I see your confusion here! You’re taking the Apple configurations as the gospel on what is possible. These are only the configurations Apple sold which has nothing to do with what is possible.
You can alter your system in many ways adding more RAM or replacing the drive it has with another bigger HDD or change it to a SSHD or lastly an SSD drive. In fact you can even add a second drive!
As an example I have a Mac Mini which I had upgraded to two 2 TB drives (you do need to be careful on the height of some drives won’t physically fit). I later upgraded them to 2 TB SSD’s which I got for a steal! Boy is it fast!
Here’s the IFIXIT guide to upgrade your RAM if you want to 16 GB being the max your system can support: Mac mini Mid 2011 RAM Replacement Mine is running 16 GB now.
Here’s the IFIXIT guide to replace your HDD to what ever you would want: Mac mini Mid 2011 Hard Drive Replacement
And if you want to you can add in a second drive following this IFIXIT guide: Installing Mac mini Mid 2011 Dual Hard Drive Kit
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Where are you garnering this information?
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