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New to this Mac thing, have a question

bigdaveindubai

bigdaveindubai

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2017
13
16
Katy, Texas
Forgive me guys I am new to Mac so I wi ll have some stupid question for a while. I got my first Mac 2 weeks ago (iMac 27 5k 2tb) and really have enjoyed it. Already upgraded ram to 32gb. Anyways we liked it so much we went out this past weekend and purchased a mbp 13" early 2015 and a MacBook Air for my daughter. The air is fine for my daughter but I can't leave good enough alone so I already want to upgrade the ssd on the MacBook Pro. I am kind of confused though on what ssd I can get. Is it right that only Mac ssd's will work? (proprietary). If I am wrong what ssd's should I look for? And when you install a new hard drive for a windows machine you can just go to Microsoft and download an image of windows and put it on cd or flash drive and install that on the new hard drive, does apple offer the same service where you can just download the os from there website? what about a registration key like you need from Microsoft when you install windows? Thanks
[doublepost=1494369192][/doublepost]https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Early+2015+SSD+Replacement/38520

I found this and other videos on youtube but nothing about what ssd's you should or can use.
[doublepost=1494369570][/doublepost]and I have seen this as well
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-retina-display/2013-2014-2015
 
The OWC drives are a bit of a "hack" to give people an option for upgrades. They don't perform as well as an Apple drive will. Will it be noticeable? Not likely unless you're doing constant disk access or always running benchmarks.

That said, you could keep an eye on eBay for the Apple drive, sometimes people will offer "take-outs" from systems that otherwise failed or they used the OWC upgrade path.
 
Frankly, Apple makes it difficult to "upgrade" the flash-based SSD on the MacBook Pro retina models.

Apple-produced replacements are not available, except to try to find a used one on ebay.

Other World Computing sells a non-original replacement, but it runs hotter and isn't as good as an "OEM solution".

Did you buy this from Apple?
 
IMHO it is best to treat MBPs as non upgradable. Get the system with the correct configuration from the start. Sure you can go the 3rd party route or go to eBay and buy parts. But since you just got the system, take it back and get the one configured the way you want.
 
Jerry, I'm sure Bestbuy would go for that. Yeah I'm gonna return this one because i want the one with the bigger hard drive. They would tell me to pound sand. I will get an external ssd for the time being, once another company starts making this ssd I will upgrade. Admins you can lock or delete this thread, I got my answers. Thanks.
 
bigdaveindubai said:
Jerry, I'm sure Bestbuy would go for that. Yeah I'm gonna return this one because i want the one with the bigger hard drive. They would tell me to pound sand. I will get an external ssd for the time being, once another company starts making this ssd I will upgrade. Admins you can lock or delete this thread, I got my answers. Thanks.
Click to expand...

People take back systems all the time for configuration changes. Read through the threads. I am not sure about Best Buy, but Apple has a 14 day, no questions asked return policy on both new and refurbished units. This level of service is one of the reasons people are willing to pay the "Apple tax".
 
Best buy has a 15 day return policy, 30 if you are an elite member. Apple itself also has a 14 day return policy. There will be no issue if you want to exchange. An external HD will probably work just as well though.
 
I'm good guys. Thanks. The 256gb will do me fine for a year or so, by then I am sure something will be developed. If not I will just wipe it and sell it and buy another.
 
hallux said:
Doubtful. We're going on 4 years (started with the 2013 model) with that drive interface and the "best" non-Apple option is the OWC route.
Click to expand...


Agreed. And Apple is going away from user-upgradability. With the 2016 models the SSD and RAM are soldered on.
 
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