“While the new entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with function keys has a removable SSD, the same cannot be said for the Touch Bar model,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors.
“MacRumors reader Jesse D. unscrewed the bottom lid on his new 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar and discovered, unlike the 13-inch model sans Touch Bar, there is no cutout in the logic board for removable flash storage,” Rossignol reports. “Another reader said the 13-inch model with a Touch Bar also has a non-removable SSD.”
“Given the SSD appears to be permanently soldered to the logic board, users will be unable to upgrade the Touch Bar MacBook Pro’s flash storage beyond Apple’s 512GB to 2TB built-to-order options on its website at the time of purchase,” Rossignol reports. “These are the first MacBook Pro models to ship with non-removable SSDs, following in the footsteps of the 12-inch MacBook.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Always max out your Mac purchases with RAM, storage, and CPU as best your budget allows and, with proper handling, it’ll last many, many years.
So what happens when the MLC Flash wears out (approximately 3000 WRITE cycles)?
Toss the MBP in the trash?
How Green of you AAPL.
That is the first thing I thought of. A few weeks ago my old 250 GB SSD died. I just went out and bought another one for that system. I guess that isn’t an option anymore.
You take it back to Apple and pony up the cash. That is what happens. You did back up your data, right? Apple’s master plan is working…..
BTW – If you have an older MBP Then the reason it is sluggish could be that it needs an SSD. The latest editions of Mac OS do a lot of swapping – assuming that you have an SSD. You can upgrade for about $100.
See:
https://jmmxtech.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/how-to-get-a-new-macbook-pro-for-124/
It’s becoming harder to make excuses for Apple. This is partly planned obselecense. When you spend so much money on something and it’s effectively designed as a throw away, it’s a terrible investment.
Sell it on eBay before the AppleCare warranty is up, or …
If AppleCare is out, just plug in my SSD clone and keep going until a 3rd party repair shop will desolder and resolder a new SSD.
You make something that hasn’t been tried yet, sound so easy. lol
Data recovery is the bigger issue. Yes we should back up, but it’s not always the answer, often it’s necessary to get at the data on the unit.
Service centers are often dealing with units with liquid damage, people who did back up, but the back up is corrupt etc. Business travellers who left there backup at home.
Believe me all this stuff happens everyday at service centers. Now not only do you get to tell the customer that their $3000 laptop isn’t covered by warranty, but you can’t get at their data either.
Another few thousand and a few weeks at a data recovery specialist might get them going again.
This just compounds the mistake of removing the SD card slot.
When my daughter bought her MBAir 13″ from her college bookstore, they only had the 128gb model in stock. Not wanting to wait, she bought it. Later, when she told me she was running out of disk space, I bought her a 128gb Trandscend JetDrive that popped into the SD slot and doubled her storage for about $90. it’s not as fast as the native SSD, but she’s put it to use as bulk storage. It fits flush, matches the MBAir finish, and is no longer an option for the new MBPros.
Yeah, I did the same for my MB Air, popped a 128GB USB 3 flash drive in, it is very small and does not stick out at all. Cost was $30. And doubled my storage. Oh wait, there is no USB3 port anymore on the new MBP laptops…..oh well.
So are you saying that USB-c flash drives will never happen? Somehow I think they will become the norm in a short time.
Apple has decided they want to make your Mac a throwaway device you replace every 2-3 years instead of an investment you can upgrade and keep. Refresh cycles used to be determined by the rapid upscaling of features and performance, but as that has slowed, Apple is replacing screws with sealed boxes.
If you own a Mac Pro workstation you can add USB 3, eSata, SSDs, upgrade CPUs with a tray swap from OWC, drop in a new Graphics Card and all kinds of cool stuff. Your iMac is a sealed box and is stuck in whatever configuration it shipped as. Same for the Mac mini and MacBooks.
Why do you think there is a significant resale market for computers Apple stopped shipping 4 years ago.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MP10D346CTLC/
I have the first gen retina mbp. It is still extremely fast and looks brilliant. It is 4 years old. Compare that to my previous mbp which got very sluggish after 3 years. Or my old 17 inch PowerBook that was both a slug and the screen died after 3 years.
