Want to preserve the lifespan/value of your M1 Mac?

[Luposian]

Realizing that the SSD inside an M1 Mac is soldered to the motherboard, once it dies (for whatever reason), you’re sunk.

Thus, it behooves M1 Mac owners to preserve the life/value of their M1 Mac as much as possible.

To wit, the first thing to do is to create a USB restore drive, for M1 Big Sur.

Next, is to enable external drive booting and then install a bootable copy of Big Sur to an external hard drive or SSD and use ONLY that drive from then on.

If the external hard drive/SSD dies, the value of your Mac is untouched, because you haven’t been using the internal SSD. How much value do you think your M1 is worth when it can’t be booted, because the internal SSD is fried or most of its usable life is significantly used up? I doubt you could get a few hundred for it, maybe $50 (if internal SSD is dead) Dunno. Is it worth the risk?

Therefore, I think it would be best to compile precise steps to do what I’ve outlined above and live by them.

I know I would...

 

[Gnattu]

This is not new to M1, the models that current M1 Macs replaced all used soldered down SSD.

 

[Luposian]

This is not new to M1, the models that current M1 Macs replaced all used soldered down SSD.

I know that... it applies to all similar Macs. But M1’s are the latest/future design, hence why I’m mentioning it in that context.

 

[Mcdevidr]

No thanks!

 

[MCAsan]

AppleCare + TM backups to a separate drive(s). At the end of 3 years, replace the Mini.

 

[asv56kx3088]

The best way to preserve the lifespan of a product is actually not using it at all.

 

[pbasmadj]

Don't think I have ever owned a Mac over a year so this is irrelevant. New model comes out, sell the old. Rinse and repeat.

 

[MacPoulet]

Or better yet, don’t take it out of the box!

 

[aleni]

Or maybe just put the m1 mac inside the box all the time so it works until 2090.

I don’t want technologies to be a burden to my life. I only use Apple laptops for 1-2 years. The longer you keep the laptops, the lower its resell value anyway, and you get to use old stuff rather than enjoying your life with new technologies.

I’m a mac geek so I’d rather save $40 each month to upgrade the laptop yearly than buying useless stuff like fancy clothes and shoes that don’t bring me excitement like a yearly mac upgrade does.

 

[Luposian]

Obviously, you don't realize that if the SSD inside a device is fried (or mostly used up, lifespan-wise), it negates the majority value of the product. For those that can afford to basically "throw away" their M1 Macs, at the end of 3-5 years, more power to you, but I plan to get the most value out of mine while I'm using it and when I sell it. And that is by *preserving* the most life out of it as possible (not, "never using it", as some have suggested). AppleCare+ doesn't save your data (and, in fact, Apple/someone else could easily extract that data from the SSD, after they've "exchanged" your broken M1 Mac, since actually *repairing* it is probably not something on their agenda, within or outside the AppleCare+ warranty coverage period). If you couldn't care less, great. But I don't want MY data falling into other's hands. I zapped (reformatted) my drive and reinstalled a clean copy of the OS before my Macbook ever went to the Apple Store for service, when it was acting up.

 

[Gnattu]

Obviously, you don't realize that if the SSD inside a device is fried (or mostly used up, lifespan-wise), it negates the majority value of the product. For those that can afford to basically "throw away" their M1 Macs, at the end of 3-5 years, more power to you, but I plan to get the most value out of mine while I'm using it and when I sell it. And that is by *preserving* the most life out of it as possible (not, "never using it", as some have suggested). AppleCare+ doesn't save your data (and, in fact, Apple/someone else could easily extract that data from the SSD, after they've "exchanged" your broken M1 Mac, since actually *repairing* it is probably not something on their agenda, within or outside the AppleCare+ warranty coverage period). If you couldn't care less, great. But I don't want MY data falling into other's hands. I zapped (reformatted) my drive and reinstalled a clean copy of the OS before my Macbook ever went to the Apple Store for service, when it was acting up.

The things is, how do you know your SSD will definitely fail in 5 years?
I'm sure your battery will fail much earlier than your SSD.
Take a look at the iPhones, which does not have removable storage since day 1. How many reports of failed NAND did you see, and how many reports of battery failure did you see?

