Here's why Apple won't let YOU upgrade a Mac Studio [Part 2]
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
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Yesterday I tried to upgrade a Mac Studio, and today we're back with yet another attempt and a thorough explanation of why Apple will not allow you to upgrade your $5,000 Mac Studio. Hopefully this video answers some of the questions we've had about what can be done in terms of upgrades and what can't, why apple prevents this from happening, and what we can hope to see in the future
Time stamps
0:00 Intro
2:47 A new experiment
8:00 Why the Mac Studio cannot be upgraded
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It's been a crazy 24 hours with a ton of new information about this topic. Personally I can't say I'm surprised but I am disappointed, and I hope that a workaround can be found! Big thanks to Aura for sponsoring, check them out for 2 weeks free! aura.com/LukeMiani
this is one of your greatest series ever Luke
Very good job, I was expecting that the software solution was not going to work, but was not expecting the reason.
Well at this point there is no defending this even using the bs "security" argument.
ua-cam.com/video/5CwweMLm5BI/v-deo.html
thats not how it works; you literally have to use a tool (software) that only apple and apple technicians have to pair the logic board and the ssd. said tool cannot be used unless apple authorizes a repair.
In their last WAN Show, LTT (Linus in particular) said that the "SSD" being only flash memory and the logic being done directly on the logic board was an option and called it the "worst case scenario" because that means it's essentially impossible to upgrade or replace. Unfortunately, he was right on that one.
Unfortunately he is often right about things like that.
Apple could still provide a way to reconfigure the controller if they wanted to. Unfortunate situation, especially from a company that loves to talk about being green.
It can be replaced, not upgraded but why does everyone care so much? Just use external storage via thunderbolt 4. Derp
@@rachelhutchison5961 fortunately/unfortunately Apple has taken all the control of the chip and it’s going to be hard in the future to work on their computers, people are still using/upgrading the 5.1mac pro, imagine if Apple puts the m1 ultra in the 2019 Mac Pro with all that massive pcie or upgrades possibilities!
@@liquidmark5081 because that requires taking up a port which could be used for something else. and why someone who has bought the machine have to compromise in such a terrible way
As Linus from LTT says: a team of people engineered this to be worse. People spent part of their actual lives to make sure this product was worse for consumers.
@@n1ngnuo Exaclty. People are not forced. I don’t understand why they buy stuff if the practices are blatantly bad. Like if people voted with their wallet when Apple blatantly lied about removing the charger and headphones from their phones insinuating it’s for the “environment”, then Apple will be forced to keep these things or even reduce the price significantly.
And I don’t want any keyboard warrior popping up defending Apple about removing the charger, because if they wanted to really help the environment they’d close their factories and stop mining the earth and it’s minerals for producing their products.
@@MikeCobweb if Apple closed their factories and stopped mining the earth there would be no Apple, pillock.
@@arandomhumanbeing2464 and that ultimately actually helps in saving the planet and environment.
@@MikeCobweb You know what else ultimately helps in saving the planet and the environment? Killing all fucking humanity.
Don't buy, does not work. There are many people, which do not care, because they do not understand, as they are no enthuiasts. so on the next generation you won't have a choice at other manufacturers either.
Example screen replacement on Samsung. Battery replacement in cars.
I own a small print firm that has had Macs since the 80s. The lack of upgrade ability is very disturbing. When you can't even replace an SSD or RAM, the machine is basically disposable. I love OSX, but this is my line in the sand. We have been slowly moving our 5 design machines over to Windows.
Windows? Yikes…
Same. After 15 years of being devoted to Apple products, we are moving to Windows as well. I was just about to purchase a few Mac Studios this weekend but then I found out I can’t upgrade any parts as Apple decided to solder the parts together? So they want to sell me something but not allow me to be able to work on my own Mac? They can keep it.
Just shocking after watching the videos of Steve up there talking about how important it was for the Mac Pro to be easily upgradeable for the user.@@thrillereighties8241
Congrats for you to moving to repairable and especially upgradable computers and Windows is excellent for device compatibility. Go Microsoft
They did this in response to the failing nand on MacBooks that have the ssd soldered. Now they can charge you to replace failed/worn out nand but try to get you to buy more storage up front.
Great investigation. It’s always fun to be curious and go on a quest, but I am amazed at your ability to tolerate frustration and dead ends. Great job 👏
While it would have been nice if Luke had been able to make it work, in my opinion it’s even nicer that he methodically went through the process of ATTEMPTING to upgrade the SS memory modules and, upon failing, was - with the assistance of contacts and viewers - able to articulate the reasons for the failures. This is an example of the learning process in action. (It’s not “machine learning”, rather it’s “living being learning”.) Now, the next step is to study the articulated failure reasons and - one by one - addressing them until a “happy path” to success is identified, attempted and proven correct.
my take: apple wanted to stick with their new ‘mantra’ of repairability, in the narrowest sense. Since the studio is marketed towards professionals, (who rely a lot on the device) they thought about hard drive failure as a common pain point. Therefore, build storage modules as repairable without an entire logic board swap, that way turnaround times (stocking little modules instead of logic boards in-store) and ease of the repair (in your words, 4 minutes) are reduced, increasing the customer satisfaction. What they don’t mean by repairability, which is what we all really want from them, is modularity. Simply put, if you want a modular apple product, no problem… starting price is the Mac Pro.
Spencer is correct here. Apple decided to meet the coming right to repair legislation but elaborately sabotaged the ability to upgrade. Others have remarked that this is contrary to what Apple Mac did in its earlier years and will have consequences for the Studio concept. With the Studio display also being an exorbitant disappointment I predict that the products will not be made for very long.
Such dog-in-the-manger policies by Apple would not have passed muster with Sir Jonathan Ive.
The NAND controller is part of the SoC like it is on many Android phones and other ARM devices. It's quite likely that the NAND controller could be reconfigured, but that's on Apple to release the tools.