The battery does need replacing. This is an Apple only repair but will also replace the keyboard which has been sticking. For $250 I get a machine that could be good for another 4 years.
I am having problems justifying getting the new mbp since this one still kicks ass.
so the fancy function keys are placed on the disposable macs. good to know.
And get AppleCare…. If the SSD fails, it will require a complete replacement logic board to repair.
Good point that I had forgotten about. What’s AppleCare on these new MBPros anyway – $249 or so?
But it’s well worth it. I can’t tell you how often AppleCare has saved my ass, either on my computer or my phone.
That says something pretty sad about Apple’s quality if you’ve had to use Apple Care that much. I know I have too. My current MacBook Air and the previous one both had to be repaired due to the sound failing. Both happened just after the first year. So Apple Care to the rescue. But it tells me Apple’s build quality isn’t what people think it is. I’ve also had to repair several iMacs.
Applecare is $349 for the 15″ and $249 for the 13″.
Yup. Pony up the big $$$$$$$$
There you go. Maybe if the assembly topology costs them some bucks, they will rethink it.
I am not a fan of the new MacBooks, very glad I got my daughter the previous version for school.
Yep. Better stop whining and focus on making more money so you can spend without bitching ^_- .
Question: Apple had mentioned this new SSD was faster. Is that due to the inner workings/components/design of the drive, or is it, in any part, due to not having a plug-in interface?
In reality, the SSD is no faster then a new Samsung EVO, which is a standard devices, that standardly fits in any standard Motherboard made standardly in 2016..
its the new standard..
except apples is crammed into a custom shape with a custom pin alignment, so even if you COULD get it off the logic board you can’t even replace it with a cheaper large standard widget..
Meh is an idiot. While the Samsung Evo reads/writes at about 500 MB/sec, the ones in the 2015 MBP do about 1300 MB/sec. The ones in the new MBP are even faster, up to 3200 MB/sec read and 2300 MB/sec write. So there is a reason why they are so expensive.
My new NVMe drive does that speed. In fact it does more. Because I am not limited to just one of them in my hackintosh. I have 2, in raid 0, and see speeds upwards of 4000-5000 depending on the file type/application.
Not as fancy pants looking as the macbook though.. so you totally got me on looks…
Hilalary Clorprift Najee djisas tmAcbook Pro (non-thcubrar) clowtraptin lomsg election of UBS-C prots of 4 USB-C. Clorbtrarb MacBook Pro Hillarambe Macbrik Air of made by Tim Crook dongles upon drongles for mummies in the prolitical corrext Grorg Soros. Make Aplple Mac Again
Is that your attempt at political humor, or are you stroking out at your computer? Either way, seek medical attention.
I didn’t even know the hard drive could be swapped out on the old retina MBPs. I always buy a new machine every 3 years anyway, and this time I did upgrade to 1 TB up from 512 GB. I didn’t even need more than 512, but it was getting pretty full. 1 TB will be plenty for me. All other specs I did max out. This thing is amazing. Touch ID is probably my favorite new functional feature, and I do cherish the asthetics of the much darker body as well.
Singleminded devotion to smaller/lighter is winning the war against sense & usability at Apple, for good or ill.
I’ll call it ill 😷.
macdailynews.com does it again! Quite a interesting site and a good article. Keep up the good work!
I get the feeling the move to make all components soldered on and using one type of I/O port was designed to maximize profits and lower costs. This is what a corporation does, and without a strong leader at the helm (Steve Jobs) the corporate tendency to wring every last penny out of the consumer takes over.
On the other hand, our iPhones are basically the same thing and we love them. I’m sticking with my 17″ MBP until it dies.
OMG one more spot on long list of disadvanges of the new Macsh*t Pro!
We, consumers should start boycotting these embarrasing and expensive product.
It’s bad design when the storage is not replaceable. Storage wears out, fails. You should not need to buy another computer when this happens. Especially not a $3-4 thousand computer. I hope they reconsider this with future computers. But who am I kidding.