Since the 2016 MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar, Apple has soldered SSD storage to the logic board, making it impossible for users to easily upgrade or replace the drive in their device.
But a repair YouTuber known as iBoff, who calls himself a “Mac logic board enthusiast,” appears to have created a solution that doesn’t take up much extra space.
Mac upgrade history
Even before the Mac transitioned to Apple Silicon, Mac repairability has steadily declined. As mentioned earlier, the 2016 MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar had SSDs soldered in, but hope was still not lost. Not many people know this, but the 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models with function keys didn’t have the T1 chip, so they had upgradeable SSDs.
However, once the base MacBook Pro gained Touch ID and Touch Bar support in 2019, Apple removed the upgradable SSD.
With the 2018 Mac mini, Apple also reintroduced the ability for users to upgrade their RAM modules, which was not possible with the previous 2014 model. But when we got the M1 Mac mini in 2020, we lost hope again because future Macs wouldn’t have upgradable RAM.
The 2023 Mac Studio also appears to have a modular SSD, giving users easy access to the drive bay. However, in reality, it is not easy to upgrade them.
iBoff’s new module
Unfortunately, this YouTuber does not show the process of designing, developing, and installing an actual SSD slot, but does show the process of removing an SSD module and replacing it with a larger capacity drive.
He says that once the SSD slot is installed, no micro-soldering is required. He also showed that the base model M1 13-inch MacBook Pro with 256 GB of storage can be upgraded up to 2 TB.
After replacing the drive, simply restore your computer using Apple Configurator. The upgrade won’t take up much additional space and you can close your MacBook Pro without any issues. iBoff also shows that the speed of the SSD is unaffected, delivering the same performance as Apple’s solder-in drives.
Another great advantage of this process is that it is repairable. As iBoff shows in the video, if the internal SSD module fails, your MacBook will no longer be able to charge. This means that even if you are using your MacBook with an external SSD, your laptop will no longer be able to boot.
summary
Obviously, users won’t be able to easily install an SSD slot themselves, and most users will need a theoretical service to take advantage of this. However, once the slot is installed, SSD upgrades and replacements are completely user-friendly.
At the very least, this video shows that Apple could offer expandable SSDs if it wanted to, and I’m sure Apple could sell its own SSDs for a tidy profit.
Watch iBoff’s full video here.
What do you think about this upgrade process? Let us know in the comments.
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