You can't just take a 64GB NAND chip from one LG Style2 and solder it into a 32GB Style2 because all the NVRAM identifiers (IMEI, MAC, HW S/N, etc..) would transfer over, and you'd end up with a device that will never work properly again, but you have more storage. And some devices marry the NAND to the CPU key (semi-)permanently.
Apple isn't wrong for requiring a restore/low-level wipe-and-tie, they are wrong for preventing user upgrades.
@@tsuyunobradley4439 Apple not providing the software to wipe or reconfigure their devices has been an issue for a long time, unfortunately. If he had tried the same SSD swap with a T2-equipped Intel Mac, it would have failed in the exact same way because the SSD is tied to the T2 security chip.
The pn;ly thing Apple wants to repair is your wallet to the original empty condition it was when you first bought it.
Exactly.. But even the Mac Pro is kind of a dead horse now that everything else is Apple Silicon.
I see it going one of two ways: 1) The Studio is the new "Pro" and they'll drop the current Pro idea altogether. or 2) The'll switch the Pro to Apple Silicon, but lock it down just like they did with the Studio.
Meh.. As long as I can have LPX and FCP, only Mini's will be in my future. I wouldn't spend that much money on a non-upgradeable *anything.*
Your efforts here are appreciated. Gripping viewing watching to see what happens. I bet you were sweating bullets installing the firmware Luke. Wow.
Great information thanks Luke
It is infuriating that Apple understands the importance of removable storage when it comes to reducing their production cost and streamlining their production progress but they are unable to understand it when it comes to keeping the computer out of the landfill. For a company that removes chargers from the box to save the planet and install solar panels on the roof of their office and makes a big deal about it, this is stupid. As an Apple sheep, I am infuriated
Will you buy any other Apple product. If you do, it's on you, not on them
Yeah save the planet by not including a charger so that half the people will by 15 different crappy Chinese chargers that don't work for more than a month or two and toss them in the landfill. It's BS.
@@alexvalentim1418 Well you can always like the product but hate the company
@@skycubix8943 Yeah, and keep lining their pockets for a user-hostile product
Even if you scream about how awful the practices are 24/7 it won't matter at all
Because all they see and care about is people buying it, you know this
@@constitutionalright827 I've never had any issues with the chargers I've boughten. Only that one of them doesn't charge at the rate that was labelled. But there are reputable brands from China.
As they said on LTT I think the removable storage is to help Apples supply lines. They could easily allow people to change it - as you said - it's a middle finger.
LTT is just still upset about Apple giving him the finger by not replacing the $5000 Mac he destroyed. He’s being a man child upset that he didn’t get his way
@@calvinwalker4654 he’s given apple a lot of credit for apple silicon since then. Like constantly. Just because he’s finally upset doesn’t mean he’s mad about that again…
@@calvinwalker4654 It wasn't like LTT was trying to claim warranty on it. He outright said he'd buy the replacement part from Apple, but they wouldn't sell it to him.
@@calvinwalker4654 You seem to know the story so much. I don't know why I'm losing time writing that, but here we go :
1. He didn't want it replaced, just repaired
2. He was 100% honest and said it was his fault
3. Apple simply refused to repair it, even if he wanted to pay full price, which mean they were okay to send to the trash a fully working computer that only needed a 200$ component (just a random number)
4. When they finally accepted to repair it after the first video and the backlash, it was more expensive than a brand new iMac Pro, which doesn't make any sense
5. Apple threatened repair shops that if they tried to send him the logic board, they would suspend their licences to operate on Apple products.
Sure, he's just a man child upset with Apple, even if he had basically nothing but praises for the M1 chips, the 10 Gbit/s Ethernet option on pro machines and he literally made an channel focused only on Apple products where he purposely hired an Apple fan to be sure the videos would be more adapted for the Apple market.
@@calvinwalker4654 cool story bro
Thanks for this, keep up the very cool testing and great technical advise! I completely agree with you, upgrading storage should be allowed!
Thanks for all your videos!
I'm using Apple Configurator 2 for work on a daily basis and I'd try to click on restore (not revive) while in DFU mode, to restore your M1 Max Mac Studio and get it working again. Done this several times for firmware-bricked iPhones and M1 MacBooks. It's worth a try, when recovery mode isn't usable.
Sadly I have to confirm, what the Genius Bar employee told you: After performing a repair (replacing the logic board or the storage module), the technician has to run a tool named "System Configuration" within Apple's diagnostic console which rewrites and updates the device's firmware-databases to handle the just replaced components. In theory it should be possible to teach the device's firmware how to handle storage modules with a different size - sadly there's no option for that within Apples diagnostic console nor within Apples repair frontend. You're only able to select the parts used, enter the related serial numbers and let the tool do the magic. It's the same tool used for newer iPhones to pair new displays, batteries, face-id sensors, cameras or whole rear systems. You're only able to select replacement parts for your device's specific configuration. With right to repair moving forward, Apple someday would have to grant end-users access to these tools - maybe in a simplified version, so that customers can perform e.g. display repairs on an iPhone without loosing functionality such as face-id. Let's hope that Apple will be greedy enough to sell storage upgrade kits for Mac Studio in the future :-D As said before: It should be possible, it's just not intended by Apple at the moment. But it's still a good sign for the longevity of the Mac Studio, that Apple decided to design it with repairability in mind (replaceable storage - or keepable storage in case of logic board replacements).
greetings from Germany ;-)
Hope someone leaks the tool and it's reverse engineered. So smart people can make an open source version to unlock all the things this machine is capable of.
@@DerekSmit I keep my fingers crossed for that
I have to put my hat off to you Luke for trying though and I think everyone should as well.👏👏👏
It will be interesting to see what the Mac Pro has to offer in a few months time with ‘upgradable’ parts if any…
It had better have some!
@@lukemiani Be a massive blow if it doesn't!
@@lukemiani I wouldn’t hold your breath..
@@MattTalkTech like the Mac Trash Can ?
@@the_sjdo You can do some upgrades on RAM, Storage and even the CPU's on the Trash Can Mac Pro's. I think even Luke has made some videos on his channel showing this
Amazing commitment. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for sharing the invaluable test result. Thumbs up!
