15-Inch MacBook Pro With Touch Bar Has Non-Removable SSD

[WinstonRumfoord]

Maybe it's a pedantic post, but as a true Pro user, this is a big part of my life, these are my tools.

At a time when one needs a replacement workhorse laptop, for once the market feels somewhat fragmented. I'm honestly not sure what to do next. I absolutely love macOS, but the hardware and price is no longer compelling.

So true. I'm just glad I don't need to upgrade anything at this point, my Office iMac (with ACD, LOL) is still doing ok, though my home MBP is getting a slight bit long in the tooth.

I figure I have at least a year, maybe 2 left in both of them. I sure hope that in this time, either:

A) Apple removes their head from their rectum and forgets about this absolutely insane infatuation with "thin" at the cost of usability and function

or

B) PC manufacturers start to read the writing on the walls and focus on creating what apple used to be so good at.

 

[tubeexperience]

You should back up with sufficient frequency such that if the SSD itself dies you can stomach what was lost at that point. So if you can't stand to lose more than 15 minutes work, you should backup every 15 minutes. etc. Your backup strategy needs to be tailored to your tolerance to data loss.

Again, one nice solution, assuming internet access, is using dropbox or iCloud to continuously replicate changes into the cloud (and thus onto your other macs or PCs as well).

But if you don't backup frequently enough, then you are taking the risk that if something goes awry in such a way that the data on the disk cannot be retrieved (e.g. the SSD itself dies, or you can't get into target disk mode), you lose everything since the last backup.

The delta risk here is that if something on the motherboard other than the SSD dies, and that death also prevents target disk mode (which is a subset of possible motherboard failures), then you lose data you might not have otherwise lost.

If anything else other than the SSD fails, I have the option of removing the SSD, put it in an enclosure, and booting it from another computer.

With soldered SSD, that option is gone.
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Which you would also have if the motherboard dies to the degree that target disk mode doesn't work.

I would have done what I did last time and put the SSD into an enclosure and boot from it from another computer.

 

[melendezest]

Nope. But you can TM to an external drive. Or NAS. Or use iCloud, Amazon Cloud, Crashplan or whichever.
I'm not a big fan of the 2016 MBPro and not going to buy one. But the soldered SSD is the LEAST of my concerns, especially when it comes to data loss.

Given that SSDs are more robust than other components, the advantages of using one were high.

The problem is that now Apple has both compounded the risk of data loss and reduced one of the benefits of having an SSD in the first place, since now any failure of any component will result in data loss, because it'll probably mean that Apple will replace the logic board for every failure scenario..

That's great for Apple (as it simplifies repairs greatly), bad for us.

This is what happens when you have a bean-counter as CEO. And yet another piece of evidence that shows how much more "Apple-centric" and "user-antagonist" Apple has become of late.

That said, you're right in that using this machine requires an even more aggressive backup mechanism/workflow. The issue with this is that it is also contributes to greater system overhead, which is sure to cause a bit of a performance hit. How severe this is is up to the user. For the target audience (consumers, really) this is likely to be a non-issue, though.

But these are some of the reasons why people are angry about this, and they are right to be.

 

[brynsmith23]

I back up multiple times a day on time machine, if the new MBP fails then i should be ok.

Glad i ordered 512gb, would have been annoying if i had ordered the 256, expecting to upgrade the SSD in time

 

[Howard2k]

If anything else other than the SSD fails, I have the option of removing the SSD, put it in an enclosure, and booting it from another computer.

With soldered SSD, that option is gone.
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I would have done what I did last time and put the SSD into an enclosure and boot from it from another computer.

If managing your data doesn't work, I recommend including some wire, a soldering iron, solder, some flux, and a screwdriver set in your laptop bag with your 2016 MBPro.

Wait, you're not actually going to buy one.

 

[Cycling Asia]

Just plug in an external SSD via dongle via USB-C.

The problem with that approach is that the more you need to plug in, the less mobile it becomes. (Same can be said for phones)

 

[shaunymac]

Which you would also have if the motherboard dies to the degree that target disk mode doesn't work.

I just went through this on my 2nd Macbook Pro with logic board failure. The drive is actually sitting on my desk. That freaking computer still smells new! it is just a touch too old for Apple to do anything about. Target Disk mode would not work at all. Thankfully, I could get access to it easily. Nothing compared to taking apart say an iBook to replace one of those HD's. Ugh!

Someone else mentioned their Santa Rosa MBP. I had one of those and Loved it! That was the first SSD I experienced and then I swapped the SuperDrive out for another HD. I kept that computer for long after its shelf life. I used that paired with a 23" ACD and my wacom...I was good to go. When I started throwing big files at it and then video...that's when I finally went to a newer mac.

 

[tubeexperience]

I just went through this on my 2nd Macbook Pro with logic board failure. The drive is actually sitting on my desk. That freaking computer still smells new! it is just a touch too old for Apple to do anything about. Target Disk mode would not work at all. Thankfully, I could get access to it easily. Nothing compared to taking apart say an iBook to replace one of those HD's. Ugh!

Someone else mentioned their Santa Rosa MBP. I had one of those and Loved it! That was the first SSD I experienced and then I swapped the SuperDrive out for another HD. I kept that computer for long after its shelf life. I used that paired with a 23" ACD and my wacom...I was good to go. When I started throwing big files at it and then video...that's when I finally went to a newer mac.

Put the drive into an enclosure and connect it to another computer.

 

[technorganic]

Then you pay $310 for an apple depot flat rate repair.

