Can an external SSD match the Mac Mini's pricey inbuilt storage?

David wants a new Mac Mini but doesn’t want to pay Apple’s eye-watering price for a 2TB SSDMy general question is: can a computer that has some of its storage on an external drive with a fast connection (such as Thunderbolt) perform as well as a computer with the same amount of storage inside the computer?To be specific, I have a 2014 Mac Mini, which is very slow. I am considering upgrading to the latest 2018 version, but I need at least 1TB of storage. Apple can supply the unit with