For me this is a fail, why on earth should the entire logic board (more likely the entire machine) need to be replaced when its storage eventually fails?
II’m surprised as the non TouchBar has removable SSD, to me this is a fail on Apple’s part and any thoughts I had of upgrading to a new machine are now gone.
As much as I love Apple, macOS and iOS this is a HUGE fail in my view, surely it would not have added anything to the size to have the SSD be able to be removed and replaced.
It seems very odd that they’ve made the non touch bar MacBook Pro with a replaceable SSD but the Touch bar version with a non-replaceable one.
On the plus side I guess that’s me decided which version I’m getting!
A thought out of left field. Under Australian Consumer Law a product sold for sale must be fit for purpose. This is why an iPhone which was originally sold with a one year warranty, will be exchanged within 2 years if it is defective. It was tested in court that a reasonable length of operating life for a smart phone was 2 years.
In the same way, if an SSD is made an integral part of the hardware, then it could be argued that failure of that part is a failure of the entire product (ie, the laptop) and it fails the fit for purpose test. So should something happen to the SSD then you could mount a case that the entire laptop should be replaced by Apple.
Of course this would need to be tested in court, and doesn’t address the problem of SSDs becoming obsolete mid-cycle due to improvement of capacity or performance. Still it could provide some incentive for people worried about hardware failure.
What about after the two years though? I keep a laptop for years and years and the SSD is something that is bound to fail. My Samsung SSD is about a year and a bit old and its down to 95 percent health - not sure where its gonna be after 7 years. Luckily I can switch it out.
If you want to keep a MacBook Pro for 7 years, then Apple isn’t the least bit interested in you. They want to sell Macs to you more frequently to that.
As for the fact that Apple have gone down the path of non-user-servicable units, take a look at the teardown of the latest MacBook Pros, the motherboards in them are tiny. Apple is utilising both sides to squeeze as much componentry as possible into as small a space as possible. Having everything soldered down makes sense for those people who prefer the reduction in weight of half a pound to the option of user-servicability.
I don’t see many people going to the trouble of upgrading their iPhones either.
They better remove their claims of being environmentally friendly then. The 15 inch pro had the room for the SSD to be removable, they just didn’t go down that path. Sad day when you’d probably get a better lifespan out of a PC 1/3rd the price of a Mac than a MacBook Pro.
Why? You can take any Mac you don’t want, that doesn’t work anymore and bring it to Apple for recycling.
I personally couldn’t give a flying you-know-what about Cheap PCs. When you compare a top notch PC laptop to a MacBook Pro, the prices aren’t that big a difference. Comparing MacBook Pros to the cheapest sh*t you can buy a Hardly Normal, you’re being dishonest.
As for the lifespan of SSDs, a good SSD should last at least 5-6 years of heavy use, but it’s a fairly new thing, so most of us haven’t been able to test that assertion.
Recycling is only half the story - The highest CO2 output in the lifespan of a laptop is in its production. The longer you can keep a laptop in service the better, as there is less of an environmental impact. If you have to replace a Mac Laptop every 4 years instead of say 6 or 7 years, then thats a greater environmental impact.
Soldering a consumable product into a machine basically puts a dated lifespan on a machine - it is built in obsolescence.
I wouldn’t consider a 1/3 price of a Mac PC laptop to be ‘cheap’ - a $1200 (one third the price of a. MacBook Pro 15 inch) is a pretty good laptop, that will probably outlast a Mac, if not because many don’t have consumables soldered in, and secondly because you’ll be able to run the latest version of Windows longer than you can on a Mac.
The relative small population of MacBook Pro users in this world would have a tiny carbon footprint compared to the cumulative effect of billions of chinese and indians burning fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow. So arguing that you’re saving the planet by keeping a Mac longer is BS. You’ve already made it about the price.
So yeah, justify Apple being environmentally unfriendly by deflecting to others. So your argument is that let just stuff the planet more because other people are - Great!
People who keep products longer, whether it be a TV, a Mac, clothes/ whatever it is are doing their bit to reduce their carbon footprint as the simple fact is, the more you replace a product (especially when you don’t need to), the more energy has to be used in manufacture/gathering of materials etc .
