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2017 Macbook Air and SSD Upgrade

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BringBackOldKeyboards

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2018
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Hello all,

I'd like to get the old-style Macbook Air before they stop selling it, and was wondering what would be more cost effective: getting a 512 GB SSD from Apple, or getting the cheaper 128 and then upgrading it to a TB SSD afterwards. Also, what brand or type of SSD do you experts recommend if I upgrade it? Thanks very much
 
I just installed a Samsung 970 EVO SSD with the Sintech adapter in my 2017 MacBook Air. You just need a P5 pentalobe and T5 torx screwdriver to open up the case and remove/install the SSD. I purchased this toolkit and it worked great. I have had no issues with the SSD and get great speeds of 1500 MB/s read and 1400 MB/s write. You won't get any faster since the MacBook Air has a PCIe 2.0 x4 interface.
 
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MacManiac76 said:
I just installed a Samsung 970 EVO SSD with the Sintech adapter in my 2017 MacBook Air. You just need a P5 pentalobe and T5 torx screwdriver to open up the case and remove/install the SSD. I purchased this toolkit and it worked great. I have had no issues with the SSD and get great speeds of 1500 MB/s read and 1400 MB/s write. You won't get any faster since the MacBook Air has a PCIe 2.0 x4 interface.
Click to expand...
I just bought a brand new MBA 2017 (2015), am considering the exact same option, and already ordered the Sintech adapter.

Question is; the Samsung Evo is rumered to run incredibly hot, and use way too much power compared to the stock SSD.

Whats your opinion and experience on both potential heat and battery issues!? Thanks in advance.

EDIT as seen in these charts, the 970 EVO uses way, way more power than eg. the ADATA SX8200 (on account on wake up latency)!
 
Last edited:
MacManiac76 said:
I just installed a Samsung 970 EVO SSD with the Sintech adapter in my 2017 MacBook Air. You just need a P5 pentalobe and T5 torx screwdriver to open up the case and remove/install the SSD. I purchased this toolkit and it worked great. I have had no issues with the SSD and get great speeds of 1500 MB/s read and 1400 MB/s write. You won't get any faster since the MacBook Air has a PCIe 2.0 x4 interface.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, interesting... I didn't know anyone (other than OWC) offered an SSD upgrade option for the MacBook Air. I currently have an i7 Mid-2015 MBA (bought it new and loaded from B&H for a great price when Apple first killed it last year), so maybe I will pop in a 1TB Samsung SSD via the links you provided. Is my MBA's PCIe controller as fast as the 2017's controller, or are they not the same?
 
Sowelu said:
Hmmm, interesting... I didn't know anyone (other than OWC) offered an SSD upgrade option for the MacBook Air. I currently have an i7 Mid-2015 MBA (bought it new and loaded from B&H for a great price when Apple first killed it last year), so maybe I will pop in a 1TB Samsung SSD via the links you provided. Is my MBA's PCIe controller as fast as the 2017's controller, or are they not the same?
Click to expand...
AFAIK there’s really no 2017 MBA (which is what I own).

Its a 2015 MBA with a slightly upgraded CPU only.
Thus all spares for your MBA will be called “2015”, including spares for upgrading the SSD.

According to this, both maschines host a PCIe 2.0 FOUR lanes interface, for your SSD upgrade.
 
Jumme_Cph said:
AFAIK there’s really no 2017 MBA (which is what I own).

Its a 2015 MBA with a slightly upgraded CPU only.
Thus all spares for your MBA will be called “2015”, including spares for upgrading the SSD.

According to this, both maschines host a PCIe 2.0 FOUR lanes interface, for your SSD upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. So about the power consumption of the Samsung EVO - it does look pretty high in comparison to the others on that chart, but I am wondering how it compares to the power consumption in the stock Apple/Samsung 512GB SSD that shipped with with my MBA.
 
In the limited time that I have had the Samsung 970 EVO installed in my 2017 MacBook Air, I have noticed about 1 hour less battery life overall. As far as heat goes, it doesn't seem any worse than the stock SSD was. The battery life and heat differences probably won't be as bad as that article suggests since the drive is not capable of running at full capacity since the drive is limited to PCIe 2.0 x4 speeds.
 
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