{"id":1223,"date":"2022-03-22T15:33:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/the-mac-studios-removable-ssd-is-reportedly-blocked-by-apple-on-a-software-level-the-verge\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22T15:33:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T15:33:19","slug":"the-mac-studios-removable-ssd-is-reportedly-blocked-by-apple-on-a-software-level-the-verge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/22\/the-mac-studios-removable-ssd-is-reportedly-blocked-by-apple-on-a-software-level-the-verge\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mac Studio's removable SSD is reportedly blocked by Apple on a software level – The Verge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filed under:
And that\u2019s a real shame
Apple\u2019s new Mac Studio was revealed to have an interesting secret over the weekend: it has removable SSD storage<\/a>. But a subsequent video from YouTuber Luke Miani<\/a> reveals that the Mac Studio still can\u2019t be upgraded: not because of hardware limitations, but because Apple appears to be blocking replacement SSDs on a software level, via AppleTrack<\/em><\/a>.
Unlike all of Apple\u2019s other M1-powered computers, the Mac Studio\u2019s storage isn\u2019t soldered onto the mainboard, as Max Tech\u2019s teardown<\/a> over the weekend discovered. Getting to the SSD is a tricky business, involving removing the rubber ring on the bottom of the device, unscrewing the panel, and pulling out the unshielded power supply. But as it turns out, those expandable SSD hardware slots are for naught: even if you can<\/em> take apart your Mac Studio to get to it, Apple appears to be blocking any additional or swapped storage on a software level.
Related
Which ultimately means that no, you won\u2019t be able to escape Apple\u2019s heinously expensive SSD upsells for extra storage, even if you are willing to disassemble your entire computer to do so.
That tracks with Apple\u2019s official line: \u201cMac Studio storage is not user accessible,\u201d the company notes on the Mac Studio\u2019s product page. \u201cIf you think you may need more storage capacity in the future, consider configuring to a higher capacity.\u201d
But my issue here is not necessarily that the Mac Studio as it exists right now isn\u2019t user-upgradeable. It\u2019s with the philosophy that Apple has taken to get to this point.
Because the Mac Studio does<\/em> have removable SSDs. Nothing about Apple\u2019s design here necessitates the choice to bury it behind rubber sheets and a potentially dangerous power supply or to lock it on a software level.
But Apple made an active choice to make it impossible to upgrade the Mac Studio\u2019s internal storage. Whether it was hoping to discourage end users from tearing apart their computers in search of cheaper SSD upgrades or because it wants to nudge customers into its pricier options (which, due to their non-replaceable nature, implicitly urge you to buy more upfront, lest they be caught with too little after the fact) \u2014 both options don\u2019t reflect well on the company.
It\u2019s true that the Mac Studio makes it exceedingly difficult for customers to get to the SSD slots in the first place, but that\u2019s also <\/em>a choice Apple made. This isn\u2019t a laptop or a tablet or even an ultra-slim all-in-one like the M1 iMac. It\u2019s a desktop computer, one that presumably could have offered more expandable storage at the expense of a slightly bigger chassis.
Nor can Apple make the argument it has for things like the unified memory, which offers tangible benefits by not offering a user-replaceable component: the SSDs here are already<\/em> removable. Apple is just preventing Studio owners from doing it themselves.
We know Apple can do this, too: it already does for the 2019 Mac Pro<\/a>, which it happily sells new SSDs for users to slot in at their own leisure. (Hopefully, a trend it will continue to follow with the Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro it teased is coming in the future, too.)
But the choice to limit the Mac Studio so much here is ultimately a shame. It is a professional-grade machine, and it\u2019d be nice to see Apple treat it like it instead of locking into the same pre-built box that so many of the company\u2019s other recent computers have done. And you shouldn\u2019t need to drop $5,999 on a Mac Pro just to be able to upgrade the storage on your desktop computer in 2022. <\/p>\n

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source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filed under:And that\u2019s a real shameApple\u2019s new Mac Studio was revealed to have an interesting secret over the weekend: it has removable SSD storage. But a subsequent video from YouTuber Luke Miani reveals that the Mac Studio still can\u2019t be upgraded: not because of hardware limitations, but because Apple appears to be blocking replacement SSDs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}