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In fact the real test here would have been to swap the drives without wiping them. You can’t just put a blank drive in a Mac and expect it to boot. It won’t. The boot loader is actually stored on the drive.
I've done this many times and use Internet Recovery to initialize the drive and install Mac OS. But those were in the good days when the hard drives were user accessible (like the 2012 MBPs).
 
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Why all the anger here? Apple clearly states on their website that the SSD is not user accessible. Instead of being mad that you can not swap the SSD yourself (Apple's statement clearly tells you that you shouldn't expect this) you should be happy that it can be swapped (by Apple) in case of a defect.
Apple is in no way dishonest here. Their statement is clear and on their sales page.
I personally would like it to be different but it is what you sign up for. You are forewarned!
Nobody is criticizing Apple for their transparency, we're critiquing their actions.

They've once again gone out of their way to make reparability less accessible on a device you OWN. That's not okay.
 
Misleading video and news by MR! You can't just swap the disks because of the built-in security chip in the Macs. He should have tested with Apple Configurator like you have to do when upgrading the disks in Mac Pro. That's what happens when youtubers rush to publish their videos without some fact checking.
 
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There are two pretty simple reasons why Apple Silicon Macs don't have user-upgradeable storage yet.

The SEP (Secure Enclave Processor) inside the Apple Silicon chip encrypts the internal storage in hardware. When you swap in a new SSD, the SEP doesn't know how to decrypt it because it doesn't have the keys to the new disk, so the Mac cannot boot.

In addition, iBoot (the Apple Silicon bootloader, inherited from iPhone) is only capable of booting a macOS kernel off of the internal storage, recognizing a Touch ID button press, and putting an Apple logo on the screen. Nothing else. Without a valid filesystem or recovery partition on the startup disk, the Mac cannot boot.

It appears that the only way to get an Apple Silicon Mac to recognize a new SSD is if you perform a DFU restore on it using Apple Configurator on another Mac, which reprovisions the machine and places a valid filesystem on the internal storage. So it makes sense why Apple avoided the trouble of having to explain this and instead decided to say that storage is not user-upgradeable.
This is the reason: security, not "greed". The 2019 Mac Pro has the same issue. I suspect the upcoming Apple Silicon Mac Pro will be user-upgradeable, but the Studio was not designed to be upgradeable.
 
I don't care that they do this as long as they give us a way to flash it ourselves, like how it was with the Mac Pro. I understand its to prevent data theft by encrypting it, but give us a way to wipe it clean
 
It should be easy for the mac to see this, put up a messaging saying "we dont have keys to decrypt it put in the key, or select the option below to wipe it and install a fresh OS."

It's not much different from plugging in a BitLocker drive. Its encrypted, the new machine doesn't have the Key. You can enter the key, or not boot.
I cannot understand why in his first test he stated the SSD is wiped, then putting it into the new Mac *without* doing anything special such as entering recovery mode; I mean what did he expect, the Mac seeing an empty SSD and boots itself with nothing? (or is the original SSD still in place so he was adding a 2nd blank one?)

(I watch his video sometimes so I kind of like his persona, but seriously this time it looks too much like jumping to conclusion deliberately.)
 
If I spend the money on this, let me tinker. If you want to make it where the warranty voids, thats fine, but allow me to mess up my own computer! By the time I would want to replace/repair/upgrade ram and ssd, It will be out of warranty anyway.
 
Every time I think about becoming a full fat Apple fanboy, stuff like this emerges and brings me back down to Earth. That and having to cover buying Apple’s excess A13 inventory if I want a display from them.
 
Apple will "sell" you a kit to upgrade your SSD. In other words...we want to make more money from your original purchase.....
I’d be surprised if they did. Unless that power supply has bleeder resistors across the high voltage caps, it might be risky for a noob with no respect for high voltage to mess with. Most electronic savvy folks would be fine, but Apple has to accommodate the lowest denominator here. Maybe they’ll allow Apple’s authorized service providers to upgrade it though.

Apple choosing to use a socketed SSD in Mac Studio may just allow them to keep costs down internally and have less logic board SKUs to produce and track.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Mac Mini from 2006-2009 used a socketed Intel processor, socketed memory, etc and Apple never allowed users to crack them open with a putty knife to upgrade them either. The iMac for years used a socketed processor as well. Apple never supported swapping out the CPU or even the hard drive.
 