What? Flat rate depot mail-in cost for the SSD or MLB in 15in MBPs is $700 right now. I'm a tech, I would know.

 

[3568378]

One thing I can always count on of late...more bad news for the new MBP's - again, SO GLAD I have a 2015 -- saw speed comparisons yesterday where it trumped the 2016 in most areas; today it's non-reparability/upgradeability; weeks ago it was ports...

People: buy a 2015 while you still can.

 

[pier]

Please name one computer manufacturer in the US that offers a free 3-year warranty.

Dell offers 3 years of in site warranty on their pro laptops (the Precision series).

 

[rGiskard]

My data would be safe anyway because I have a robust backup strategy

I have assembled loads of machines and spent my youth with a soldering iron in my hand, but my time is more valuable now than to spend it trying to prise open sealed up machines if they fail and, like it or not, the market is moving to commodity style appliances that are just going to get harder, not simpler, to open up (and not just from Apple)

There will always be a niche market catering for hobbyists and people who like to tinker, but I think it will be a rapidly shrinking one

I keep hearing about the market moving to sealed appliances, yet the open hardware on the Windows side has yet to go anywhere.
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Very nice. Have you had any logic board failures?

Not yet, knock on wood. I have the graphics switching bug so I must keep the discreet graphics on all the time. Otherwise it's solid.

 

[bernuli]

What we need is:

Proper Air line. Make it as thin as you want. Take away ALL the ports if you want, make it razor thin and super light.

Proper Pro line. With real ports and expansion options.

Keep it simple. It seems like you are trying too hard. I love you for that.... But it is making you crazy!!!

 

[341328]

Glad never went back to Mac OS since 1997.

 

[tubeexperience]

I keep hearing about the market moving to sealed appliances, yet the open hardware on the Windows side has yet to go anywhere.

Dell XPS 15 9550

 

[ajfahey]

It also has the fastest drive in any laptop in the world, but you know - lets rile the forum members a bit more

The forum didn't make the design decision they just reported it. If customers are riled, it's all on Apple.

 

[HappyMacGuy]

As a pro laptop I don't expect this to be included in the MacBooks, you should already be carrying external drives and use dongles to connect them.

Then you don't expect much!

 

[JackieInCo]

Not a lot of merit to this though when the past models have all been tight packed, and the 13" non Touch Bar model is tight packed - Apple doesn't suffer from the battery explosion issue.

Apple certainly has their battery exploding/catching fire in the past with MacBooks in the past. If you search Google, you will find plenty of scary looking scorched MacBooks.

Here's one that was posted on Macrumors:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macbook-caught-fire-with-happy-ending.1279785/

There have even been some iPhones catching fire over the years.

 

[HappyMacGuy]

What we need is:

Proper Air line. Make it as thin as you want. Take away ALL the ports if you want, make it razor thin and super light.

Proper Pro line. With real ports and expansion options.

Keep it simple. It seems like you are trying too hard. I love you for that.... But it is making you crazy!!!

That would be the logical path for Apple. Plus it would scratch a couple itches. Thinness AND POWER

 

[trifid]

Dell XPS 15 9550

Now that's sexy...

 

[Quu]

SSD is one of the first to die? Got some stats on that? Having worked as an ACMT for 6 years, I can tell you that SSD failure is not that common. In fact, I see more fried logic boards than SSDs

Just my personal experience having many SSD's fail on me over the years. I've found their failure rates to be around the same as hard drives and lets face it, no one would say a hard drive should be soldered to the board for the same reason as this.

Perhaps the reason you've not seen so many for SSD failure is because people just replace them their selves rather than pay your fees no?

I've had OCZ, Corsair, Samsung and Intel SSD's fail over the years in Desktops, Laptops and Servers. Pure anecdotal of course.

 

[trifid]

"Apple has determined that certain 64GB and 128GB flash storage drives used in the previous generation of MacBook Air systems may fail. These systems were sold between June 2012 through June 2013."
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookair-flashdrive/

Still degradation-prone technology that we can't predict how it'll perform 5-8 years from now. But hey lets solder it, so we force customers to shelve massive amounts of dollars at the time of purchase to reach record-high profits, because 38% profit margin is not high enough.

 

[dannys1]

Complete tosh.

You can configure custom Laptops with a Samsung 960 Pro M.2 SSD already which destroys this last-year tech joke of a Machine.

Get your facts straight.

I think you'll find it contains a modified Samsung 960 Pro in it, which performs better write speeds and Apples upgrade price is actually cheaper than the 2TB 960 Pro - your "last years tech" comment is the utter joke, get YOUR facts straight.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Dongles
Dongles
DONGLES
Overpriced
Gimmicky touchbar
Soldered RAM
Soldered SSD.

What's not to love?

In other news, Apple just expended considerable time and resources updating their "peach emoticon".

 

[dannys1]

Just my personal experience having many SSD's fail on me over the years. I've found their failure rates to be around the same as hard drives and lets face it, no one would say a hard drive should be soldered to the board for the same reason as this.

Perhaps the reason you've not seen so many for SSD failure is because people just replace them their selves rather than pay your fees no?

I've had OCZ, Corsair, Samsung and Intel SSD's fail over the years in Desktops, Laptops and Servers. Pure anecdotal of course.

To counter this i've honestly never had a single SSD fail on me and i've been running them in Raid 0 configs since 2007 now (I used the rip the optical drive out of the old Macbook and put two Intel M25's in configured in raid 0. I currently run 4x Samsung 850 Pros on my iMac too. Genuinely never even had cheap SSD's fail me - certainly more reliable than spinning disks.