Like Linus said, it would have been very complicated to make multiple models of Mac studio with different types of chips and different types of storage, so the "ssd" are modular because it benefits apple, but when it doesn't benefits Apple they stop being reasonable (in this case providing end user the opportunity to change the ssd). For young generation in couple of years this practice by tech companies will become a normality. Even car companies (witch in the past where more flexible for repair) have resume to the same practice. It's a shame I truly belive that a tech company like Apple has the power to change how a company should and can work in an era that everything its disposable, this mambo jambo that Apple cares about environment its absolut crap.
If those drives are "dumb" nand chips with no controller at all - because the controller is integrated in the M1 chips - Apple's "ssd" prices are even more outrageous.
Great work Luke. I appreciate the dedication
fantastic work!!!!! excellent information, thank you for doing all this dirty work
Update: The Mac Studio requires an IPSW restore after changing its SSD modules to ensure that they are readable and able to boot. Running a Device Firmware Update (DFU) restore using the macOS IPSW package for the Mac Studio should enable the machine to boot from a different SSD, providing that both of the modules are of the same size and make, meaning that storage upgrades still appear to be feasible.
This is a copy/paste from Mac Rumors.
"providing that both of the modules are of the same size and make, meaning that storage upgrades still appear to be feasible."
Those two statements seem contradictory to me.
If upgrades are feasible, then why does the module have to be of the same size and make?
(I assume the size refers to storage)
Bricked an ultra for us. Give this guy a round of applause
😁🥲
warranty voided
So if you decide to tinker around the studio ultra and gut it out for cleaning only purposes it will automatically lock down and brick 😮
The reason the storage modules use slots instead of being soldered to the board is likely not for upgradability or repairability, but for manufacturability. These slots surely simplify the process of manufacturing different Mac Studio models configured with different storage options.
Awesome video Luke, and this is the fist time ive watched a sponsor all the way, was quite entertaining!!
I've been awaiting this computer to replace my 2009 MacPro that has been CPU and firmware updated, but now I'm having second thoughts about buying a new Mac. I don't say this easily as I bought my first AppleII+ in 1979. Thank you for doing this Luke.
I too was waiting for a new, good value iMac/Mac to replace my 2013 27” iMac. The Studio seems to be an outrageously BAD value from a BAD Apple.
haha I am also running a 2009 Mac Pro!!! It has been upgraded as much as it can! Still snappy!
@@HyperXism Mine, with a 3TB Fusion drive also is snappy, just a bit obsolete. I’ve been using Linux Mint on a cheap Samsung all in one, also from 2013, and with the 1/3 of the memory and an i3 processor with integrated graphics, it acts faster than the Mac or my newer Windows 10 PC.
@@ronkemperful ya I am running 2 windows 10 VMs inside of it. It literally has not been turned off since 2009. It sits in my office in downtown Chicago. It was left on without a reboot since Covid started and I just rebooted it a month ago. Probably the best computer ever made. I even bought a power supply on ebay, anticipating it needing it. Nope. Still keeps running.
@@HyperXism Yes, Apple was a better place when Steve Jobs was at the helm.
I salute you, Luke. This vid is a lot more interesting to the many “me too: I also got a studio Mac.”
as it turns out, I, the apple sheep, also really like this overpriced underfeatured monitor! - almost every review of the studio display so far
I agree, good video. 👍🏻
I love all the overpriced Apple products
I agree with you a thousand times over 👍thank you for doing a second part.
You're the best, Luke! Thank you for going to such great lengths to provide information on the inner workings and (unfortunately non-existent) upgrade possibilities of the Mac Studio. Thank you for not accepting free review units (like other UA-camrs who predictably suck up to the manufacturer), but instead put your own money on the line and hold the manufacturer accountable.
“Almost a huge middle finger to the consumer” couldn’t be more of an understatement. While I agree that it’s not surprising, I just find it HIGHLY frustrating that they called this machine modular and made access to this module so easy and left ports empty for lower tier models if users can’t access it.
Yet. This is a brand new machine. It is probable, like with the MacPro upgrades could be a thing, once they aren’t just trying to get this new machine to market and fulfill orders.
It is not almost- It is a blatant middle finger. It is straight shit.
I'm sorry apple fan boys .. but you are the reason for apple behavior..
Stop buying apple products .. next year everting will be upgradable & fixable.
Keep buying apple products and apple will shit down your throat.
Steve Jobs would have fired half of the company if he could see what happened to his beautiful company.
(Former apple consumer since 1999-2017)
My thought exactly!
@@guylocation9823 Steve Jobs was the one who was all about a close system? I’m not sure why you think that. If I could get the same user experience on a PC, I Think a lot of people would stop using macs. There aren’t a lot of sexy designed, powerful/upgradable machines out there that run MacOS. The consumers shouldn’t have to change in order for a company to listen to its base. This is blatant cooperate greed. Also this isn’t really specific JUST to apple, as if all other companies are just swell people not trying to ring you out for every last cent you have.
Good job with the 2nd video Luke, I'm very impressed by these findings, its a real shame we can't update those machines. At least they can be fixed with a module of the same size in case the original one dies.
You should have way more Subs !!! thanks for going the extra mile on this project,Subbed and Liked !!
Great review
Is it foreseeable that someone might come up with a third party tool to perhaps transfer the serialization to a new module so it is recognized by the configuration tool?
What I’m already thinking we will see is something that’s more of a compromise, a custom internal nvme adapter that runs off thunderbolt, (which is daisy chained to keep the used port still available. Not sure if you will be able to run an OS from it?
No. That will not happen. And even if it does they will be sued out of this dimension by Apple. Just look at Louis Rossman’s recent video on the behavior of One Wheel manufacturer. If they can do it, Apple WILL be a thousand times worse.
