What about the data? If you're using FileVault (full-disk encryption), do you have to provide your password? How do they give you back the data? Whats the protocol?
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Apple Has an SSD Data Recovery Tool for Touch Bar MacBook Pros That Refuse to Boot
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I once had a water damaged Macbook Air out of warranty that would have required a new logic board. Instead of that, I asked the Genius if he could just pop open my Mac and pull out the SSD stick so I can put it in an external drive. He did it for me, no cost.
Service may vary from store to store, but I don't see why they wouldn't do a transfer for free.
You get no argument from me about them doing the service for free. I think they should. What I am arguing is the guarantee made by Terrinb. As I stated, it's not Apple's policy. Getting free out of warranty service is an arbitrary proposition. It's primarily dependent upon the employee and then the nature of the service required. I can almost guarantee that for every anecdote of Apple giving free service there will be an anecdote where free service wasn't offered.
Luckily, my daughters 6 hasn't experienced the issue. If it did, I'd be pretty pissed to fork over $150 for Apple to fix a design defect. If history is an indicator, it will be a pretty long time before Apple admits the issue is a defect. The MBP video card issue comes to mind.
Yes, it seem like they have received one from Apple.
The 9to5 article indicated however that only warranty "repairs" will be covered, otherwise you will have to pay.
I hope that Apple have provided the chips for the SSD with the most longevity.
Well if they did, most people probably would not pay the Apple Tax and by Macs. Apple did have the Mac Clones before, and that did not work out well for them.
I think that Apple designs the nicest looking hardware, but I personally do not buy their Macs for that reason. I buy their Macs to use the Mac's OS. The beautiful design is just a wonderful bonus.
Based off of everything happening at Apple over the past few years, I have worries about the future of Macs. I have been looking into Hackintosh and will probably go that route. I am not ready to make the jump to Windows, but a Hackintosh might be just what I am looking for. Also, keep in mind that I have been buying Macs since the mid 90's.
Think about this with an open mind. There is nothing special about the SSD. It isn't any more prone to fail than the other components. In the old days CPUs were socketed. Now they're not. Your desire to make the SSD replaceable is arbitrary.
But if your logic board fails you need to buy a logic board plus an SSD
On the 2015 rMBP if the logic board failed you could simply replace the old SSD with the data in tact, saving money and saving waste on a perfectly good SSD.
We have had this potential issue last month on a 2015 iMac 21.5" under apple care £600 logic board repair but they used OLD SSD and therefore saved:
• The hassle of restoring data (the iMac booted straight away with ALL data there (no sensitive data) as it was before sending for repair)
• The addition cost of replacing a 100% perfect SSD
• The very "un-green" aspect of binning said perfect SSD by a company that professes to be so "green".
No one has said why it benefits soldering the SSD in the rMBP except if the machine was dropped and the SSD was dislodged but then there would be almost certainly other problems.
I just don't buy the "thinness" argument either.
I can only see negatives here by apple, no positives at all just poor excuses like the title of this thread, and "thinness".
I'm glad apple isn't a Vogue model their ridiculous obsession with thinness would put folks OFF.....actually this is happening - read the posts folks are NOT happy.
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I went back to Windows recently. Windows 10 is quite good. Results may vary I guess.
How long were you using the Mac OS? Why did you switch back to Windows?
I am suppose to get Windows 10 at work sometime soon, as I am currently using Windows 7. So, I will have a better opinion on it when that happens. I hate Windows 7 though, I feel like the first OSX was better than W7.
I second that. 'Bad' experiences with Apple (free) service for out of warranty products are mostly because
a) clearly proven daft abuse
b) expired assumed lifetime span of your product
c) D-mentality towards the staff
I had stuff replaced, stuff where I would have accepted (and expected) being out of warranty. Both in Apple stores AND external retailers. Both at the end of the warranty period AND clearly out of it.
Maybe I am an extremely lucky man or maybe I have the right attitude, empathic and nice towards the staff, but I have never ever had bad or money greedy experience with Apple service.
