Here is a fun weekend one. We recently had a chance to take a look at a Beelink Mate Mini dock for the Apple Mac Mini. Let us face it, Apple storage pricing is quite high, and Thunderbolt 5 interfaces offer plenty in terms of bandwidth. One option is to grab a generic Thunderbolt 5 storage housing. Another is to get something like this that houses two M.2 SSDs, an extra network port, a SD card slot, and more in a footprint that matches Apple’s.
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Beelink Mate Mini Dual M.2 External Hardware Overview
The business end of the dock has two USB Type-A ports, a 2.5GbE port, a headphone jack, a Thunderbolt 5 port, and a USB PD In port. That PD In is used when the installed devices are using more than 15W.
On the side, there is also a SD card slot. That is something many Mac Mini owners want.
There are two sides that do not have a lot going on other than the metal housing.
On the bottom, we get a fairly Apple-like design. To get into the unit to install the M.2 SSDs takes something like 8 screws and requires pulling off these rubber feet.
The dock also comes with two Thunderbolt 5 bridge cables.
Size wise, the footprint is designed to match the Apple Mac Mini, but the color is off slightly.
One option is to mount the Mate Mini below the Apple Mac Mini. The challenge with this configuration is that the Apple Mac Mini’s power button is on the bottom, so this configuration does not allow you to hit that power button without removing the mate Mini.
You can alternatively use the other bridge and mount it on top, but then you have the Mate Mini atop your Mac Mini.
Next, let us get inside to see the M.2 storage and cooling.