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So much for rMBP being non-upgradable. OWC Mercury Aura Pro SSD...

C

ColoArtist

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 3, 2012
292
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Denver, CO
OWC has announced an SSD upgrade for the Retina MacBook Pro, the 480GB Mercury Aura Pro...
http://blog.macsales.com/14729-owc-...rade-for-2012-macbook-pro-with-retina-display

Other World Computing announced today the OWC Mercury Aura Pro as the industry’s first high-performance Solid State Drive upgrade for 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display (rMBP) computers. Available in 480GB capacity, the 6G (6Gb/s) SandForce Driven Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners 87.5 percent more capacity than the factory 256GB model. Additionally, customers buying the $579.99 MSRP Aura Pro direct from OWC until September 30, 2012, will later receive the OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 bus-powered portable enclosure (a $59.95 value) for re-tasking the rMBP’s factory flash module as an external drive at no additional cost.
Click to expand...

Getting the Apple 512GB upgrade for $500 is a better deal than getting a 480GB drive for $580, however with OWC's upgrade you get a free USB 3.0 external enclosure for the old 256GB drive.

In just a couple of months, the rMBP has moved from non-upgradable to upgradable at a price...a big change. :cool:

:apple:
 
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I would consider their pricing as a poor marketing strategy as for now. Great for apple though, it would only encourage the prospective buyers to upgrade to 512 upfront instead of buying an aftermarket one later. The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper. Given time, prices will do subside though.
 
ducatiti said:
I would consider their pricing as a poor marketing strategy as for now. Great for apple though, it would only encourage the prospective buyers to upgrade to 512 upfront instead of buying an aftermarket one later. The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper. Given time, prices will do subside though.
Click to expand...

well.. this is something to think about... owc does have the better performing SSD
 
ducatiti said:
I would consider their pricing as a poor marketing strategy as for now. Great for apple though, it would only encourage the prospective buyers to upgrade to 512 upfront instead of buying an aftermarket one later. The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper. Given time, prices will do subside though.
Click to expand...

Given the dismal track record in 2 years on the ssd situation on the 2010-2011 MBA (which sell in vastly more numbers than the rMBP ever will), the prices have never really subsided. Only OWC seems too get away with making aftermarket apple ssds with proprietary interfaces. Therefore, they have a monopoly. Lesson here, just buy the most ssd size you can with the rMBP and sell the machine later when you need more capacity.
 
ducatiti said:
I would consider their pricing as a poor marketing strategy as for now. Great for apple though, it would only encourage the prospective buyers to upgrade to 512 upfront instead of buying an aftermarket one later. The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper.
Click to expand...

Good points.

It was an easy choice for me. I went with the 512GB model because I knew 256GB wasn't enough and that my work habits weren't going to change in the next 3-4 years that I'd need 768GB of storage.

Although not a breakthrough price for OWC, at least it is an option for those people who initially purchased the 256'ers and are now finding things a bit crowded. It also dampens the "if it ain't upgradable, it ain't for me" crowd.

I suspect now that OWC has broken ground there will be others to follow and prices will become more competitive for SSD upgrades to the rMBPs.

:apple:
 
Muscle Master said:
well.. this is something to think about... owc does have the better performing SSD
Click to expand...

Used to, the Samsung based apple stock drives are every bit as equal and even better than sandforce based drives. They also don't slow down with FileVault enabled.
 
ColoArtist said:
OWC has announced an SSD upgrade for the Retina MacBook Pro, the 480GB Mercury Aura Pro...
http://blog.macsales.com/14729-owc-...rade-for-2012-macbook-pro-with-retina-display



Getting the Apple 512GB upgrade for $500 is a better deal than getting a 480GB drive for $580, however with OWC's upgrade you get a free USB 3.0 external enclosure for the old 256GB drive.

In just a couple of months, the rMBP has moved from non-upgradable to upgradable at a price...a big change. :cool:

:apple:
Click to expand...

That's a start. Wake me up when I can upgrade the RAM aftermarket, would you?
 
Are there any benchmarks available for this drive. Id be curious to see how it compares to the Samsung 830.
 
magbarn said:
Only OWC seems too get away with making aftermarket apple ssds with proprietary interfaces. Therefore, they have a monopoly.
Click to expand...