Don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely not pretending you are not a nice person, or denying you had bad experiences. However you shared your point of view - you are very well entitled to do so. I'm sharing mine.
Except SSDs are known to wear out after a finite number of cycles... Also, in the past, the ability to upgrade the mass storage has proven invaluable for extending the useful life of a computer (ask everybody happily using a 5+ year old Mac after replacing the HD with a SSD). Of course, that's where Apple's interests could be seen to diverge from customers' interests.
I'm thinking about this with a very open mind. Failure isn't the only reason a soldered SSD is sub-optimal. It's very simple. Some people like to extend the life of their computers by upgrading the SSD at a reasonable cost. You can't do that with a soldered SSD. Even if one focus solely on failure, there's no logical benefit to a soldered SSD. Bad drive? Replace it. Bad drive on the new MBP? Replace it and the entire mother board. Bad board? Replace it and keep perfectly functioning SSD. Bad board on the new MBP? Well, you know where this is going.
TL;DR No upgrade path, unnecessary component waste when another component fails.
You are a genius. Nobody else has ever thought of that. Have a cigar.
First, even if you have a backup, its still a hell of a lot more convenient if your repaired laptop, or an extracted SSD, comes back with all of its data and config intact up to the second it failed. Rebuilding from a backup can take time.
Second, its a laptop that people use on the road - you could still do hours of work between regular backups.
Third, there's the issue of people working with secure data who want to physically remove data from the machine before sending it for repair or disposal (they may even be obliged to do it by nonsensical one-size-fits-all regulations, so don't waste too much logic on refuting that one).
Fourth, if you're serious about backups you know that one backup is no backup at all. Having a soldered-in SSD that is guaranteed to die with the machine reduces the redundancy and may mean you need another tier of backup.
Finally - only two weeks ago I was spending time extracting files from a HD removed from a non-techie colleague's dead Mac. I'd made sure when the machine was purchased that they had an external HD set up with Time Machine etc. but, you can lead a horse to water etc... Some people making purchasing decisions about the new Macs will be dealing with other users & firing people who don't back up properly isn't always an option.
Since it's been revealed that Apple chose to use a soldered down, non-removable SSD in its 13-inch and 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pros, it's natural for users to wonder about the fate of their data in the event of a fault that requires a logic board replacement.
Fortunately it appears as if Apple has a proprietary in-house tool to rescue stored user data when disaster strikes. 9to5Mac reports that a dedicated port on the logic board allows Apple staff to attach the recovery tool once the board's been removed from the chassis. The tool then transfers the data from the SSD to a working MacBook Pro's drive via one of its USB-C ports.
All indications are that users won't be able to get their hands on this recovery tool, as it's only available to Apple support staff for emergency use when a laptop sent in for repair won't boot.
Article Link: Apple Has an SSD Data Recovery Tool for Touch Bar MacBook Pros That Refuse to Boot
I bought the original version of the MacBook Air, and the SSD fried within 2 weeks because the cooling system was not designed properly for running it hard (fixed on Rev 2). It also was soldered on, and when I took it back to Apple for repair they asked me to sign a form that said that I would not hold them accountable for anything that happened to the data on the hard drive, and that they could outsource the repair. I was pretty upset about this arrangement because they were basically saying that if anyone got hold of data on the SSD (like my password safe), I could not hold Apple accountable. As a compromise, I got a MacBook Pro replacement with a removable hard drive that I replaced with a kick ass removable SSD. Terrible design, but great customer service, but only because I fully understood what was going on and was nicely assertive. This new MBP has several issues, of which this is one.
I was a Mac genius from 2007-2014. If there was a way to help a customer out financially I'd do it, warranty or not. This included extracting healthy hard drives from failed laptops and desktops. I'd assume for these new touch bar laptops, the most you'd have to pay to salvage the data is a basic hardware labor rate of $39.
It strange to have so many people defend Apple's decision (or dismiss other peoples' concerns) to have a soldered SSD. I see little to no real benefits of it compared to the many downsides. This is from the consumers' point of view, and not Apple's.
That is a Pro use, which is not supported by Apple. You need to use Windows or Linux.