 

[Brien]

The best way to preserve the lifespan of a product is actually not using it at all.

I have a 2005 iMac that was taken out of the box once.

Resale is still crap.

 

[Luposian]

The things is, how do you know your SSD will definitely fail in 5 years?
I'm sure your battery will fail much earlier than your SSD.
Take a look at the iPhones, which does not have removable storage since day 1. How many reports of failed NAND did you see, and how many reports of battery failure did you see?

It's not a point of failure (except as a precaution). It's a matter of "value preservation". In 3-5 years, if you use the internal SSD the entire time, how much "life" will be left on it? 50%? More? Less? Wouldn't that be something you'd take into consideration, if you were buying a used M1 Mac (I'm thinking of the M1 Mac Mini, myself, but any of them would apply)? Now, consider someone is selling one, that they can prove has hardly used the internal SSD at all. It's almost like a brand new machine, in that sense! Wouldn't it be worth paying more, to you? The SSD is really the weakest link of the system (except the battery in M1 laptops), so the more "life" it has, the more value you can get out of it as a seller/buyer. Why people are such of a "throw away" mindset, when they don't have to be. A little advance preparation (and judicious usage) can net result much greater value when it's time to move onto the next M-whatever Mac.

 

[Quackers]

SSD is soldered to motherboard
SSD dies
Replace motherboard

 

[Luposian]

I have a 2005 iMac that was taken out of the box once.

Resale is still crap.

Um, you only take it OUT of the box ONCE! Then you USE it! How much USE has it seen since it was taken out of the box?

 

[Gnattu]

It's not a point of failure (except as a precaution). It's a matter of "value preservation". In 3-5 years, if you use the internal SSD the entire time, how much "life" will be left on it? 50%? More? Less? Wouldn't that be something you'd take into consideration, if you were buying a used M1 Mac (I'm thinking of the M1 Mac Mini, myself, but any of them would apply)? Now, consider someone is selling one, that they can prove has hardly used the internal SSD at all. It's almost like a brand new machine, in that sense! Wouldn't it be worth paying more, to you? The SSD is really the weakest link of the system (except the battery in M1 laptops), so the more "life" it has, the more value you can get out of it as a seller/buyer. Why people are such of a "throw away" mindset, when they don't have to be. A little advance preparation (and judicious usage) can net result much greater value when it's time to move onto the next M-whatever Mac.

The reselling price will be bad despite the SSD lifespan you are having in 3-5 years. Did you even see many Macs on ebay ever indicates the SSD life?
By the way, I have an SSD from 7 years ago, lifespan left 98% in SMART. For normal daily use, the write lifespans of SSDs will not be the problem, the controller itself even the power circuits will fail earlier than NANDs under that condition.

 

[Luposian]

SSD is soldered to motherboard
SSD dies
Replace motherboard

Oh, I'm sorry... you must not care that possibly ALL of your personal/important data is stuck on the internal SSD, (because it's "dead"), soldered to the motherboard, that now Apple has, after replacing it. My data is part of ME. Who gives a flying rat's mule about the other hardware. I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession, unless it's purely creative (like my music; and even then...)

 

[Luposian]

The reselling price will be bad despite the SSD lifespan you are having in 3-5 years. Did you even see many Macs on ebay ever indicates the SSD life?
By the way, I have an SSD from 7 years ago, lifespan left 98% in SMART. For normal daily use, the write lifespans of SSDs will not be the problem, the controller itself even the power circuits will fail earlier than NANDs under that condition.

Annual age (in years) is irrelevant. SSD's don't died because of how "old" they are. They age/die because of USE. The Intel 660 SSD inside my Asus ROG Zepyrus G laptop (that I bought in 2019) is stating it has 98% life remaining... and I've used it about 1.5+ years. So, in order for a drive of 7 year old technology to have THAT much life in 7 years (which would obviously age faster with use, as technology has improved in 7 years)... must not have been used that much...

But, even so... if you could prove your drive still had 98% life remaining, 3-5 years down the road, that HAS to account for something on the used market... it just has to.

 

[ian87w]

Realizing that the SSD inside an M1 Mac is soldered to the motherboard, once it dies (for whatever reason), you’re sunk.