@@TrevorWilliams215 Don't be so sure, there's probably some tech savvy guy out there who could figure it out, then release it anonymously and make it open source just out of pure spite against apple. Apple would then find a way to detect when this has been used and make it void the warranty or something (like with Jailbreaking), but there are loads of people who wouldn't care and still go with it
@@CosmicTeapot And how long will this take? With all the parts of an iPhone being serialized anymore, you would think that with the large user base the iPhone has would have the have the market force to push the creation of such a tool for that, but there has been no tool released to the public by anyone.
On top of this, Apple Silicon is a foreign architecture for anything like the Mac Studio. This entire computer was designed from the ground up to be impossible to repair by anyone except Apple. You have to DESTROY ADHESIVE just to get in to the darn thing. And worst of all, many, many people are going to buy it.
It's obvious. They designed it this way to make it both easier and cheaper for THEM to repair/replace the storage devices, which is no surprise given the ongoing component shortages. The storage device is typically the most common failure point.
Why can't you swap storage modules of different storage tiers? Because Apple still wants full control over their storage options and want to require that upfront investment for tiered storage.
So, they're pretty much maintaining their status quo whilst simultaneously making it easier, cheaper, and less resource heavy to repair/replace failed storage modules, which is what will typically end up failing first. This design decision is for Apple, not for us.
its for you if you own apple stock.
I think it has more to do with not needing as many different SKUs for logic boards during the mfg process. They already have 8 for the different CPU/GPU/Memory combinations. Adding storage would bring it to 40!
@@joelv4495 Using a typical NVMe controller wouldn't create the need for more logic boards, they make the SOC - they could have easily added it to the M1 design. Apple's just abusing their power with the Mac userbase, if these chips underperformed they would reverse these decisions overnight.
Hit it right on the head
@@joelv4495 dude... stop creating excuses for Apple... Like even with what they have now it would be enough to add register with ID representing capacity to the swappable "drive" and add table with values to the controller. So with every boot when parts do a "handshake" controler could read the ID and know what "drive" it is. Like you could even add this value to the ID of the device and allow controler to access it. No additions needed.
Again thank you for your efforts.
good followup thanks :)
Re-installing the operating system was the simplest thing on a Mac. Why the hell has Apple made it difficult ? I really want to meet the psycho’s that work at Apple that hate customers so much that they came up with this utter user unfriendly design.
What makes you think that reinstalling the OS is difficult? None of this video involves reinstalling the OS.
@@JasperJanssen
He can’t get one of the machines back to life.
@@theshadowman1398 in a normal scenario that doesn't involve replacing the storage module, it is very easy to reinstall the OS.
It's not about reinstalling the Mac. Reinstalling itself is easy when you're using the original components. It's about what if I want to replace or upgrade the SSD module, Apple made it difficult for you to DIY.
Tim cook is the devil, if u dont noticed already. When u guys finaly wake up.
On changing the storage module, go into DFU mode, on restarting the Mac if the module is larger the Mac studio will go into FU mode.
great work!!
Excellent work Luke. You have moved into the pole position on Mac online videos. I trust you.
LOVE THIS CONTENT
First of all thank you for this amazing coverage… It’s great to see your channel quoted all over the Mac o sphere! It’s a shame about the storage and a real missed opportunity by Apple to do something to really rethink Mac desktops in a really positive way. Lunacy, that’s what it is, sheer lunacy! Anyway I hope the recalcitrant Studio Mac boots up and kudos again for the awesome investigative work!
Love the dedication
I watched a video the other day where someone upgraded the memory on an older Macbook Air, a 2012 model I believe. It came with 4GB soldered to the motherboard and he removed the chips from the motherboard and replaced them with 16GB. However, in order to get it to boot afterward, he also had to remove an eprom which controlled the memory and rewrite the information on it, then replace it. It got a little deep for me but I understood the basics. In the end, he had a working Macbook Air with 4x the memory it had previously. I'm thinking there's something similar in the Studio. There's a chip on the board somewhere with information on the amount of storage. Apple has a way to rewrite that information. It might be stored in the system firmware.
Seeing as how the Mac Pro SSD kits come in pairs, there is a possibility that it’s not the size of the modules but rather that they have to be placed in their designated sockets which between the M1 Max and Ultra are opposite. The Mac Pro SSD modules are labeled 1 and 2 meaning they most likely have some differences on them meaning they have to be put in where they’re labeled. And since the Mac Studio only allows ships with both slots filled on 4TB and 8TB models, this would most likely mean that there is no way to get a secondary module working unless you have the ones for those models. Perhaps you can get a single 1TB or 2TB module working but you’ll have to try in each slot to confirm since it’s very specific.
They did this purely for 3 reasons.
1.They at least acknowledged that soldered on SSD's is stupid on a professional machine, and SSD is a wear item.
2. To save their own cost of warranty service.
3. To further push their consumer anti-repair and anti-upgrade agenda.
Reason 1 is incorrect. I (like a lot of people) think it is because it is cheaper.
Money is the only reason
@@matthewjbauer1990 SSD wear is not.a factor it takes like 300-600tb minimum to wear a drive out nobody works with that much data in under 10 years my desktop that has been running for 10 years with a SSD is just reaching 53% ssd life remaining and at like 750 TB written. Writing data does wear a drive reading data does not.
I never understood need for adding new parts to computer you bought to work.
You dont " update " your iphone or ipad.
Thats idiotic PC users mentality
Apple wants to have affordable base mode but lock it down so you cant buy the base mode and upgrade it to match their expensive models with larger memory and storage. It is all about the money.
Awesomeness brother!
Thanks for this and the handwork, i just felt that this channel is a bit underrated compared to other channel, not comparing content but the views and subscriber. This is more technical than the others. Wish it will have more views and subscribers. Cheers!
Two thoughts come to my mind: 1) this issue will be fixed with a future firmware update, but 2) it will not happen until the M-series Mac Pro has been out for a while. I think this is to ensure sales of the Mac Pro as the "...upgradeable product..." much like the 2019 Mac Pro when it comes to the proprietary boot SSD.
Damm thats borderline anticonsumer tactic. Yikees.
