Nick Statt, writing for The Verge:

Now, Macs are notoriously hard to upgrade, and that’s by design. This I know well from simple cases like RAM upgrades. But I was not at all prepared for the massive undertaking the late 2014-era Mac mini requires of users. And simply to reach one of maybe only two parts an average computer owner may ever want to upgrade on their own. It involved painstakingly dismantling the entire machine piece by piece, using janky tools in place of the specialized ones I didn’t have. It was yet another much-needed reminder that Apple goes out of its way to make tinkering a herculean task.

A suggestion to anyone planning to upgrade their Apple hardware: buy every single suggested tool in iFixit’s corresponding repair guide. I recently upgraded the hard drive and RAM in my 2011 Mac mini and I used every tool listed in iFixit’s guide — even the silly-looking spudger tool. I don’t think I would have been able to complete the upgrade without them.