Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

freshwest

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2014
2
0
I understand that the mainstream market for the Samsung PCIe SSDs are not available, and the only way to upgrade the SSD is to get one off ebay.

How likely will there be PCIe SSD that can be replaced by the user in the near future? I need to know this as I am thinking of buying a new 13" rMBP with 16GB RAM and with either 128GB SSD or 256GM SSD. It all depends whether I can comfortably upgrade the SSD in the future at a reasonable cost? Any word on this? Thanks.
 

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
I understand that the mainstream market for the Samsung PCIe SSDs are not available, and the only way to upgrade the SSD is to get one off ebay.

How likely will there be PCIe SSD that can be replaced by the user in the near future? I need to know this as I am thinking of buying a new 13" rMBP with 16GB RAM and with either 128GB SSD or 256GM SSD. It all depends whether I can comfortably upgrade the SSD in the future at a reasonable cost? Any word on this? Thanks.

I'd say that the chances are almost zero.

It's already a year and a half since the first Apple PCIe SSD debuted in the mid-2013 MacBook Airs.

It didn't take this long for OWC to come up with third party upgrades for the mSATA SSDs used in the mid-2012, late-2012 and early-2013 rMBPs.

My best guess is probably because Apple used a proprietary form factor of the PCIe SSD (non-M.2), and they threatened to sue anybody who released an SSD with Apple's PCIe blade form factor.
 

introsuit

macrumors newbie
Jan 6, 2015
9
0
Does anyone know if rMBP late-2013 and mid-2014 have the same PCIe slots? I have once saw an ad selling "ssd for late rmpb 2013". I assume apple did not change pcie specifications for the mid 2014 models and this would fit for mid2014?
 

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
Does anyone know if rMBP late-2013 and mid-2014 have the same PCIe slots? I have once saw an ad selling "ssd for late rmpb 2013". I assume apple did not change pcie specifications for the mid 2014 models and this would fit for mid2014?

Late-2013 and mid-2014 rMBPs, along with the late-2013 iMac and mid-2014 Mac Minis plus mid-2013 and early-2014 MacBook Airs share the same PCIe SSD slot.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Does anyone know if rMBP late-2013 and mid-2014 have the same PCIe slots? I have once saw an ad selling "ssd for late rmpb 2013". I assume apple did not change pcie specifications for the mid 2014 models and this would fit for mid2014?

They are the same and they are not upgradeable. The only option to upgrade the SSD on these bad boys is to buy them on eBay, as people part out their laptops or pull them to sell on ebay.
 

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
I understand that the mainstream market for the Samsung PCIe SSDs are not available, and the only way to upgrade the SSD is to get one off ebay.

How likely will there be PCIe SSD that can be replaced by the user in the near future? I need to know this as I am thinking of buying a new 13" rMBP with 16GB RAM and with either 128GB SSD or 256GM SSD. It all depends whether I can comfortably upgrade the SSD in the future at a reasonable cost? Any word on this? Thanks.

Not very likely, there just isn't much of a market for it.
 

laurihoefs

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2013
793
23
can the trash can mac pro pci ssd fit in the mid 2014 rmbp?

It can: OWC Gets 1,200MB/s from SSD in 2014 MacBook Pro with Retina Display

But from the linked blog post:
SSD swap not recommended

It should be noted that this experiment was done simply to illustrate potential speeds. OWC does not recommend installing a Mac Pro SSD in your Retina MacBook Pro, as we have not performed a thermal evaluation.

There's a chance that the cooling in rMBPs is inadequate for the more power hungry (and thus hotter) x4 PCIe SSDs.

Edit: To clarify, the above info only concerns the original Apple SSDs. The OWC 2013 Mac Pro SSD upgrades certainly can not be installed in rMBPs, they are much larger than the original SSDs.
 

Count Blah

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2004
3,192
2,748
US of A
Sorry, apple doesn't want you to upgrade your own machine anymore. They want you to pay more than top dollar to upgrade at the time of purchase.


Customers can pound sand - take it or leave it.
 

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
It can: OWC Gets 1,200MB/s from SSD in 2014 MacBook Pro with Retina Display

But from the linked blog post:

There's a chance that the cooling in rMBPs is inadequate for the more power hungry (and thus hotter) x4 PCIe SSDs.

Edit: To clarify, the above info only concerns the original Apple SSDs. The OWC 2013 Mac Pro SSD upgrades certainly can not be installed in rMBPs, they are much larger than the original SSDs.

The 1TB BTO option for the rMBP is a 4 lane PCIE blade the same as the MP with 4 lanes so I'd imagine it is ok...
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.