Well, you were absolutely wrong. The M2 Mac Pro doesn't have any replaceable storage at all. Infact nothing is replaceable/upgradeable here. That's the slap which iSheeps deservedly get for spending thousands on proprietary, anti-consumer products.
Completely agree with you on this! I probably wouldn't ever upgrade (I ordered the 2TB) but very disappointing at the steps Apple has taken to prevent any upgrade.
Luke, what a commitment you have made to bring all of this to light. Then investment in these machines is no "small potatoes" that's for sure. Thank you for all the time you spent on getting all of us these details.
Love your videos
Fantastic content as always Luke. Fair play to you for giving this a go. Its a shame Apple held off letting you upgrade it like the old school Mac Minis.
They really may as well have soldered the nand to the board at this point. I hope something changes, or we get a more clear cut answer from Apple on why things are the way they are, but for the moment, I'm pretty disappointed at what we're seeing here from Apple...
Actually, not quite. since they now seem to be offering AppleCare at a monthly cost "forever" when the NAND eventually fails it's a lot easier to switch out one of these than to replace soldered in storage.
I think it’s not soldered for the purpose of making the stock process easier. Otherwise, they have to manufacture every possible combination of processor, memory, and storage.
The NAND controller is part of the SoC like it is on many Android phones and other ARM devices. It's quite likely that the NAND controller could be reconfigured, but that's on Apple to release the tools.
You can't just take a 64GB NAND chip from one LG Style2 and solder it into a 32GB Style2 because all the NVRAM identifiers (IMEI, MAC, HW S/N, etc..) would transfer over, and you'd end up with a device that will never work properly again, but you have more storage. And some devices marry the NAND to the CPU key (semi-)permanently.
Apple isn't wrong for requiring a restore/low-level wipe-and-tie, they are wrong for preventing user upgrades.
If they do soldered the nand to the board and the nand fails, the user will have to pay a lot of money to replace the whole board. Now (maybe) they only have to replace the nand, with the same size unit of course.
Good work bro.
Luke you have a true Mac spirit!
Great research and video. No need for Mac Studio at this time for me. I am happy with my MBP 16 inch 2021, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD. Was thinking to buy the Mac Studio if I could at least upgrade the internal SSD. But I trust your research completely. Apple will probably design a new upgradable Mac and call it the MM (The Mac Miani).
Thank you Luke, being with with us.
Good video as always, Luke. Just curious...what's the thing with pulleys in the background of this video?
I think that you should always take a company at face value; if they say it's not user upgradeable, user reapirable, or user recycleable, dont go into that purchase expecting otherwise. When people started tearing down their Mac Studios, they rushed to conclusions and published video and headlines of "Apple Lied" etc. Now that the information has become clearer, a lot of those headlines and video titles need changing, because, Apple was telling the truth, the Mac Studio is NOT user upgradeable.
This is not about them lying. This is very harmful to the environment, and it should be illegal to make decisions that harm the environment for profit.
The outrage is two fold. 1) The environment, as Partha said. And 2) this is a giant middle finger to their customers. If you're unhappy with the amount of storage in your system, you're going to have to buy a new system, or buy dongles and accessories that Apple will happily sell you. That's the only reason for this decision: money - not making a good product. There are TWO standard SSD slots, one of which isn't being used, you can take it out, and standard SSD's fit the port... However, you can't do anything with them because of the extremely conscience decision at Apple.
Sure, but a 'pro' machine intended for professionals who would buy a machine as an investment and keep it running as long as possible that you can't even upgrade as an end user is totally not what the market wants
@@pb25193 All their practices contradict their virtue signaling. People need to boycott these bastards by not spending what’s in their walket on them. And oh boy, trust that they will suddenly change the way we want them to.
@@MikeCobweb wallet boycott doesn't work. Europe slapped their ass with a ban and look, they moved to USB C. Need more of that.
Great job! Don’t change, you are what Linus tech tips used to be.
Really interesting video Luke. I suspect that Apple could upgrade the storage in these machines if they wanted to. Maybe this will be an option at some point in the future. I am sure it will be an Apple only upgrade though.
Great investigation detective Luke! This completely removes any doubt about the Mac Studio being in upgradeable. 🙌🏽
Absolutely absured that Apple would do this! I can't see any reason why this would be beneficial for their users.
But it is beneficial for Apple. From a strict profit maximisation standpoint, it makes sense. They are also tempting buyers to make “stretch” purchase decisions so that they opt for greater (a) memory and/or (b) storage and/or (c) etc. when they make the initial purchase. Sure, many people like Luke enjoy tinkering but I have to question if “Right to Repair” is the same thing as “Right to Upgrade”. The Apple “ecosystem” is a gilded cage; if you choose to use their products and services, it’s on their terms.
I see lots of people complaining about repairability, but virtually nobody complaining about speed, security, or efficiency.
@@StyvynWayne I’ve seen people complaining about “repairability” but that was in the context of attempting to “upgrade”. I’m suggesting those are two different activities. I can understand a computer savvy tinkerer being upset at having to pay Apple to fix something they were capable of fixing; that’s a fair point. Adding additional memory or local storage is, regrettably, a different issue.
As a user whose computer skills top out at following manufacturers set-up instructions but not much else, I’m resigned to having to pay for AppleCare in order to fix issues on any of my devices. I’m happy that Apple has changed their policy on AppleCare from two-years with an up-front payment to a subscription based model. That said, I’m disappointed that my mid-2017 27” iMac didn’t have the subscription option and now I’m out of warranty. And since there’s no large format iMac (I was hoping for 32”) for Consumer users and the “old school” 27” model has been withdrawn, I realise I’m stuck in the Apple ecosystem gilded cage without a decent option for my next - in AppleCare - device(s).
I want local storage for a huge collection of audio dramas & comedies (and music) as well as collected movies and TV shows. I don’t believe 4TB is enough so I was hoping to get an 8TB iMac but, alas, it no longer exists. I don’t really want a laptop as the intent is to use the device in a home office. If I choose a 14” MacBook Pro in base configuration except for 8 TB local storage I’m paying $4,700 for the device and that’s without the external keyboard, mouse and screen that complete the home office aesthetic. Like I said… gilded cage and ALL my options to move forward are hellaciously expensive (and pro-sumer focused). Argh!!!
