Mac Studio Teardown: No upgradable storage… yet

WHAT A GREAT DESIGN
IM UPGRADING MY I7 PRO 😊😊😊

Hello, your video is great, I would just like to know the size of the M2 SSD in CM or MM of the Mac Studio Max
Thanks

Hi, thanks for the great video! I'm planning to buy a Mac Pro but then I found this Mac Studio and doing the maths customizing the Studio, I can get a better machine comparing it with the basic version of the Mac Pro (128GB vs 64GB + 2TB vs 1TB ssd drive) with the same M2 Ultra with 24-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 32‑core Neural Engine, all of this for $2000 less than the Pro. Why is the huge difference in price? Would you say that the Mac studio can be a work horse that can work 24/7 (well not that much but it is for a Recording studio) for at least 5-6 years? Or in that regard would be better a Mac Pro. I have researched all in terms of specs and everything tells me that I could go with a Mac Studio with better specs for less price, but I do not how good this one would be in the long term. Any ideas?

Cool video. I'm a computer professional. Used to keep the lights on for a major ad agency that was 100% Mac. Did broadcast sports for a few years, keeping the edit systems running. Worked as the mac guy at an international hospitality company.
It was a frequent tactic to swap hard drives among our fleet of Macs. Susan's Mac got a crack in the screen? Put her drive in Andy's computer while he is on vacation.
We will get the repaired computer back before he gets back.
But now not only can we not upgrade ram, but hard drives are tied to hardware.
I get the ram thing. Most people don't ever upgrade ram.
Soldered ram is more robust (no mechanical point of failure) and cheaper for them to manufacture.
But the storage thing is asinine. This isn't a banking or medical computer which has to meet data privacy regulations.
I'm not aware of a lot of cases of hackers snatching just a storage device out of a Mac to be read on another machine.
It's just needless obstruction.
No doubt they see a profit motive in this somehow. But I am puzzled.
If they are counting on you taking the machine to Apple or an authorized repair center to deal with storage issues that is a problem.
What is the first thing they say to you when you do that?
"We cannot guarantee the integrity of your data stored on this machine".
So they wont let us deal with it ourselves, but they refuse to be responsible with your data when you take it to them?
Wagging a finger in the direction of backups isn't helpful.
Apple needs to give us back control of storage.
I honestly can't recommend Apple workstations anymore exactly for this reason.
There is nothing we can do in house to keep the team running on these.
Apple Silicon may be fast, but he Wintel machines are repairable and upgradeable.

Are the new storage modules for the 2023 Apple Silicon Mac Pro compatible with the 2022 or 2023 Mac Studio? Have you guys tested that yet? I would put a higher possibility of them being compatible with the 2023 Mac Studio than the 2022 one, but I'd stil be interedted to see them being tested with the 2022 Studio as well.

cool teardown.the removable ssd module looks like a nand chip without a controller module. the controller module is nowhere to be found on the board. 🙈

wow die ssd kann man tauschen aber es ist nur platz für ein ssd und ram ist fest das intel besser

so, when the internal storage fails, you're just done.

Cool video..

I am sorry, but am I the only one who looks at those fans and thinks breasts?

What I find astonishing is the dust collecting in these machines. Air intake at desk level is crazy

I heard somewhere that storage upgrades are possible but you need a second still working Mac Studio to make it work. I have no idea how involved it is or if that is even true. Just a little something to look into further. Since I do not own one of those I can not tell if it would work. I just wanted to get that out there that there may be a possibility of an upgrade, it just seemingly won't be easy or cheap (unless a knowledgeable friend who has a one will help you through the process).

I was always curious what sort of interface do the storage modules have? The connector is not NVME. Also what sort of NAND flash is it? I would hope for the price of it that it is a very high grade like SLC or MLC (SLC is horribly expensive per GB if you ever looked at prices).

Cleaning the dust out of this thing will be an issue.

Consumer: we want upgradable computer
Apple: what for? Phones and tablets are not upgradable but you guys don't seen to have any trouble with that
Consumer: we're gonna sell it and get a new one in a couple of years any way. Computers on the other hand can be used for a decade with ugraded parts and we can sell the old parts when we buy the new ones
Apple: so why don't you just sell your old computer and get a new one like a phone?
Consumer: 😐

Any updates to this yet. How can techs get the apple configurator. .

