It is too bad that there are no Apple Macs that are constructed like the DIY PCs wherein we could easily modify them or even build our own. I do realize why Apple doesn't allow that. For MS Windows to work it has to take into account every variation and piece of hardware that one might use. IMO that makes for a bloated OS and one that is way more prone to have issues. By Apple following the KISS philosophy they can keep the OS leaner and meaner. But it would still be nice to have the ability to swap out drives and RAM. The soldered RAM is just so Apple can make you pay more for the same computer with more RAM, a lot more, a lot more than the added RAM would cost you on the open market. That is aggravating. When I bought my Mini I got the 4GB model because I knew that for $100 I could buy 16GB of RAM on the internet and easily pop it into the Mini. I wish they still gave us that option. I probably saved $200 that way.

I mostly use my Mini with Windows 10 running on it and with a 27" Dell monitor attached. It is definitely slow compared to my MBP, but fast enough for what I do on it. I too would like to swap out the HDD for a SSD, but my old eyes and arthritic hands would likely fail me in that operation. I would also like to swap out the 256GB SSD in my MBP for a larger one, but I'm even more nervous about attempting that.