@@thomashrubecky1663 - Keep in mind, if you need 8TB for your media collection, you also need 8TB for your backup, meaning regardless of internal storage space you’re still going to be tethered to an external drive. Honestly, with 4-6x Thunderbolt4 ports, you might as well keep EVERYTHING on external drives and think of the internal SSD as almost being additional RAM.
@@StyvynWayne leave them, they are incompetent, they didn't even realize that the windows machines are also not able to recognize the Raid 0 if they changing the drives freely.. And this is about the similar, since the higher capacity storage models also have higher transfer speed too like Raid 0, they have their own solution to the Raid 0. Yeah, that part is sad, they will not give us the program to make the proper "Raid 0" after we changed parts, but they did cried for repairability, not for upgradability, and that is solved by Apple.
Here's my 2ct on this:
As you said in the video, the modules you're swapping in and out are not SSDs, they are not even "drives", they are the sole NAND packages, that usually are soldered onto the SSD PCB.
I think (disclaimer: this is pure speculation on my part) the SSD controller IS capable of different size NAND packages, but you need to "teach" the controller the physical specs of the (new) NAND packages - that's also the reason why there's two slots, the controller CAN utilize both, if configured accordingly.
So, step 1:
Configure NAND layout (incl. ports to use) at/in/for the actual SSD controller.
THEN (and this is hinted by the serial thingo thing you also mention in the video) the encryption needs to be paired as well.
I'm pretty sure the raw data on the NAND packages is encrypted, and what you talk about as "serialisation" is actually configuring the NAND packes with encryption (keys) matching the SSD controller setup.
Without that, the controller - even though layout might match - can't work with the NAND chips due to en- and decryption failing.
So, step 2:
Pair encryption parameters from the SSD controller to the NAND packages.
The serialization Part is literally only a firmware level lock of the controller.
It has nothing to do with the encryption.
In reality you could take any compatible NAND Flash, plug it in and the controller should be able to read the raw data from it.
Remember Apple has done a similar thing in the past, where they locked the Homebutton or screen completely if it didn't have the right serial number.
Which is redicoulus.
As is this behaviour.
There is no good technical reason on earth, why you shouldn't be able to easily swap the Flash.
However there is a financial reason Apple dosen't want you to.
Great video Luke! I hope that someone figures it out. 🤞
Just watched your video today - put the ssd in external enclosure / format / install system then open case and replace the storage
I deeply respect the admirable goal of figuring ways around Apples boundaries. But speaking for myself, it wasn’t why I purchased the Apple Studio. It doesn’t matter if I order an Apple TV, iPad Pro, or even the new Studio Display, Apple intends to sell a fixed hardware appliance you plug in and use. It’s why some people just hate them with a passion. The focus for the customer is not to re-engineer it before it’s even arrived! Apple has a long history of disappointing those who try to work around their design intentions. The impossible to remove rubber feet should have been your first clue.
If collectively, we feel that the right to repair is important, then Apple will have to change or loose customers. We don’t have removable batteries or memory expansion ports on our iPhones or iPads either, but we keep buying them.
So if someone happens to read this who JUST bought their Studio, and you’re feeling a bit down after watching this video, don’t! Enjoy your unboxing when it arrives. Plug the Studio in with that perma-smile, and have fun.
It is what it is. We will survive this together. :-)
I love how it's become the fashion to just eviscerate this hardware that apple is trying to make so inaccessible. I just had a JOY watching Linus RIIIIIP that non-removable power cable out of a $1500 display! Savage. All of you are SAVAGE.
Because a UA-camr with 14 million of subs destroys a $1500 monitor. He made more than that in the first 15 seconds of that video. He’s making money with his anti-Apple trade because PC fanboys eat that up
@@matthazle8879 is that really such a big deal?? no.
@@richardm9306 Won't somebody please think of the trillion dollar company? Having a power cord that can't be removed is peak Apple. Such unnecessary BS.
@@Trunchisholm and why is that such a big deal?
@@richardm9306 It’s not. Someone just told him he should be
Luke always has the best lounge jams.
They wanted to solder the memory modules down, but slotted ones help reduce the overhead on the array of configurations so they have to do something else to lock it down
Thank you Luke. It’s changed my mind about even buying one of these. Upgradability is an important consideration about buying a computer. When I make a significant investment like this, I want to be able to use it for as long as possible, or improve it if my requirement increases, not throw it away and have to buy a bigger version. I’m interested to see if you do eventually find a way to make improvements.
I still have a Macbook Pro from 2012 that Ive upgraded to 1tb and 16gb. Ive gotten it to run Big Sur, albeit a little slowly. Unfortunately, as much as I love aspect of Apple computers (having grown up in the 80s during their first hey day) I can never part with my old Pro because every model after mine started soldering stuff down. Its ridiculous. Im a trained IT guy with 15 yrs working, and 2 Masters degrees. I think I can handle an SSD and RAM swap. *smh*
Yeah Luke, as a long-time Mac user (since 1985) I thought it would be pretty incredible for Apple to design an upgradable Mac without some sort of caveat. I was thinking there would be no way they would allow the average joe to take their baby apart and install an off-the-shelf upgrade like that. I am sure glad you went through that instead of me. I would have stayed up for weeks on end trying to figure out some sort of way to do it cause that's pretty much what I do as a systems engineer. Sometimes, however, it's just better to wait and let others go through the pain of seeing if something actually works or not. This effort will eventually lead to new collaborative ideas that lead to a solution. Good on you for trying though. =)
I admire the courage you took to dismantle the Mac Studios and tried to swap the storage modules. I take my hats off to you for trying. Now I have to really make sure that I get one with adequate storage so I don't have to worry about that. I will wait a year or so before I decided to purchase one. I got a feeling that a lot of folks will be trading the Mac Studio in for something else or get rid of it altogether. It reminds me of the backlash of the 2013 Mac Pro that they called the "trash can" Mac. So we will wait and see how this will pan out with the consumers. Great video!
