MacBook Pro 2016 SSD soldered on logic board?

[buster84]

- While they are higher, they're not extremely so. On the 2016 models, a 256 GB upgrade is $200, while a 512 GB upgrade is $400. A Samsung 950 PRO is right now $185 for 256 GB and $315 for 512 GB on Amazon.

(960 isn't out yet, but prices look similar.)

Your forgetting that its called an "Upgrade" which means its an additional $Cost on top of the 256GB that comes with the computer that is already priced into the core model. This means your paying even more for that same SSD from apple than just the upgrade price compared to buying one in the retail market.

BTW a 500GB 960 PRO (3200mbps) can be had for $202.49
and 1TB for $431.1

 

[jerryk]

- While they are higher, they're not extremely so. On the 2016 models, a 256 GB upgrade is $200, while a 512 GB upgrade is $400. A Samsung 950 PRO is right now $185 for 256 GB and $315 for 512 GB on Amazon.

(960 isn't out yet, but prices look similar.)

I agreed. Apple prices are pretty good. We run Samsung 950 Pros in our Windows deskside systems. They are a great M.2 module, but expensive. And they top out at 1.5 GB/sec in sequential transfer. Apple says theirs will do 3.0 GB/sec. Impressive.

I have doubts whether most people will notice the speed difference. We do video rendering and the 950 Pro a big win there. But for more regular business and SW development tasks we do not notice much difference from the "slow" SSD (0.5 GB/sec Samsung 850s) we use as secondary drives.

 

[JTToft]

Your forgetting that its called an "Upgrade" which means its an additional $Cost on top of the 256GB that comes with the computer that is already priced into the core model. This means your paying even more for that same SSD from apple than just the upgrade price compared to buying one in the retail market.

- So which prices would you like us to compare?

 

[maratus]

If your SSD goes bad, you must buy a new logic board, new ram, and new SSD.
If your ram goes bad, you must buy a new logic board, and new SSD, and new ram.
If your logic board goes bad, you must buy a new logic board, new ssd, and new ram.
If your out of warranty, your SOL because it could cost just as much to repair it as it would be to replace it.

Today Apple technician told me that it'd probably be a flat rate for logic board replacements regardless of SSD size. At least you won't have to pay for a large SSD again if your SSD is ok. However I don't know yet if you have to pay full price for your SSD if it's the actual faulty component and your board is ok. I'm also not sure if Apple salvages SSDs from otherwise faulty boards or salvages operational boards where SSD is dead. It also seemed that if everything on your logic board goes wrong (i.e. massive liquid damage) you still have to pay flat repair rate (around 900-1000 CAD in Canada), but I can't confirm that at all. That'd be a big surprise.

I have no idea how these numbers add up in real life, but it must be profitable (huh!)

users have found a way to stick them in 2015 models and below

Af far as I know, it's impossible for any PCI-e model (late-2013 and up). Do you have a proof?

Not only did apple screw up by increasing the prices

Comparable 15" is actually 100$ more (Pro 450 vs. M370X)

They really should re-name the computer because a non-up-gradable computer is not a PRO computer but instead an IPAD with a keyboard.

That's where Apple think portable computing is going. If you don't like it, vote with your wallet. There's no big deal in choosing a different products, it's only a freaking tool after all.

But expandability != professional use. There are consumers who need expandability, consumers who want expandability (but never use it), consumers who don't care, professionals who need expandability, professionals who want expandability (but never use it) and professionals who don't care.

Having a Pro in Macbook Pro name is just a legacy, which just helps to differentiate between lower performance and higher performance models. It has nothing to do with "Pro" use, because you can use anything (literally anything) for professional use as long as it does the job. And many consumers have higher requirement than many professionals, that should be obvious as well.
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Your forgetting that its called an "Upgrade" which means its an additional $Cost on top of the 256GB that comes with the computer that is already priced into the core model. This means your paying even more for that same SSD from apple than just the upgrade price compared to buying one in the retail market.

You're wrong. He quoted actual prices. Upgrade from 256GB to 512GB costs 200$. Upgrade from 512GB to 1TB costs 400$. Upgrade from 1TB to 2TB costs 800$.

BTW a 500GB 960 PRO (3200mbps) can be had for $202.49
and 1TB for $431.1

This is 960 EVO, a much less expensive drive with TLC memory. Samsung 960 Pro costs 330$ for 512GB
and 630$ for 1TB. While Apple's prices are more (512GB delta is 400$ vs 330$ and 1TB delta is 800$ vs. 630$) it's much closer to real world prices than before.

 

[throAU]

Apple SSDs are expensive, but they're also much faster than "the regular SSD market" drives in the majority of cases.

If you compare pricing on drives that are the same speed it's not so bad. But there's a lot of much slower drives out there for cheap.

 

[Gjwilly]

You're wrong. He quoted actual prices. Upgrade from 256GB to 512GB costs 200$. Upgrade from 512GB to 1TB costs 400$. Upgrade from 1TB to 2TB costs 800$.

I think what he's saying is that the Apple upgrade price isn't directly comparable to retail.
If one configuration has 256gb and the upgrade to 512gb costs $200 then you've essentially paid $200 and only received a 256gb drive. The price of the other 256gb was already included in the base config.