With the board out, we're going straight for the RAM. Apple has trapped it in a heavy metal cage—almost as if they don't fully trust modular RAM to behave itself.

Actually though, we've seen this in iMacs of yore. The shield allows the RAM to operate at high frequency (2666 MHz) with no chance of accidentally interfering with other functions.

Twirl away four Torx screws, and the cage slides right off. Has RAM replacement ever been easier?

Sure it has—but, the return to standard SO-DIMM RAM after the bitter disappointment of the 2014 mini's soldered-down chips is a huge win. Upgrade now, or upgrade later—you have a choice again.

We pop out two SKhynix HMA851S6CJR6N 4 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM modules, each with four 1 GB H5AN8G6NCJR DDR4 SDRAM ICs.