Little of both. The SSD is a very fast 1TB model running on Apple’s custom controller (so you can’t just compare to a random one on Amazon). It’s also an obscenely high priced upgrade.

Probably more column B (expensive) than A (good)

It's the fastest SSD on the consumer market by a good margin. My main gripe with it is that Apple doesn't provide any affordable option for large, slow storage. Of course you can always go external, but then it won't be so much mini anymore.

Except... it's not. We know that larger SSDs are faster... but if we compare a 1TB Apple SSD in the iMac Pro to a 500GB 970 EVO (around $120)... the 970 EVO is at least equal, if not faster in performance.

Apple charges +$600 (USD) for a 0.25 → 1TB SSD upgrade.

I heard some complaints, but was all like "Yeah, but modern Apple SSDs are 3GB/sec, that is pretty good, bros..."

My coworker clued me in, though:

    1TB samsung 970Pro M.2 (3GB/s) 
    was as low as AUD$304 here just
    yesterday.   Thats ~USD$215.  I
    don't usually mind paying the 
    _AppleTax_ but that is ridiculously 
    overpriced.

I buy all sorts of overpriced Apple shit, but that is so overpriced it's kinda offensive.

I don't know anything about SSDs (hint) but that SSD looks like it's on sale at Amazon right now for $393. I'm more than happy to pay Apple a premium of $200 or whatever to just get what I want out of the box and not have to think about this, research options and compatibility, worry about drivers or who knows what else, etc.

...which is why Apple is more than happy to charge you said premium. As long as there are enough consumers like you who prefer to pay more there will be suppliers who will charge more.

Those who prefer to pay less, have more freedom and get a higher-performance system which is more tailored to their needs will, for the (small) price of some more up-front thought, choose other suppliers. They will have the added advantage of being able to partially upgrade their system by swapping the SSD while those who choose the Apple option will have to wait for the next iteration of this product.

There are no compatibility issues, drivers or who knows what else with PCIe m.2 SSDs.

Yeah, I have no idea what PCIe m.2 is, and I don't really care to find out. That's my point.

I don't believe you:

If you put anything inside your PC, you'll have to look up how it connects :)

Even outside - whether it's USB-C or thunderbolt actually matters, HDMI vs Displayport etc.

You could get the 970 EVO as well. IIRC it's also MLC.

There is a hefty premium on top of any upgrades from the base model, but Apple SSD with the T2 chip is insanely fast - check out the benchmark for the iMac Pro and MacBook Pro 2018.

Plus I don't really see why a crazy-spec SSD is really key here. It's not going to be the bottleneck for most use cases in a Mac Mini that has an integrated graphics card (at $2.5k...) A regular SSD would do.

Everyone's use cases will be different. I have absolutely no use for dedicated GPU, but require fast storage. Of course that doesn't mean that Apple's SSD upgrade options aren't overpriced.

>it seems seriously overpriced to me.

I havent bought Apple products, but the obvious anti-consumer and anti-developer practices are a no brainer.