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I appreciate why the RAM is non upgradable, it’s a fair sacrifice for the big performance gains, but this is inexcusable.
 
Ok, I understand if the secondary slot is for technician-related use only, but the fact that he couldn't even swap the OEM SSD from his other Mac Studio and put it into the OS slot is messed up though. Apple has gone full-retard.
The second slot is for the 8TB configuration which uses two 4TB flash modules. And of course you can upgrade it by yourself. Put another 4TB module in the free slot, run an IPSW restore through DFU and Apple Configurator 2 and boom, you have a 8TB Mac Studio.

@827538 There is nothing inexcusable. Apple is not locking it down. Luke Miani just broke the encryption and didn't bother running an IPSW restore. That simple.
 
Read my post above yours. Apple did not pull any stunt here. This news post is just based on an assumption from a YouTuber with zero technical knowledge about how Apple Silicon Macs boot and how hardware encrypted SSDs work.
Yeah, they have pulled a stunt. They called this ‘modular’. It’s really not.
 
Macrumors

- retracts an article about the power cord of the Apple Studio Display not being detachable because if we’re being pedantic it probably kinda is (a là Homepod), because being accurate is important

- happily spreads probably fake news about the Mac Studio SSD upgradeability based on a clickbaity video by a youtuber that didn’t DFU restore the Mac after installing the new flash modules like anybody with half a brain and the ability to use google search would have tried first thing based on the Mac Pro procedure

Coming up next: an article about what Mark Gurman would like to see Apple doing.
 
Jesus Apple

Lock down the included SSD if you must, but add some bloody NVMe slots that are user accessible and put out a list of supported NVMe blades. Hell..sell some yourself for marked up prices in the stores too.

Stop being such jerks
 
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Yeah, they have pulled a stunt. They called this ‘modular’. It’s really not.
If you define modular as every single component being non-soldered and replaceable, then yes, they did pull a stunt there. But then again, who with that definition of modular would buy Apple branded computers (Mac Pro taken aside)?
 
Lock down the included SSD if you must
They haven't locked it down... The reason the exchange / upgrade procedures in Lukes video failed simply is the hardware encryption. If you change the module, the encryption is broken. Thus, the Mac needs DFU restore using an IPSW file. And that's what Luke didn't do and instead throws the wrong assumption that Apple locked it down by Software. Same thing for the 2019 Mac Pro and Apple even documents that in the manual.
 
If you define modular as every single component being non-soldered and replaceable, then yes, they did pull a stunt there. But then again, who with that definition of modular would buy Apple branded computers (Mac Pro taken aside)?
I define the Mac Pro as modular. This machine - the Mac Studio - is not. It’s just a separate device for the sake of more $$$
 
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Disappointing, but not unexpected

I guess it’s cool that if your SSD goes bad you won’t have to pay to replace the whole logic board but just the SSD..? ?
 
This is both exciting (it’s not soldered down, that’s progress!) and disappointing (I’m not happy they’re blocking it)

It’s a great time for Apple to improve our ability to improve our own machines that we purchase. I’m tired of the locked down RAM and storage
 
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They haven't locked it down... The reason the exchange / upgrade procedures in Lukes video failed simply is the hardware encryption. If you change the module, the encryption is broken. Thus, the Mac needs DFU restore using an IPSW file. And that's what Luke didn't do and instead throws the wrong assumption that Apple locked it down by Software. Same thing for the 2019 Mac Pro and Apple even documents that in the manual.

My main point remains. (That you omitted when quoting me)

They need to get out of this business of trying to profit so much on overpriced upgrades due to inflexibility by design. It’s consumer hostile, not environmentally friendly and just freaking annoying
 
Obviously I would prefer more modularity in Apple computers, but we knew day one that the Mac Studio SSD would not be upgradeable. This is a known limitation and there’s no reason we should expect otherwise
But it is apparently a software limitation, not hardware.
 
But by all accounts this thing is not easy to open. So anyone that is savy enough to google the "how to" and watch and YouTube vidoes and follow directions to accomplish that task..........will know enough to unplug the devcie from a power source before tinkering with it....

Right...Apple has never allowed user upgrades to tohter devices as you menetioned. They intentially sodered things intot he logic baord so they could not be upgraded.
So why not do the same with the Mac Studio? Maybe there is an upgrade kit coming for an additional cost of course.
Correct, I understand and agree with your first paragraph. I’m just suggesting that Apple probably won’t be selling these kits to end customers like they are doing with the SSD kit for the 2019 Mac Pro. Maybe they’ll sell a kit to a AASP and you can have them do it just like they can change the stand/mount on the Studio Display.
 
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Apple Silicon Macs don't use UEFI / EFI. They use iBoot and the largest part of it is stored on the SSD. That's why those machines won't do anything except blinking and DFU restore if the SSD is wiped. You can get deeper knowledge here if you like: https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/Introduction-to-Apple-Silicon

The main lesson here is to forget everything we previously knew about booting up Macs from different drives or from Internet Recovery because it has all changed with Apple Silicon Macs. And some of the changes such as:
1. Dependence on the internal drive for booting up external drives even with boot security turned off
2. Needing to connect a second Mac in order to pair an SSD to the first Mac,
may seem like a step backwards. How much these changes are based on data security vs. profit security (making it more difficult to change components) is open for discussion.
 
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I would hope that Apple had some protection from the main OS drive being installed in another machine. I know the guy wiped the drive first. Until a drive is available to purchase that fits, this test went exactly how id expect.
 
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But it is apparently a software limitation, not hardware.
I’m well aware of that, but if Apple states that the SSD is not upgradeable, the nature of this limitation (software or hardware) is irrelevant. People here are mad about something that Apple is very transparent about and that is not even new. This software limitation is probably a way for Apple to be fair to the people who paid big money to get more internal storage. I’d be very mad if I paid 500$ to upgrade my storage directly with Apple when there’s in fact a way to get the same amount of storage for way less. For sure it’s a greedy move from Apple, but it was 100% expected.

As I said, I still think that Apple should allow more modularity and I’d be pleased if the SSD was user-upgradable. I just don’t see why suddenly we are surprised that apple doesn’t allow us to do so
 
If Bill Gates had done this, Steve Jobs would have commissioned a TV commercial to mock it and I think he's mocking Tim Cook from the grave as we speak as it stands now.

I would never spend $2000 on anything I couldn't upgrade or do something by myself. PERIOD.

When will Tim Cook, bean counter, learn what it means to be insanely great?
 
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