The future of ultra thin?

[Ridley]

Hi everyone. I am new to these forums so I apologize if this issue topic has already been discussed... I couldn't find it in the search so thought I'd bring it up.

On apple website they write about their decision to abandon conventional SSDs saying "Getting rid of the hard drive enclosure and using only the parts that matter — the actual flash chips — frees up about 90 percent more space." I imagine similar choices were made with regards to the RAM.

I really find it hard to believe that hardware manufacturers are not scrambling and going crazy to define the standards that would fill this void. Correct me if I am wrong, but if Apple has to resort to these kinds of proprietary components doesn't that mean they don't exist elsewhere. With ultra thin laptops coming out from Samsung and Dell to name just a few isn't it time we have a new class of hardware that will not limit form factor?

I mean, I've read about the SSD upgrades offered by OWC, and its intriguing but very expensive! There is so much money to be had by defining standards (remember how bad Sony wanted Bluray?) I would think if Apple had to go to these lengths that it would be a massive red flag to the rest of the industry to say "HEY we need standards for REALLY small really thin components, and we need them yesterday".

Maybe this is already happening and I don't know about it? Or maybe it was intentional on Apple's part to abandon standard components and become more proprietary? Could for example, MBPs benefit from standards in say thinner SSDs or smaller RAM? I don't know, I'm really curious how this will play out moving forward and thought I'd see if anyone on here had an opinion to weigh in. Thanks

 

[EspressoLove]

... maybe this is already happening and I don't know about it? Or maybe it was intentional on Apple's part to abandon standard components and become more proprietary? Could for example, MBPs benefit from standards in say thinner SSDs or smaller RAM? I don't know, I'm really curious how this will play out moving forward and thought I'd see if anyone on here had an opinion to weigh in. Thanks

Well Steve certainly keeps in mind Kay's "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware", you also should keep in mind Apple's huge buying power, and "standards setting" history/practices.

I think it's always a balance of benefits, pros vs cons of any implementation - so far we've seen standards as more beneficial for everybody ....

And there is a SJ's RDF in place as well, if nothing else those things were called SSDs all along - since at least 2008.

And while they mislabel it later as mSATA, iFixit has identify it as "newer Mini PCI Express form factor" which is probably true (notwithstanding pincount 6+12 vs "standard" 8+16)
At least it's carbon copy of Air's WiFi card interface - which is another standards based device.

Also, soldering RAM on motherboard also quite common practice - you just buy chips in bulk instead of soldered on sticks.

 

[alust2013]

I don't think we'll see these types of things in the MBPs just yet, especially not the soldered RAM, as they are already struggling to power and cool the high performance CPUs and GPUs that are in them. Making the computer thinner without making it less powerful would be basically impossible.

 

[EspressoLove]

I don't think we'll see these types of things in the MBPs just yet, especially not the soldered RAM, as they are already struggling to power and cool the high performance CPUs and GPUs that are in them. Making the computer thinner without making it less powerful would be basically impossible.

You seem to be yet to appreciate the power of focused RDF