Apple Lowers Price of MacBook Pro's High-End SSD Upgrade Options

[Milou_Noir]

Any price drop is welcome, but these upgrade prices are still insulting. I bought a 2x 2TB NVMe SSD (970 Evo) for c.$500 each on my PC and even after this price drop Apple is 1) saving on the base model drive and 2) charging $1.200 for an equivalent 2TB drive! It's like Apple knows it has an issue with pricing and consumer push back but this is all it can seem to come up with in reaction.

If the base specification suits you, then fine and dandy, but otherwise there continues to be a big price deterrent to buying Apple.

 

[guzhogi]

Cool. Don't lower the price on the sizes people actually care about! Who the F needs more than 1TB of SSD storage? Let alone, more than 256? Everything can be saved online.

Just remember 2 things:
1) There is no cloud, just someone else's computer
2) If something is free, it is not the product. You are

Sorry for sounding cynical, but there have been a number of security breaches, with people's personal data stolen. Plus, some cloud companies (eg Google) sell your personal data. So some people prefer spending a few extra hundred bucks to protect their privacy. As others have stated, sometimes streaming your data from the cloud is not a viable choice.

 

[Milou_Noir]

Just remember 2 things:
1) There is no cloud, just someone else's computer
2) If something is free, it is not the product. You are

Sorry for sounding cynical, but there have been a number of security breaches, with people's personal data stolen. Plus, some cloud companies (eg Google) sell your personal data. So some people prefer spending a few extra hundred bucks to protect their privacy. As others have stated, sometimes streaming your data from the cloud is not a viable choice.

Yeah corporates are desperate to switch consumers from a purchase, depreciate... purchase depreciate cycle where WE control the depreciation cycle onto subscription plans where we pay nominally less scary fees, but monthly. Each and every month without fail. It generates a perpetuity income stream and it makes the cost to us consumers of switching provider high.

I am a photographer with a camera that generates 47mp RAW files... Adobe - for example - wants me to pay a monthly $10 or whatever for software previously on perpetual licence. And all this cloud storage is another example: iCloud free 5GB (yeah, great). Otherwise $. And if I upload to the cloud my cellular provider wants a cut... more monthly fees.

No. No. No. I would rather own a software licence and manage my own storage and back up thanks all the same.

 

[Blaze4G]

Good point! Sadly :-(

With RAM, and storage , it used to be cheaper to buy the model without upgrades and uograde yourself. That was, of course, when Apple made this possible before everything was soldered.

Update: clarify- I’m thinking of MacBook pros

Yep. I guess it's a trade off for thinness. However, honestly I think Apple just uses that as a reason but know the real reason is more profits.

Now that I think about it, something I do at work when a employee computer goes down, I just swap their SSD to a next laptop which is the same model. In 5 mins they are back to working. Guess it won't be so easy for drives soldered on unfortunately.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Apple always pushes to keep prices as low as possible for its loyal customers, which is why their margins have barely increased in recent years.

Nice sarcasm!

Meanwhile, a 2TB NVMe Samsung 970 EVO SSD is under $500.

 

[dumastudetto]

Nice sarcasm!

Meanwhile, a 2TB NVMe Samsung 970 EVO SSD is under $500.

Yes but it doesn't come close to matching the performance, security, data integrity and longevity of what Apple is using and doing.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Yep. I guess it's a trade off for thinness. However, honestly I think Apple just uses that as a reason but know the real reason is more profits.

Now that I think about it, something I do at work when a employee computer goes down, I just swap their SSD to a next laptop which is the same model. In 5 mins they are back to working. Guess it won't be so easy for drives soldered on unfortunately.

Yeah, time to invest in a SMD rework station just to swap drives.

(And I'm seriously considering it. It won't actually work to move data, since Apple encrypts that with the T2 and secure enclave. But it should make repairs and upgrades possible.)
[doublepost=1553021135][/doublepost]

Yes but it doesn't come close to matching the performance, security, data integrity and longevity of what Apple is using and doing.

True. The Toshiba chips Apple is using aren't going to be as advanced as the Samsung chips. But Apple just HAD to pick a fight with Samsung over phone shapes, so they're not using the better chips out of spite.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Even accounting for inflation, the base 2012 15" $1800 price is only ~$2000 today. A lot less than the $2400 they want for the base model.

