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jlluna

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
275
32
Holly Michigan
I just picked up my new late 2013 MacBook Pro with a 256 ssd drive. Will I be able to upgrade it to a 512 ssd in the future? I know the memory is not upgradable, that's why I got it with 16 gb of memory. Thank for any answers!
 

stevedusa

macrumors regular
Jun 12, 2012
151
4
I just picked up my new late 2013 MacBook Pro with a 256 ssd drive. Will I be able to upgrade it to a 512 ssd in the future? I know the memory is not upgradable, that's why I got it with 16 gb of memory. Thank for any answers!

Congratulations on your new MacBook Pro.

You might want to post this in the correct forum section BTW. This forum is for the desktop model Mac Pro, not MacBook Pro. You can visit it here https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/90/

Now to your question... if I am right the latest MacBook Pro (with Retina display) uses a different bus for the SSD, i.e. the new one uses PCI-Express-based SSD while the old one uses SATA-based SSD, so as for now I don't think you can.

Maybe down the road vendors such as OWC will make after market PCI-Express SSDs for your new MacBook Pro. So keep your eyes out for them once it's available.
 

jlluna

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
275
32
Holly Michigan
Thank You! It looks like some one has already moved it for me. I called apple and they said it could never be upgraded, so i was not sure. Thanks Again!
 

goMac

Contributor
Apr 15, 2004
7,662
1,693
The Mac Pro's drive, which is identical, is user upgradable. So I'd assume eventually the 2013 Macbook Pro's drive would be upgradable as well. And the warning is gone from their page.
 

jlluna

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
275
32
Holly Michigan
I just called OWC and they told me they do not have it yet and its not in production yet. He told me they have the computer and they are checking to see if they will be able to make one.
 

Macshroomer

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2009
1,301
730
Technically, it is upgradable, one torx screw and then pull the drive out of the connector. The question is will OWC or another 3rd party make the upgrades.
 

jlluna

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
275
32
Holly Michigan
The guy i spoke to last night at OWC told me he was not even sure if it was upgradable. He had to go to the apple website to see the specs. when he realized it was a ssd drive. He told me that as far as we know right now, nothing in the works but in time maybe.:( Im pretty sure if they made ssd drives for all the macs that come out so far, I'm sure this one, will not be any exception.
 

Macshroomer

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2009
1,301
730
Look at the photos in my post on this thread, it can be removed therefore upgraded, once someone makes the upgrade available for purchase that is:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18228485#post18228485

Also, read the statement by OWC that they are already working on offering drives next year:

http://blog.macsales.com/tag/ssd

But just incase I went for the super fast 1TB version.
 

Shubbeh

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2013
39
0
It can be upgraded in theory, just not officially, so it is normal that Apple would tell you it cannot be upgraded. Any upgrade would not be supported.
That said, since the SSD is not soldered to the motherboard, if a third-party releases a custom SSD for the new rMBP, it is doable in theory.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,152
18,918
For all intents and purposes, its not upgradeable. Specifically, while the part in question is easily replaceable in theory, there is no market-available part to replace it with in the first place. Your best bet is a broken MBP/MBA with functioning (larger) SSD which you can salvage. Or some way to get an Apple SSD they use for repairs (no idea whether its even possible for a normal customer).

Therefore, I recommend you to access how much storage you will actually need and base your decision on that. For example, know that I won't need more then 256GB right now based on my usage patterns of the last 5 years. It might change in a few years, but I won't keep this machine for that long anyway.
 

Voca

macrumors member
Nov 3, 2013
46
1
Atlanta, GA
Yes, eventually....check ebay on occasion.

Otherwise, work with external drives to store data, music, movies etc and use your internal one exclusively for your OSX and programs.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

PDFierro

macrumors 68040
Sep 8, 2009
3,932
111
For all intents and purposes, its not upgradeable. Specifically, while the part in question is easily replaceable in theory, there is no market-available part to replace it with in the first place. Your best bet is a broken MBP/MBA with functioning (larger) SSD which you can salvage. Or some way to get an Apple SSD they use for repairs (no idea whether its even possible for a normal customer).

Therefore, I recommend you to access how much storage you will actually need and base your decision on that. For example, know that I won't need more then 256GB right now based on my usage patterns of the last 5 years. It might change in a few years, but I won't keep this machine for that long anyway.

Exactly. This is why we should consider it to be non-upgradeable, even though it is.
 

jlluna

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
275
32
Holly Michigan
Look at the photos in my post on this thread, it can be removed therefore upgraded, once someone makes the upgrade available for purchase that is:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18228485#post18228485

Also, read the statement by OWC that they are already working on offering drives next year:

http://blog.macsales.com/tag/ssd

But just incase I went for the super fast 1TB version.

Great info! Thanks! I did look at the ifix tear down and seen that the ssd was removed.
 
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