I am always both impressed and grateful of Luke Miani’s immenses sacrifices to offer us the best content possible 😅
Storage should be upgradable, but there should be something of a “linking” step so we can have secure boot. Cryptographically, you need to know and trust the CPU and drive to store keys safely.
So how about this for a theory. The “memory module” is capable of storing 4TB but if you purchase the 1TB option the rest of the space is made unavailable. Wouldn’t a software configuration be easier and less expensive than a hardware change in order to customise each unit as it goes out the door.
Probably not, NAND costs a non-negligible amount of money.
Conceivably they have binned storage units: defective 4TB devices that they're able to salvage as 2 TB or 1TB units.
The controllers under the SSD are for the TypeC Connectors, thats why they are different on the M1 Max (USB-C 10 Gb/s) vs the Ultra version (Thunderbolt 40 Gb/s), different negotiation protocols and power delivery, even if the Thunderbolt is compatible with the USB-C protocols.
Luke thank you so much 4 this two part series breaking down the Mac Studio- you risk your own bacon for your community and that’s honourable! I’m a sub 4 life
I’m also a owner of a studio and have a question, if we’re unable to tweak the internals inside the studio what can we use for storage on these studios do you recommend anything specific- I’m looking into enclosed cased nvme ssds but it’s a lot going down the rabbit hole trying to find the right one -> Please mac tech god help us haha ! Cheers
Good video. A thought as to why Apple would design the storage modules to be removable/replaceable but not upgradable (as opposed to soldered) that gives Apple the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps since this is more of a Pro product with an expected longer lifespan than other consumer products, Apple designed it this way to make it more repairable given the acknowledged more limited lifespan of NAND memory after heavy use for many years? This would also be consistent with Apple’s decision to simultaneously start offering AppleCare on an subscription basis for as many years as a customer wants and not just 3 years like before. If Apple needs to be able to repair a failed SSD 4-7 years later under warranty in one of these, it makes technical and business sense for Apple to make this potential point of failure replaceable by Apple without having to replace the entire (presumably more expensive) whole logic board.
Do you think Apple will say they didn’t want to have people open them up and upgrade cause of the potential risk for electric shock with those exposed capacitors? A company will always hide behind any potential risk. Someone getting shocked when the unit was classified as not upgradable doesn’t land on their doorstep.
Definitely. When MaxTech did their teardown, one of the first things they mentioned was the exposed power supply with no casing. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen if anyone accidentally touches it. The Mac Studio was never meant to be user serviceable, or else they would have added more protection. That's probably why it likely never occurred to them to let users upgrade storage. It's just too dangerous. Note that engineers design things on spec. If Apple wanted novices to upgrade their devices, they'd provide an easy means to do so, like those doors on the back of an older iMac for RAM. Since the specs never asked for user servicing, the engineers would have never added the costs needed to protect against electrocution. They assumed no one would open it up except for licensed, experienced technicians.
@@techinrl9869 by costs you mean a thin sheet of plastic on top of the exposed psu? that's like what, $0.001, maybe less? i've seen many products that are non-user serviceable (like $10 psu's) but they still have the some electric protection. they just don't care and they don't have to care imho. some maybe even wish ppl got electrocuted just for the fun of it. most ppl still don't understand that we are talking about big-ass companies that only care about profit.meh...
Thankyou so much for this. I really hope it leads to a future where we will be able to do an upgrade in the coming years. For now...long story short, max out your storage needs when you order your Mac Studio as it's highly likely you won't be able to upgrade it in the future. Thanks again.
I do wonder what this means for the future Mac Pro, will it use the same system or will they allow upgrades or leave some empty slots to put in extra SSD storage?
I'm happy you got one of the Studio's back, hope the other one can be bought back to life.
I’m not a tech expert but maybe Apple designed Mac Studio with removable storage modules to give them more supply chain flexibility if they anticipate need to procure parts from different suppliers? Also can you run an air intake dust test to see how much dust the Mac Studio can take in before its fan system gets clogged? How often would it need to be taken in for service to get cleaned?
Apple gave up on user-upgradeability a long time ago.
And now they are a multi-trillion dollar company. You do the math.
External SSDs are cheap nowadays. Even if the Studio was upgradeable, you'd be looking at a custom SSD to fit the size of the Studio and very few manufacturers offering this.
The SSD is Locked to the T2 Chip (included in the M1 Chip) just like Intel Macs With Separate T2 Chip but with M1 it's built-in (no separate T2 Chip on the Board). Intel Macs had a built-in T2 chip that handled security and other features on the Macs, but with the M1 chips, that functionality is built right in and a secondary chip isn't required, It needs special tools to config (Copy serial number, reprogram the chip to allow reading the new SSD) the new SSD.
BTW: Great Job. I love your video’s. You arer my goto guy for mac stuff! You and MKBHD 🙂
I love my Apple products in general, but this is a HUGE middle finger to the consumer. And a missed opportunity. Apple could’ve gained so much positive press by announcing the storage was user upgradeable. Instead they once again reaffirm all the negative press they get on this topic.
Why would they announce that the product is user upgradable as people would buy the base storage to upgrade later and therefore Apple would make less money
The thing isn’t made to be user accessible, why would they advertise that the storage is user upgradable in a machine that’s not made to be user accessible? Just use external storage. Those thunderbolt ports aren’t there for show.
Whooosh… guys. The point is they COULD have done so. The port is literally sitting right there. The storage isn’t soldered on. They COULD have bucked their trend of being anti-consume and made some small concession in allowing user upgradeable storage. OF COURSE THEY DIDNT BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL ABOUT PROFIT. Thank you, Captains Obvious.
@@ericlamont4130 No they wouldn't do that, Apple care about their money and upgradable = less money. They knew they would have good press, they knew the users want upgradability, they knew upgradability is greener but the problem is that upgradability is bad for their pocket.