The 2012 15” Retina MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Core i7/8GB DRAM/256GB SSD/1GB NVIDIA GT 650M cost $2199 USD in June of 2012 and would now cost $2421.03 in 2019 dollars. DRAM was soldered and could not be upgraded by the user. The BTO update to 16GB cost $200 USD, so $2621.03 to be equivalent to the current 2018 $2399.00 entry level configuration. While the SSD was removable, it was not easily upgradeable and service parts (512GB or 768GB) were astronomically priced, even by today’s standards.

Nice try, but no cigar. Please compare Apples to Apple’s next time.

 

[AnakinMac]

Can't speak on the pricing of 4tb as there aren't currently a real set of available 4tb SSD options on the market yet. So in this case, you're likely paying for a "bleeding edge" setup. So Meh? up to you if the value is there.

However, for Retail pricing of NVME M.2 PCI-Ex4 drives capable of 3Gbps+
2TB Samsung 970: 523.62
1TB Samsung 970: 289.98
500 GB Samsung 970: 164.99
250GB TB Samsung 970: 101.99

Apple's hefty margins on storage upgrades are still here. They're still charging roughly 2x retail price. your mileage on if there's value here will be up to the purchaser. But these upgrades are still quite expensive compared to the market.

Intel Optane SSD ($1000 for 1TB) is way more expensive than Samsung 970 Evo.
Also there is a 970 Pro, which is more expensive than Evo.

Without a full spec comparison talking about price difference does not mean a lot. RW speed is just one part of SSD performance, optane's RW speed is even slower than 970 Evo, but it's latency is way better.

 

[Zdigital2015]

What was it before? Like $7,300+ for max specs?

View attachment 827170

The top cost of the 15” MacBook Pro in July 2018 before the Vega 16 and 20 options were added was $6,699 USD. The top cost after the Vega 16 and 20 options were added in November 2018 was $7049.00 USD.
[doublepost=1553023609][/doublepost]

Can't speak on the pricing of 4tb as there aren't currently a real set of available 4tb SSD options on the market yet. So in this case, you're likely paying for a "bleeding edge" setup. So Meh? up to you if the value is there.

However, for Retail pricing of NVME M.2 PCI-Ex4 drives capable of 3Gbps+
2TB Samsung 970: 523.62
1TB Samsung 970: 289.98
500 GB Samsung 970: 164.99
250GB TB Samsung 970: 101.99

Apple's hefty margins on storage upgrades are still here. They're still charging roughly 2x retail price. your mileage on if there's value here will be up to the purchaser. But these upgrades are still quite expensive compared to the market.

It is unlikely that you are going to see a 4TB NVMe blade (22x110) as the cost will be too high, the heat generated too much and the demand too small. 2TB is going to be the upper limit for most users for the foreseeable future, as most PC laptops and desktops capable of accepting an m.2 NVMe stick also have at least 2.5" drive bay better served by a Samsung 860 EVO or a Crucial MX500. I do not see PC laptops offering a 4TB m.2 storage option at all. I think Apple is the only company crazy enough to solder 4TB of NVMe storage to a motherboard at this point. Any PC OEMs will whiff on this and go with a top of 1TB of NVMe and then add 1, 2 or 3 HDDs to make up for space. So, to your point, this is a bleeding edge solution for bleeding edge customers.

I suppose some enterprising company like AData or Patriot will come up with a 4TB QLC option before the end of the year, but that would be a hard pass for me and countless others who actually value our data.

 

[MoreRumors?]

Hmmm, I'll pass.

 

[falainber]

Yes but it doesn't come close to matching the performance, security, data integrity and longevity of what Apple is using and doing.

Stop with sarcasm already.

 

[CLS727]

It is unlikely that you are going to see a 4TB NVMe blade (22x110) as the cost will be too high, the heat generated too much and the demand too small. 2TB is going to be the upper limit for most users for the foreseeable future, as most PC laptops and desktops capable of accepting an m.2 NVMe stick also have at least 2.5" drive bay better served by a Samsung 860 EVO or a Crucial MX500. I do not see PC laptops offering a 4TB m.2 storage option at all. I think Apple is the only company crazy enough to solder 4TB of NVMe storage to a motherboard at this point. Any PC OEMs will whiff on this and go with a top of 1TB of NVMe and then add 1, 2 or 3 HDDs to make up for space. So, to your point, this is a bleeding edge solution for bleeding edge customers.