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Translation: Greed
Translation: We have control of the whole shebang and would prefer you not try to upgrade storage with janky ass m.2 el cheap brands and then call us to help tech support you out of the hole you put yourself in when you didn't need if you weren't such a bunch of cheapskates who still think a Mac should be a PC.
 
you know, I thought the original purpose of this machine was to be a smaller, cheaper but modular Mac Pro mini that allowed for expansion.

This just seems to be a thicker Mac Mini with a blazing fast chip that needs the extra space for Thermals
 
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you know, I thought the original purpose of this machine was to be a smaller, cheaper but modular Mac Pro mini that allowed for expansion.

That is presumably coming at WWDC.

This just seems to be a thicker Mac Mini with a blazing fast chip that needs the extra space for Thermals

Pretty much.

But it is a new desktop Mac form factor and to me, that's a good thing, even if it is not something I am interested in (due to not needing the performance on offer).
 
The SEP (Secure Enclave Processor) inside the Apple Silicon chip encrypts the internal storage in hardware. When you swap in a new SSD, the SEP doesn't know how to decrypt it because it doesn't have the keys to the new disk, so the Mac cannot boot.

In addition, iBoot (the Apple Silicon bootloader, inherited from iPhone) is only capable of booting a macOS kernel off of the internal storage, recognizing a Touch ID button press, and putting an Apple logo on the screen. Nothing else. Without a valid filesystem or recovery partition on the startup disk, the Mac cannot boot.

What interests me here is that if one adds a second disk of storage and one has disabled SIP and allowed booting from all drives (what I do with these new T2 and M1 Macs by default, yes it's worse in the case of theft but it actually allows one to use external boot drives sensibly as Mac users have always done) if the second drive can at least be used as storage.

Or perhaps with most of the boot security disabled it would be possible to install an OS.

What won't work is not disabling SIP and boot security and then sticking a blank NVME disk in. Of course not.
 
I followed the link to the YouTube site, and there are folks saying it’s the T2 security chip preventing access, likely for the sake of security. The Mac Pro does this too, and you have to use Apple Configurator 2 to work around it.
A little information: T2 is an ARM SoC to offload security tasks from Intel Macs. Apple Silicon Macs do not need T2.
 
In addition, iBoot (the Apple Silicon bootloader, inherited from iPhone) is only capable of booting a macOS kernel off of the internal storage, recognizing a Touch ID button press, and putting an Apple logo on the screen. Nothing else. Without a valid filesystem or recovery partition on the startup disk, the Mac cannot boot.

It appears that the only way to get an Apple Silicon Mac to recognize a new SSD is if you perform a DFU restore on it using Apple Configurator on another Mac, which reprovisions the machine and places a valid filesystem on the internal storage. So it makes sense why Apple avoided the trouble of having to explain this and instead decided to say that storage is not user-upgradeable.

In fact the real test here would have been to swap the drives without wiping them. You can’t just put a blank drive in a Mac and expect it to boot. It won’t. The boot loader is actually stored on the drive.

The ability to boot from external drives being dependent on the internal drive, even after turning off boot security, reminds me of some old Windows PC. It seems like a step backwards no matter how some may try to spin it:

 
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Every thread about Macs, there is somebody complaining about the price Apple charges to upgrade the RAM/storage.

Why can't these people just accept that this is Apple's business model? They are not selling hardware, they are selling the whole package.

Software companies often sell licenses to business that charge per-user. Nobody complains that they should be charging a flat-fee because additional users cost the vendor nothing.

You can think of what Apple are offering in the same way. You want to use the whole Apple system, you have to pay for how much use you get out of it. Somebody with more RAM/CPU/Storage is getting more use, so it's fair that they pay more.

A great result of this business model is that the entry level Macs (which make up a majority of Mac sales) are typically very good value.
 
A little information: T2 is an ARM SoC to offload security tasks from Intel Macs. Apple Silicon Macs do not need T2.
I believe the same hardware of the T2 exists, but the “Secure Enclave“ is just built into the M1 line and not a dedicated chip. So it’s potentially the same hardware and featureset at play in each system, with the hope that it’s the same potential work around. I believe the YouTuber was going to try this same Configurator workaround next, so we should soon find out.
 
So the Mac Studio is also a backup SSD. Makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it.

If there is indeed a software lockout, I wonder if it is to make sure people don't boot the display as a de facto iMac (by taking out the SSD and modifying its contents).

Wow, you not only missed the topic by 2 countrymiles you also managed to do it on a level that only adding ancient aliens could make it worse.
 
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