Perhaps you should use that exact line of argument on politicians imposing heavy GHG taxes on Australians. Our impact is currently insignificant and our contributions to reduce emissions meaningless compared with the rapidly growing emissions of the Chinese.
Perhaps head on down to the local greens office and see how your line is received.
Why exactly would I give a flying **** about the greens? The most insignificant bunch of wankers ever to infect the planet.
Arguing your green credentials to deflect the fact that you can’t afford new equipment… whinge whinge whinge.
I thought Whirlpool (aka Whingepool) was bad, but this site seems to have attracted professional whingers.
Wow, bring out the personal insults. I have no need for a new machine, that doesn’t stop me from having an opinion, especially one that is based on facts apple themselves post on the greenhouse emissions of their machines.
It’s hardly an insult, it’s an observation.
This topic has nothing to do with the greenhouse emissions of producing MacBook Pros. When it’s available, look at the teardown of the 15 inch MacBook Pro with touchbar and see how little space is left for anything on the motherboard.
Judging from the two 13 inch models, Apple didn’t go out of their way to make the SSD non-removable. The non Touchbar version has a removable, if proprietary, connector. The Touchbar version has 2 x 64GB NAND chips soldered onto EACH SIDE of the motherboard.
What tool are you using to check the health status of the SSD?
I just grabbed this trial:
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx
and this is my report. This is on my Early 2013 rMBP, so nearly 4 years in it’s not looking like I should have any issues hitting 7 years. Mind you I also have the ability to replace it in this model should the need arise… that said I just looked at the pricing and to upgrade to a 1TB SSD starts to get a little pricey 
That utility looks to me like its worth paying for. Just downloaded and ran it. All good.
Sounds pretty much like you’re insulting The Greens to me!
Me I don’t keep my MacBook Pro laptops for 7 years, generally it’s 3 to 4 years for me and my current MBP is due to be replaced. I’m going to buy a 13 inch MacBook Pro without the touch bar because it’s got a replaceable SSD (and no, not because I can’t afford a more expensive version but simply because my MBP isn’t my main computer, my 27 inch iMac is).
I agree that 7 years is probably outside of what Apple expect people to keep their laptops for but 4 years is definitely not. My daughters school is a Mac school, the display machine connected to big screen TVs are Mac Minis and all of the students use MacBook Air laptops which they use from year 7 to year 10 (after which they transfer to the local senior school for year 11 and 12).
That’s only one school but it’s typical of Apple using schools and 4 years is typical of the lifetime expected from an educational computer (no matter if it’s Apple or IBM).
Now Apple have dropped the 11 inch (which the school supplied) so I guess they’ll have to use 13" MacBook Airs moving forward but many people think that the Air isn’t going to hang around much longer.
That’ll only leave the MacBook and the MacBook Pro, neither of which is what one would call ‘easily repairable’.
Either Apple are going to have to offer repairable machines or they’re going to have to offer reasonable costed maintenance over 4 year time frames or they’re going to lose a SHIT LOAD of education sales because 2 years simply isn’t viable in the education market.
This is the longest I’ve ever had a single computer, nearly 4 years and short of it exploding I think it will be with me for a while yet. My wife is still rocking a Mid 2011 MBA (with an upgraded SSD for more space) and is still happy with it.
Core i5/i7 CPU’s (even from almost 6 years ago) still hold their own pretty well for daily use when coupled with an SSD, even the 4GB of RAM doesn’t seem to slow her down. The battery is getting a little tired and I keep thinking I should buy a replacement one swap it out, but it’s still passable. My old machine was the same model and is now in use by one of my kids. Still using the original SSD in that one. I should run up that app and see how that’s going…
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s an ideal situation. It’s just a thought that for some it might provide a small amount of reassurance. That’s if it’s even tested. As I said, it would need to be tested in court. And we all know Apple can afford some pretty fancy barristers.
End of the day, whether we like it or not Apple have decided to go down the non-upgradeable path. I guess it’ll be a case of wait and see, whether they lose enough customers to change their minds or whether the majority of consumers really don’t mind buying a new laptop every 2 years.
Hell they might even stop making laptops altogether if they believe that smartphones and tablets are the way to go. I for one will be sad if that happens, but I switched from one platform to another when I came across to Apple, and as much of a pain as it would be, I can do it again. Reality is, I may not be their target customer any more.
