Now that Apple is back to making ‘FAT’ laptops. We can soon be able to swap parts again?

[0423MAC]

The argument for all that no compromise on design/look was that things had to be directly seated on the board to get it as slim as possible. Microsoft has been able to debunk this lie with their surface line and now framework released a “slim” laptop capable of expansion as well.

What will the excuse be now to keep this silly behavior on their end? Too many ports? MagSafe will interfere? Environmental report update highlighting how much it means to them to save that extra M.2 screw required?

All I’m asking for is an M.2 slot so if a laptop goes dead (Monterey release ?) users can take the drive out preserving their local data without being at the mercy of Apple or a repair shop. Will it be a proprietary blade again to force an expensive aftermarket? Let’s hear it.

 

[antst]

Not gonna happen.
Now it is not only form factor. Now it is performance. Memory and sad are part of SOC now.
To have the same memory bandwidth as M1 Max, you need octa-channel ddr4 ram. So eight (eight!) dimms.
As regarding SSD, I am not even sure it is on pcie bus. But, certainly, all those discussions here about 16gb vs 32gb of ram are only possible due to high bandwidth low latency proximity-SSD.
And this is not only “pcie4”. On Mac mini M1 formal SSD bandwidth isn’t much higher than on my intel mbp or Linux boxes. But overall performance of swap is order of magnitude better.
Asking for M.2 and DIMMs is asking to kill those performance advantages.

 

[Rafterman]

You're funny.

 

[ondioline]

The "SSD" in every Mac with T2 and M1 is basically just a bunch of raw NAND chips. The T2/M1 is the actual controller. It's not anything like an M2 NVME drive.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

If your scenario does happen about 99% of the Mac users wouldn't know where to even buy a new ssd let alone format/mount one. Personally, I could care less about replacing parts which I've never had to do on any iPad, Mac, iPhone, iPod, etc for at least a decade now.

Additionally, it seems like everyone who wants this is some teenage gamer that thinks because they can swap out a video card they know how to build a computer.

 

[bill-p]

What will the excuse be now to keep this silly behavior on their end?

The thicker design is to accommodate the other components and a beefier cooling system. Not to accommodate designs that allow people to swap out internal components.

If you have to ask for Apple's excuse? It's simple: well, we don't want you snooping around your own computer, breaking things, and then coming to us for warranty.

 

[Rafterman]

The 15 inchers, where you could do things like replace the SSD or add a new one, in place of he DVD drive...those were the days. Best Macbook Pros ever.

 

[MBAir2010]

 makes disposable laptops and lotsa lotsa money
so
NO!

 

[0423MAC]

You can add more storage, but not RAM on the new Mac Pro!

Sure it might cost you more than some used cars for the privilege, but don’t say it’s not available!

 

[kasakka]

If your scenario does happen about 99% of the Mac users wouldn't know where to even buy a new ssd let alone format/mount one. Personally, I could care less about replacing parts which I've never had to do on any iPad, Mac, iPhone, iPod, etc for at least a decade now.

Additionally, it seems like everyone who wants this is some teenage gamer that thinks because they can swap out a video card they know how to build a computer.

I don't agree with this at all. At minimum it should be possible to upgrade the disk space on laptop/desktop systems as your needs change or if it fails. External storage is a poor substitute.

I don't think most people care too much about RAM upgrades over the lifetime of the laptop. For that Apple at least has some technical reason, but for disk space it's purely price gouging with how much it costs, often 3-4x more than an equivalent spec M.2 drive.

Phones and tablets are not the same thing as they have requirements like being water resistant/proof so they have to be more sealed by design.

 

[Longplays]

Been using laptops for over a quarter century. I like the ability to change memory, storage and batteries.

Given that SoC and glued-in batteries prevent this for weight/size/cost reasons then I am "OK" with it.

For over 80% of computer users we just replace outright after 4-6 years as it is fast enough for our needs.

For the under 20% of us who push it to its final Security Update 8-10 years later or beyond this is unacceptable.

I have a 2011 MBP 13" 32nm that had the ability to change memory, storage and batteries.

If I knew the gap of performance per Watt, raw performance, battery life and power consumption that 2020 M1 chips would have I'd have waited for the 2021 MBP 16" 5nm.

I have a 2012 iMac 27" 2.5K 22nm that has the ability to change memory & storage.

I look forward to a possible 2023 iMac 27" 5K 5nm in 2-4 months time.

 

[Fishrrman]

Not.
Gonna.
Happen.
Ever.

 

[Algus]

At least I feel like I'm getting something back for what I'm giving up now. Like yeah I'd rather be able to supply my own RAM but if losing that means I can get better performance then eh.

I do hate not being able to supply my own storage. Storage is a great example of something that gets cheaper over the life of a computer

But Apple just got me to move to external storage so its fine I guess. It's like the good old days of the Apple II when you had a whole punch of peripherals connected to the computer.

 

[Longplays]

At least I feel like I'm getting something back for what I'm giving up now. Like yeah I'd rather be able to supply my own RAM but if losing that means I can get better performance then eh.

I do hate not being able to supply my own storage. Storage is a great example of something that gets cheaper over the life of a computer

But Apple just got me to move to external storage so its fine I guess. It's like the good old days of the Apple II when you had a whole punch of peripherals connected to the computer.

The consumer base made that happen. Almost everyone are intimidated to "change their oil" and do interior maintenance themselves.

So say 1 out of 10,000 users can do this task... it does not have the economies of scale to cater to that.

That's why exterior upgrades are more popular.

I myself appreciate I can upgrade my RAM & SSD but given the trade off the vast majority see it is worth it.

 

[Zaydax333]

The answer is most likely no. HOWEVER. On the Mac Pro Apple does sell replacement SSD kits.
I really don't understand why apple doesn't just use controller-less standard nvme drives for their storage. (Controller is built into T2/M series processors) It's small enough to where it really isn't that much more space and would make their devices last even longer.

 

[Longplays]

The answer is most likely no. HOWEVER. On the Mac Pro Apple does sell replacement SSD kits.
I really don't understand why apple doesn't just use controller-less standard nvme drives for their storage. (Controller is built into T2/M series processors) It's small enough to where it really isn't that much more space and would make their devices last even longer.

New Mac Pro Features Upgradeable SSD, Apple Selling 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB SSD Kits

Following the introduction of the Apple silicon Mac Pro, Apple today added SSD upgrade kits to its online store. The kits offer 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB of...

www.macrumors.com