SSD upgrade on 2012 Macbook Air

[chalmers4three]

First, sorry if this is the wrong forum but it seems to fit.

I currently have a 2012 Macbook Air with 128GB SSD. Of course I have out grown it but instead of buying a new computer (not in the budget) I would like to upgrade the hard drive. i am under the assumption that the apple store does not do this, correct? If so I have a few questions 1) where is the best place to purchase 2) how hard are they to install (i would consider myself a 7 on the 1-10 tech savy scale) 3) what should be my biggest concern

thanks!

 

[maflynn]

i am under the assumption that the apple store does not do this, correct?

You are under an incorrect assumption. Apple does not sell SSD upgrades to MBAs or rMBPs. What you order is what you have through apple.

You can however buy an upgrade from OWC They're the only ones I'm aware of offering such an upgrade.

 

[chalmers4three]

thanks for the response but you misread my original post. i was under the assumption that apple DOES NOT do upgrades and was looking for some advice on how i could go about doing it. i have looked into the OWC upgrades but my main question was how difficult is it to do on my own? also, i might get banned from here for asking but is this something the GEEK SQUAD could do at my local best buy? i know, i know so don't give me any smart ass answers, but if someone has had this done was it a good experience?

You are under an incorrect assumption. Apple does not sell SSD upgrades to MBAs or rMBPs. What you order is what you have through apple.

You can however buy an upgrade from OWC They're the only ones I'm aware of offering such an upgrade.

 

[soccerrocks314]

1) where is the best place to purchase 2) how hard are they to install (i would consider myself a 7 on the 1-10 tech savy scale) 3) what should be my biggest concern

1) As far as I know OWC is probably the best place to go to buy a new SSD.
2) Have you checked out ifix it's MacBook Air instal guide. ( they have all types of guides for every model mac) http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Solid-State+Drive+Replacement/10961 You will be the best judge at deciding this, but if you are a 7 out of 10 I would think you could do this easily with the right tools.
3) I think finding the right hard drive would be the hardest part. Just make sure it is a drive that is comparable with your model. After that, if you follow the directions from ifix it you should be fine.

Best of luck!!!

 

[LotusLord]

Ifixit.com has instructions. 11 Inch model here, and the similar 13 inch model here

I would imagine GeekSquad would have no problem doing it, but you may want to call and check. There might be more appropriate Apple Certified shops in your area as well.

 

[koerk]

What about something like the nifty mini drive? It's an inexpensive way to add, let's say, 64GB of storage.

If I am going to fill my 128GB air to the max, I'm going to buy one of these for my media libraries or something.

 

[blue-fireball]

I am using an OWC drive in my 2011 MBP. One thing you should know is that SSDs are not equivalent, and depending on your needs the OWC may be a downgrade or an upgrade in performance. If most of your data is highly compressible then the Sandforce drives sold by OWC offer benefits in speed and reliability. However, if you are working with optimized files then you will probably get less performance. Another big thing is that OWC drives use garbage collection instead of TRIM. In my experience, this has led me to need to reboot my MBA more often in order to free up the free space on the SSD.

If you are simply looking for more capacity, then there should be plenty of higher-capacity MBA SSDs floating around on ebay.