- #Owc ssd for macbook pro install#
- #Owc ssd for macbook pro pro#
- #Owc ssd for macbook pro license#
- #Owc ssd for macbook pro mac#
#Owc ssd for macbook pro install#
The Aura SSD is sold either as a bare drive or an upgrade kit that includes the necessary screwdrivers to install the SSD and a USB 3.0 enclosure to facilitate data migration. At $347.99 for 480GB and $597.99 for 960GB, OWC's Aura manages to be both much cheaper than Apple's SSD upgrades and much more expensive than single-controller drives with a standard form factor. Many Apple customers are put off by the steep price of build-to-order SSD upgrades: $200 to upgrade from 128GB to 256GB, another $300 to move up to 512GB, and another $500 to move up to 1TB for the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air can be configured with up to 512GB of storage from Apple, but the Aura SSD can provide up to 960GB. That leaves the PCIe Aura SSD with capacity as its only strong selling point. OWC Aura PCIe SSDsīased on OWC's measurements of the first PCIe SSDs Apple used back in 2013, the Aura SSD's peak performance is slightly better than the slowest 128GB SanDisk/Marvell drive, but without TRIM the Aura's write performance advantage could easily disappear over time. The PCIe Aura SSD's RAID design unfortunately does not support passing through TRIM commands nor retrieving SMART information from the individual SSD controllers. The Silicon Motion SM2256 controllers mean the PCIe Aura SSD is almost certainly using TLC flash, which is less expensive but also performs worse and draws more power than MLC flash. The Marvell 9230 has a PCIe 2.0 x2 host interface, so the PCIe Aura SSD has the potential to outperform SATA SSDs but won't be able to approach the peak transfer rates of the recent Samsung SM951-based Apple originals. Instead, the PCIe Aura SSD uses a Marvell 9230 SATA RAID controller and a pair of Silicon Motion SM2256 SATA SSD controllers. In order to keep costs under control, OWC has opted to not use a native PCIe SSD controller.
#Owc ssd for macbook pro license#
Marvell has shipped several AHCI-compatible PCIe SSD controllers, but their typical business model is to sell just the controller and leave it up to the customer to write their own firmware or license from a third party, either of which is a substantial up-front expense. While Apple is a big enough customer to convince Samsung to make the SM951 in a custom form factor, OWC is not. The requirement to use AHCI instead of NVMe limited OWC's choices for SSD controller. Like the Apple originals, the OWC Aura PCIe SSD uses the AHCI protocol Apple so far only supports and uses NVMe on the Retina MacBook that doesn't have a removable SSD. OWC has finally devised a compatible replacement and released it as part of their Aura SSD product line. Transcend has generally used Silicon Motion controllers while OWC has used SandForce controllers, but until now their offerings have been limited to SATA-based SSDs.Īpple migrated their notebook SSDs to PCIe-based interfaces in 2013 and has been using drives supplied by Toshiba, SanDisk, and Samsung.
Only a few companies have produced SSDs in Apple-specific form factors, most notably Other World Computing (OWC) and Transcend. This has contributed to keeping the market for third-party upgrades very small. Rather than adopt the mSATA or later M.2 form factor, Apple's SSDs have used custom form factors and pinouts.
#Owc ssd for macbook pro pro#
OWC proudly stands by the quality of our SSDs – all OWC SSDs are backed by a Limited Warranty for up to 5 years of worry-free service.Apple's Retina MacBook Pro and all but the earliest MacBook Air models have relied solely on SSDs for internal storage, as Apple slimmed down the designs to the point that even a 1.8" hard drive was too bulky. We offer complete DIY SSD upgrade kits, step-by-step SSD installation videos, and expert customer support who are more than happy to walk you through the process and answer any questions you may have.
#Owc ssd for macbook pro mac#
Even if you have never opened up your Mac before, we strive to make the upgrade process as easy and straightforward as possible. The upgrade is much more straightforward than you might think.Īt OWC, we strongly believe Mac users should have the option to upgrade and improve their existing technology instead of having to purchase a new computer every 2-4 years. And you do not have to be an Apple technician to upgrade safely – you can do it yourself. Additionally, if you have a 2016 or older MacBook Pro or a 2017 or older MacBook Air, you can upgrade your internal storage up to 2.0TB. Although this is increasingly true for more recent MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, the SSDs and hard drives of nearly all Apple iMac and Mac Pro desktops are still upgradeable. Many Mac users still do not realize that their hard drive or SSD is upgradeable, and they believe that to have more storage, they must purchase a new Mac.
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