Thus, it behooves M1 Mac owners to preserve the life/value of their M1 Mac as much as possible.

To wit, the first thing to do is to create a USB restore drive, for M1 Big Sur.

Next, is to enable external drive booting and then install a bootable copy of Big Sur to an external hard drive or SSD and use ONLY that drive from then on.

If the external hard drive/SSD dies, the value of your Mac is untouched, because you haven’t been using the internal SSD. How much value do you think your M1 is worth when it can’t be booted, because the internal SSD is fried or most of its usable life is significantly used up? I doubt you could get a few hundred for it, maybe $50 (if internal SSD is dead) Dunno. Is it worth the risk?

Therefore, I think it would be best to compile precise steps to do what I’ve outlined above and live by them.

I know I would...

Wait, so you'll have a dangling external USB attached permanently?
I have a Lenovo laptop since 2015, and using crystaldiskinfo, the SSD is still in good status after all these years. And this is with Windows 10 that frequently trashes the drive during updates or whatnot. Imo normal use won't really push the SSD to its end of life that quickly.

For those who are worried, simply subscribe to the monthly Apple care.

Of course, if you're a heavy user, then it might be wise to get the 16GB RAM version.

 

[ian87w]

Oh, I'm sorry... you must not care that possibly ALL of your personal/important data is stuck on the internal SSD, (because it's "dead"), soldered to the motherboard, that now Apple has, after replacing it. My data is part of ME. Who gives a flying rat's mule about the other hardware. I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession, unless it's purely creative (like my music; and even then...)

Simple enable Filevault if that worries you.

 

[T5BRICK]

Oh, I'm sorry... you must not care that possibly ALL of your personal/important data is stuck on the internal SSD, (because it's "dead"), soldered to the motherboard, that now Apple has, after replacing it. My data is part of ME. Who gives a flying rat's mule about the other hardware. I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession, unless it's purely creative (like my music; and even then...)

Use FileVault and then this is no longer an issue. I’ve been using FileVault for years and it’s proven to be secure(as long as you have a good password).

Seriously, just use your computer. Creating a bootable USB drive seems like a huge waste of time and ultimately degrades the user experience.

 

[Luposian]

Wait, so you'll have a dangling external USB attached permanently?
I have a Lenovo laptop since 2015, and using crystaldiskinfo, the SSD is still in good status after all these years. And this is with Windows 10 that frequently trashes the drive during updates or whatnot. Imo normal use won't really push the SSD to its end of life that quickly.

For those who are worried, simply subscribe to the monthly Apple care.

Of course, if you're a heavy user, then it might be wise to get the 16GB RAM version.

My wife has monthly AppleCare for her iPad/Apple Watch (one or the other, don't recall). Don't think it's available for Macs. Can it be proven otherwise? I'd gladly buy it, if I could have endless protection like that. Then, potentially, my argument has less validity...

 

[Gnattu]

Annual age (in years) is irrelevant. SSD's don't died because of how "old" they are. They age/die because of USE. The Intel 660 SSD inside my Asus ROG Zepyrus G laptop (that I bought in 2019) is stating it has 98% life remaining... and I've used it about 1.5+ years. So, in order for a drive of 7 year old technology to have THAT much life in 7 years (which would obviously age faster with use, as technology has improved in 7 years)... must not have been used that much...

But, even so... if you could prove your drive still had 98% life remaining, 3-5 years down the road, that HAS to account for something on the used market... it just has to.

So you are not preserving much value by bring yourself inconvenience as the the price will be bad anyway in 3-5 years. Even a sealed one will not have very good price after 3-5 years, electronics just updates that fast.

 

[Quackers]

Oh, I'm sorry... you must not care that possibly ALL of your personal/important data is stuck on the internal SSD, (because it's "dead"), soldered to the motherboard, that now Apple has, after replacing it. My data is part of ME. Who gives a flying rat's mule about the other hardware. I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession, unless it's purely creative (like my music; and even then...)

Who mentioned Apple?

 

[Gnattu]

I don't want MY personal data in anyone else's possession

Then you have more reasons to use the internal drive.
The internal drive can be cryptographically protected so that even the ones with physical access cannot get your data.
This is the default on iOS device, look how much did FBI invest to just get the data from a locked iPhone.