It's not a proprietary connection, it's just not a common one. Others could make them, it's just that no one else has been doing so.

jW
 
Rip off. Better off getting more SSD directly from Apple upon ordering.

Oh wow, you get a USB enclosure... SOLD! WHo cares.
 
just how reliable are these ssd? I do not know how similar they are to SD card. I had one 8gb card go out in week, completely blank and couldnt format it. then another 8gb card lasted close to a year I could stilll read it but could no longer right to it. all of these were on android phones. granted 1 year on a mechanic disc drive from WD is common
 
ducatiti said:
I would consider their pricing as a poor marketing strategy as for now. Great for apple though, it would only encourage the prospective buyers to upgrade to 512 upfront instead of buying an aftermarket one later. The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper. Given time, prices will do subside though.
Click to expand...

If the computer used a standard 2.5" ssd, after market parts would be cheaper. It's just the issue of stocking something for one model due to the proprietary nature.
 
Mal said:
It's not a proprietary connection, it's just not a common one. Others could make them, it's just that no one else has been doing so.

jW
Click to expand...

It is proprietary.

From Anandtech.

Keep in mind that although the interface is electrically SATA, it is not physically SATA or mSATA or any other standardized interface - this is entirely Apple's own creation.
Click to expand...

From Notebook Review.

The SSD features a proprietary shape and port (though at least it isn't soldered down, too).
Click to expand...
 
I dont get why people are saying this is a ripoff. It's almost at $1/gb for a ssd with a custom made connector unique to apple products only. Pretty close to market price for similar SSDs. It's definitely not a good deal, but certainly not a ripoff
 
I'm hoping my MacBook Pro Retina base model coming next Monday w/ 256GB is enough contrary to OWCwebsite saying they have received many reports that the 256GB is not enough from Retina customers.

I based not upgrading on the fact that I currently use 74.5 GB out of 232GB on my 2005 Dell desktop

I'm hoping that the Apple software isn't huge and and fills up over 1/2 of the drive before I add music and other files.
 
ducatiti said:
The only reason I ordered a 256 model is because I was expecting the aftermarket ones to be considerably cheaper. Given time, prices will do subside though.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid you might have made a poor decision. Unlike other SSDs that can be swapped into virtually any machine, this SSD is only able to be used in one computer...the retina MBP. Plus, only a small portion of retina MBP owners will be wanting something like this. That's a very small market. Plus, OWC is the only one making it. Small market + no competition = premium price. There's no incentive for other companies to spend the time or money making something compatible. There's just not a big enough market for it.

If Apple switches to having this type of storage on all their computers then the market will grow, of course, but it will still be a reasonably small subset of computer owners that will be looking for something like this. I wouldn't expect the prices to change much, if at all, in the foreseeable future.
 
OWC made more sense for the Air a couple years ago. Apple has top performing SSD's now for same cost. Sandforce is not nearly as reliable as Samsung has proven to be. Don't see it getting much traction unless they offer a $500.00 1TB option. Lower the cost or add more storage... something. This is more for users who bought a 256GB and in hindsight need more but unable to swap for whatever reason. That is a very small percentage. Options are good but OWC's Macbook Air replacements and their PCI based RAID SSD Accelsior for Mac Pro are better inventions as they actually fill a need.
 
we knew this

we knew this was going to be coming, and I think more firms will come out with upgrades.

As for cost, it will come down soon and yes, you do get to keep the 256GB drive, which means technically it's about 200$ cheaper all in.
 
tivoboy said:
we knew this was going to be coming, and I think more firms will come out with upgrades.

As for cost, it will come down soon and yes, you do get to keep the 256GB drive, which means technically it's about 200$ cheaper all in.
Click to expand...

meh. thats like saying i'm getting a good deal because i bought overpriced ram but i still get to keep my old ram. plus the fact the 256gb custom ssd is pretty much worthless and has no resale value to anyone else.
 
tivoboy said:
we knew this was going to be coming, and I think more firms will come out with upgrades.

As for cost, it will come down soon and yes, you do get to keep the 256GB drive, which means technically it's about 200$ cheaper all in.
Click to expand...

Not holding my breath on more firms coming out with these rare drives. As I've said above, Apple has sold tons of 2010-2011 MBA's and still no other option other than OWC. Until our rMBPs drop closer to $1000 than $2000, the MBA will always outsell the rMBP's.
 
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