I look forward to the day Apple is forced by law to allow users to repair and upgrade their own computers.
So pursue them legally
I look forward to the day when people realize that they can use external storage and they are essentially whining over nothing.
The NAND controller is part of the SoC like it is on many Android phones and other ARM devices. It's quite likely that the NAND controller could be reconfigured, but that's on Apple to release the tools.
You can't just take a 64GB NAND chip from one LG Style2 and solder it into a 32GB Style2 because all the NVRAM identifiers (IMEI, MAC, HW S/N, etc..) would transfer over, and you'd end up with a device that will never work properly again, but you have more storage. And some devices marry the NAND to the CPU key (semi-)permanently.
Apple isn't wrong for requiring a restore/low-level wipe-and-tie, they are wrong for preventing user upgrades.
@@liquidmark5081 Well their complaints are often incorrect but their general reasoning is completely correct. In other words they attack the right things for the wrong reason.
Have you ever had an Apple product go bad?
Apple has been SUED for their shenanigans. And they have been caught many times trying to charge people 800$ for a logic board replacement when they had a bad battery or a firmware update APPLE pushed which bricked the machine.
So what? You think it’s reasonable or acceptable for a company who is controlling proprietary software and updates which can BRICK a potentially 8000-10,000$ machine, and then they will charge you several thousand dollars to replace something they broke?
So they are whining for the wrong reasons, but for those of us who have witnessed how shady Apple is, they are absolutely correct that the consumer should be able to REPAIR their own machine, because Apple has lost all trust for being a traditionally shady and sinister company after you have already paid them and are outside warranty.
@@liquidmark5081 For a company that prides itself on making nice neat aesthetically pleasing packages, you shouldn't be forced to rely on external solutions for storage. That last version of the macbook with removable storage would take an adapter to allow an off the shelf NVME SSD to be installed. That pointed out the fact that it was just a rewired/rekeyed M.2 interface, and they could have just stuck to the standard. No they want to charge double for the exact same nand Samsung/Sandisk put in their own drives.
Ok Luke. Your sacrifice to UA-cam and tech was worth it. New watcher. Subscribed. Had to. Get that money to pay for these Mac Studios.
Aloha! Your presentations are done very well. I'm not a tech. I recently purchased an Apple Mac Studio M-1 with 1-TB of Storage. I really wanted more storage space initially prior to buying it but cost was a major factor. I settled with the 1 TB. It seems that you tried your best to upgrade your units without any success. I come to the conclusion that Apple wants to make more money by having you sent it back to them for future upgrades. It comes down to money, money money! jc
Apple will 100% sell their own upgrade kits in the future like they did with the Mac Pro but that would probably still requiere a visit to an Apple store.
100% true.
If they ever do, they will not make it user serviceable. The main reason is that board on top with the exposed power supply. That's dangerous for users to open up. One accidental touch and someone could die. They did it that way to save space by not enclosing the power supply. While someone experienced at PC teardowns could do it and be aware of the danger, like a licensed shop, there is zero chance Apple will let just anyone open up that case. Just imagine the lawsuits if someone died.
why would they settle for a few hundred dollars when they can extort people for thousands by making them buy a whole new computer?
@@JF743 If they wanted to do that, wouldn't it have made more sense to solder the flash to the motherboard? Last time I had to replace a motherboard out of warranty just for a bad Thunderbolt port on a MBP, it cost me $800. If Apple had put the port on a daughtercard, which they did on their iMacs, it would have cost $40 for the repair. By putting the flash on a removable card, it makes it immensely cheaper, and making you LESS likely to buy a new computer. When I saw the repair required a whole motherboard replacement, I had to make a hard decision on spending a fortune on repair or buying a new computer. I paid the $800 instead. So instead of complaining about a feature Apple never promised, I would look at it as a much easier decision to repair instead of replace since the cost is a lot lower.
@@techinrl9869 fair enough, repairability is a bit better than if it was soldered, but you'll have to be able to find the nand modules which for now we have no idea how easy it will be. Also from my understanding, it was question of upgrading to a higher capacity here, not repairing by replacing the nand module by the exact same size. As of now it seems impossible to change any specs after buying it.
This non replaceable storage combined with the “non removable” power cord on the display is way more anti consumer than the normal soldered approach Apple takes. This is actively hostile and taunting the R2R community.
hah, also consider that the new monitors are DIFFERENT SKU's if you want tilt, or tilt+height, or VESA mount. Imagine you can't even change the damn usage you give to your own monitor! They're asshats. They're EXTREMELY creative when it comes to ways to fuck their customers over
Luke, what about the second slot? Same procedure, leaving original storage module in original slot and adding the 1Tb storage module in the second slot and repeating procedure?
I'm glad that Ars Technica and Macrumors forum members called Luke out for his lack of knowledge, lack of proper testing, putting out wrong information and jumping to conclusions.
I'd like to think that in the near future apple may roll out a program that allows studio owners to have the storage upgraded by taking it to an apple store where they would swap out or add extra storage modules (or whatever they are called) and change the firmware in the chip to allow this. Of course, being apple they'd charge the price of a kidney for it but they'd just say, "hey, it is upgradeable now. Not by you, obviously, we can't allow the user to tamper with our pretty machines. I mean, where would we be if we allowed every Luke, Max or Justine to mess with them? That's what the pro is for." Or something.
I doubt they will though but hey, one can dream... :)
What are the 6 Thunderbolt 4 ports for?
Very well done! Thank you! And no, there is no justification since apple could have made a slight design change to make it possible. Guess it’s the middle finger to all of us. Hope they get to explain that in court. It’s a real shame for a company that claims to be environmentally friendly.
Great job Luke. So if I understand you correctly. If you would like a bigger "HD" you would also need a new logicboard?
Your research helped me decide that the Studio is not an Apple product I will buy. I had been wanting a 27” iMac for a long time. Maybe I will look at a 24” one. My use case is that I work on drawings that are about 36” by 48” and want to use and update them on a big screen.