I suppose some enterprising company like AData or Patriot will come up with a 4TB QLC option before the end of the year, but I those would be a hard pass for me and countless others who actually value our data.

I'd love to have 4TB+ in the new iPad Pro 12.9".....

I have a 1000+ movies on my Plex server and would love it to be in local storage for airplanes or anywhere else internet signal sucks.

 

[AppleTO]

Best $1200 in tech I ever spent was in 2012 on my MacBook Pro. Over the years it went from a 4GB Ram/500GB HDD, to a 16GB RAM 2TB SSD. Given Ivy Bridge works well for my needs, I’ve saved a huge amount of money.

This just further proves exactly what you can't do anymore. Now you would have to pay over $3000 for that.

 

[dumastudetto]

Stop with sarcasm already.

I'm not being sarcastic. Go read what Ars says about what Apple is doing.

 

[Falhófnir]

I do, and I won't be updating my MBP until I can get at least 2TB at a reasonable price.

I'm hoping when they update the pros the 256GB option goes away for the 15" (or else it's relegated to a new lower cost $1,999 model or something). They should simplify to 512GB/1TB in the stock models, with 2 and 4TB BTO options. At the prices they're already charging I don't think that's unreasonable.

 

[koruki]

our ssd's were VERY expensive so starting today, we've lowered it to JUST expensive. As someone who is fortunate enough to afford the Macbook Pro's I'd sad to see far they've gone to make them so unappealing that I've now switched away as I'd feel stupid buying them. I was okay before paying these prices for optional parts but after they took literally every single feature away (magsafe, usb, sd card reader, hdmi) I can't fool myself into buy it anymore.

 

[-hh]

Cool. Don't lower the price on the sizes people actually care about! Who the F needs more than 1TB of SSD storage? Let alone, more than 256? Everything can be saved online.

It really comes down to one's individual use case and needs.

For example, one of my Mac Pros currently has 19TB internal, split as 4.5TB working, 12.5TB continuous backups and 2TB currently unallocated. Plus another ~20TB more in externals for archival & remote site backups...

Now contemplate two things:

First, for this use case, just what service offers 4TB of cloud storage (Apple's rates aren't advertised above 2TB) and how much it will cost (Apple's 2TB is $10/mo = $120/yr)?

Second, just how long it would take to restore from a cloud backup?
Because 4TB at 75 Mbps sustained (theoretical throughput) = 5.5 days.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Disgusting prices.

 

[McG2k1]

Before I complain, what are the stats on these drives? Do we know for sure the type of ssd they are? SLC, TMC, MLC? Those differences matter to some types of high bandwidth constant access tasks, like 4k editing. That might justify the cost, like the difference between an EVO and PRO Samsung drive.

 

[Christian 5G]

I have 256GB and it is more than enough for me. Still have 178 to use

 

[technano]

do people really buy this under their personal account or claimable from their company expenses?

I understand editing/media folks need the extra storage on the go. But I reckon its too costly for a justification for 2TB or 4TB?

 

[tallii4]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to take into consideration the price of the drive being removed. So if for example it comes with a 256 GB SSD that cost 100. You're no longer getting that 256 GB SSD which was included in the MacBook price. So the cost of the upgrade is 580.

Thank you! It's like people have never broken down the cost of car parts versus installation.

 

[Lone Deranger]

A nice gesture, but they really need to go much further than this. Just lowering the top tier BTO's isn't going to help the majority of folks for whom top tier is not required.
The prices of the base units themselves are still brutally expensive, especially considering the major design flaws still existing in this current generation of MBP's.

Apple man with the pencil: you can start by offering BTO's for the Emoji-bar.

So, nope. Still not buying/upgrading.

 

[Shanpdx]

apple will care about Mac and these prices when iPhone sales/revenue/profit drops dramatically until that time they do not care.

they want to push everyone to iPad pro with these kind of strategy. vote with your wallet.

sad to see ... they are not really passing any cost savings from bulk orders (with so many products using NAND), broad negotiations with the vendor (there were news few years back Apple orders NAND ahead of time in very large quantities up front to save cost) , falling memory prices in general ...

i can only see they are pressing hard to move everyone to iPad Pro.