Apple Has an SSD Data Recovery Tool for Touch Bar MacBook Pros That Refuse to Boot

[mainstreetmark]

A dead SSD should mean a simple replacement of the SSD, not the entire board. Soldering the SSD to the board makes this recovery tool and the "port to nowhere" necessary. Also it eliminates the possibility of upgrading your SSD down the road.

Yes, there are tradeoffs, but when the entire world is demanding thinner Macbook Pros, they have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. We all have to suffer with non-upgradable stuff, but that apparently is the price to pay. I mean, we're not barbarians. We wouldn't want to sit around with a macbook pro that was thicker than 131 millimeters. It's downright embarrassing.

"Hey Johnson! I notice your laptop is 131mm thick! That is important to me, an executive! You work here?! Double plus good!"
"Yessir! Don't worry, though, it gets less than 5 hours of battery, and I assume the SSD will never fail, because Time Machine only works half the time!"

 

[NY Guitarist]

The soldered down SSD is strictly about Apple's profit margin and offers NO benefit to the consumer.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Any word on how much this will cost if you are out of warranty?
Or if you are moving to some other system? Like Windows or a Mac Pro which doesn't have USB-C?

I'll never know, because I back up my data. Discussion/speculation on this whole topic is kind of pointless, because anyone who has the forethought to think about it in advance, probably won't ever need it.

 

[fikonhjul]

Will Apple certified repair centers have this?

Yes, it seem like they have received one from Apple.

But if you live outside the US, don't count on it. The Apple Stores and authorised service partners in Sweden are still waiting for it (and I know you should never ever be without real time backups or live outside of the US).

 

[JamesPDX]

I'll never know, because I back up my data. Discussion/speculation on this whole topic is kind of pointless, because anyone who has the forethought to think about it in advance, probably won't ever need it.

Until something goes wrong and you need it.

 

[jdiamond]

... it eliminates the possibility of upgrading your SSD down the road.

Yes, that's the point. If you can't upgrade your Mac, you give a LOT more money to Apple - either by paying their initial prices for more flash and DRAM, or by buying a brand new computer more often to deal with running out of memory. You can give $500 to Samsung for an upgradeable 2 TB flash drive, or you can give $2,000 to Apple to buy a computer with one soldered on. That's like selling 3 iPhones.

We still have our Unibody Macs in addition to our retinas, because we cheaply upgraded the Unibodies to the point where they're still superior to the Retinas in every way but weight.

 

[JamesPDX]

Give me thick, heavy, and upgradeable over thin, light, and disposable any day.

 

[Kajje]

Give me thick, heavy, and upgradeable over thin, light, and disposable any day.

Any day until the day you stack up 100k airmiles per year, weight and bulk doesn't matter. For the sake of my back and carbon footprint, I prefer thin and light.

 

[Juicy Box]

Any day until the day you stack up 100k airmiles per year, weight and bulk doesn't matter. For the sake of my back and carbon footprint, I prefer thin and light.

If thin and light is what is important, why not choose a MBA then?

 

[Kajje]

If thin and light is what is important, why not choose a MBA then?

While indeed being heavier, the bulk of the new MBPr is not that much different with the MBA. I hadn't too much luck with the battery of my rMB otherwise I'd still use that jewel as my daily machine.

 

[JamesPDX]

Any day until the day you stack up 100k airmiles per year, weight and bulk doesn't matter. For the sake of my back and carbon footprint, I prefer thin and light.

Wow and damn! 100k air miles per year? I hear you on the burden of traveling light. But regarding macs, reducing your "Carbon footprint" is merely Greenwashing on their part if one takes into consideration all of this planned obsolescence. All I'm asking for is to be able to upgrade the CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD, and of course, swap out the battery as we could pre-unibody. And that goes for the phone, too.

I just want a portable machine that can run Pro Tools 12 without throttling or other problems. But I may be asking too much from Apple. (What is a computer?)

 

[Kajje]

Wow and damn! 100k air miles per year?

It's not that crazy; one monthly Paris - Shenzhen/Hong Kong/Singapore return flight and you're well above 100k.
I thought the missus was responsible for my grey hairs but turns out it's the radiation who is to blame