"...Johnny Ives dongleverse..." spat out my coffee, thanks 🤣

I just got the base Mac Studio a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t even heard the fan go off in there yet!

yes, on the regular ssd you can't just swap nand flash on ssd module because it is programmed with the controller on the ssd itself..

so in mac studio, you also cannot swap nand flash module because that is configurated with ssd controller by apple.. and ssd controller in mac studio is directly wired (soldered) onto m1 chipset..

so that is not a full ssd module, there are just nand flash..

Max Tech said you to sponsor them.

Wow, can't even clean the dust inside without cutting the rubber feet... wtf Apple... Non-user-upgradeable? Ok... But at least let us open it up without destroying anything to blow the dust out once in while.... And the fact that you can't access the fans unless you tear the whole thing down is disappointing. Dust cleaning is really something I would want to do for such an expensive piece of hardware. (great teardown video btw!)

the SSD modules look like the new upgrade kits for the Mac Pro kits just released which are a pair

I wonder if this will end up like the imac pro, a temporary way to give pros a modern (apple) computer, until the real beast is ready.

For anyone who is interested the soundtrack is Subtract by Lofive

As a Mac Mini user for 7 years now, it continues to disappoint me that the storage on newer ones can't be expanded. Considering the money that Apple charges, RAM and storage upgrades are the blocker for me. Thanks for the peek inside.

Would there be room to insert a nvme drive with a TB adapter into a reversed TB port for internal storage expansion? (NOT THE SSD SOCKETS) I know I can just plug it in to the back and lay the NVME drive on the desk but installing it inside would be much more robust.

Why isn't it ready for pros? I've been using my M1Max MacBook Pro for online editing and color grading with Resolve and it's been smoother and has a comparable speed with my PC with the 24 core AMD threadripper processor and a 2080i Ti 12GB video card. My Mac laptop doesn't crash hardly at all, the PC was crashing about every hour with a 2 hour Premiere project. I ordered the Mac Studio Ultra, 128GB, 2TB and am expecting it to exceed my MacBook Pro which is already fast and stable enough for a 2 hour 4K Premiere project that is a documentary which means every shape and size of video on the timeline. So not sure why the dis on it being a pro piece of hardware?

Do ya know which ram mac studio use?? DDR5 or DDR4???

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Personal it's a 3/10 for me. A studio oriented computer without easy upgradable storage and RAM? The M1 Ultra power is going to underutilized with this restriction.

I like this hot woman!

YOu should really add a note to talk about how the powersuply is hooked up, it could end badly if someone doesn't know about it

Can memory upgradeable ?

Oh no! Not another MacStudio teardown 🙈

Yeah the ridiculous difficulty in cleaning those fans out is what is turning me off this computer, with no dust filters.

She ain’t Kelsea but close enough

苹果牛逼！这位女士解说的非常精彩！

However if the expected storage capacity is baked into the controller which is built into the chipsets then upgrading the capacity or using storage modules from different manufacturers would not be possible due to the controllers being specifically physically designed for a specific storage capacity and specific drive type from a specific manufacturer.

Mac users will have to eat their mozzarella un-shredded now

well scripted video👍

Do the iPad Air 5

Lol "always hope for a software update"

Rather naive to think Apple will help the consumer actually upgrade what they have. If they do, you will probably have to take it into Apple for them to flash a drive that's married to your system. Similliar to how they married the touch sensor to MB

where panel ? lg ? dell?? samsung??

Great job ! <3

People: haha the Mac Pro looks like a trash can!
Apple: okay lets make it look more like a normal computer with lots of holes for air flow!
People: HAHA cheese grater
Apple: -_-

Dear iFixit, can we make her present all the teardown vids? Teardown never sounds sexier

Bring back the cheese grater.

I'm still going with an M1 mini when I upgrade, probably later this year.

Great presenting!

I don't understand why they didn't call it the M1 Max Fusion, ultra to me is just samsung