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OWC brings flash drives to 2012 MBAs
- Thread starter acastic
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They were pretty quick. That said, given the prices, and the facts that they don't offer any capacities that Apple doesn't, and that Apple switched to faster drives, it may be of limited appeal, at least for a while. It is a better option for people a few months from now who bought the 64GB or 128GB and later decide they need more space.
Nice... didn't expect this considering an Apple store rep told me that everything in the Macbook Air was soldered/glued in and non-upgradeable.
Everything else is, but the SSD has never been. I'm not entirely certain why, but perhaps it's so that they can simply transfer the old SSD if they replace a logic board.
I have been waiting for this... I now may get a MacBook air. My MacBook pro has an SSD but it is getting slower due to the core 2 duo.
I've looked into these on the 2011, and the best bet seems to be to buy used drives off of ebay. You could go from a 128 to a 256 for a difference of like $100 when you sell your old drive.
Obviously there isn't that much of a used market yet, so my plan is to wait it out.
It's a good choice for people with "buyer's remorse" who decide anytime after Day 14 that they should have gotten more storage. For the 2011s, OWC had an adapter to use the old SSD as a USB 3.0 external drive. I'm guessing they will come up with one for the 2012s, as well.
If you can live with 128 now, it gives you the option of upgrading a year or two down the road for much less than it would cost now to "future-proof" with an expensive BTO.
That's not exactly true. The price you pay here is for an additional drive. You keep the old one. Apple wants that much money just to "upgrade" you and you don't have the old one. Sell it to offset the cost and it's much cheaper to go this route than through apple.
Good luck selling it, the market for people who've lost their low capacity SSDs from 2012 Macbook Airs would not be enormous. I doubt you could use it as an external either unless OWC comes out with a bundle deal, get a specially made enclosure with your drive, or something.
Today yes, In a 7 months or a year when apple still has its initial RRP and OWC drops their prices a few times it will be great. Although in saying that OWC is the only horse in the race meaning the prices will never be "competitive"
OWC prices for Air SSDs (and the generic 2.5" form SSDs too) have been falling pretty consistently and substantially for quite some time now, at least several months.
This is a complete game changer for me. I can just get the 13" with 128GB and in a year's time when the SSD prices have dropped, I can choose to upgrade. Or just learn to manage my space wisely and rely on cheaper options such as external drives.
Will 128GB suffice for bootcamp/windows/virtualization? Just light usage for some school programming subjects.
EDIT: I just noticed that the SSD prices for the 2011 MBA are the same as the 2012. I doubt it'll change much given they're the only one doing this.
Will 128GB suffice for bootcamp/windows/virtualization? Just light usage for some school programming subjects.
EDIT: I just noticed that the SSD prices for the 2011 MBA are the same as the 2012. I doubt it'll change much given they're the only one doing this.
Actually looks like the 2011 upgrades cost more than the 2012 ones. It seems OWC prices based on expected demand and perceived value, rather than actual component cost + markup.
Capacity - 2010 Price - 2011 Price - 2012 Price
120GB - $xxx.xx - $199.99 - $167.99
180GB - $269.99 - $279.99 - $224.99
240GB - $349.99 - $249.99 - $319.99
480GB - $699.99 - $769.99 - $644.99
Wow. the 480GB is simply too much.
You could probably get a 512GB + 256GB normal SSD (Crucial M4 etc) for the cost of the 480GB for Macbook Air.
No wonder some pick the the Pro cos of its ability to be upgraded later on.
Only if you have lots of uncompressed data and never use filevault 2. The Sandforce controller used in the OWC drives as well as the Apple Toshiba ssd gives very crappy performance when it comes to uncompressable data (which you get when you are using filevault 2). You want the Apple Samsung ssd in this case (aka the 256GB or 512GB Apple SSDs).
If you have lots of compressable data than the Sandforce based SSDs are definitely the best. They have great performance when they can compress data. Saves writes to the NAND chips too.
If you have lots of compressable data than the Sandforce based SSDs are definitely the best. They have great performance when they can compress data. Saves writes to the NAND chips too.
Better yet, check out Anandtechs review of the MBA 2012, he covers the Toshiba ssd in more detail (some benches with filevault off and on).
well there you go ... not sure what folks are crying about. Topic closed, moving on to the LG vs Samsung debate now
BTW - this whole thing reminds me on the iPhone vs EVO video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGnYUtU_tWw
I want the mac with more geeebeeees man!