SSD and RAM on M1 Macs – but of course, it’s a very risky and difficult move. While the three M1 Macs released in late 2020 have been widely praised for a host of advancements, one criticism has been that the hardware is not upgradeable or repairable after purchase with the major components soldered to the board.
