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Their storage markups only get more obscene with retail SSD prices continuing to crash. $800 to upgrade from 256GB to 2TB? A fast 2TB NVMe drive can be had for

Their storage markups only get more obscene with retail SSD prices continuing to crash. $800 to upgrade from 256GB to 2TB? A fast 2TB NVMe drive can be had for ~$130.

paxys 3y ago
> A fast 2TB NVMe drive can be had for ~$130 Not if the drive is soldered to the motherboard..
- jsheard 3y ago
  With thin laptops you can maybe justify that as a necessary compromise for the form factor, but there's no good reason the Mac Studio shouldn't have a hatch on the bottom with two or three M.2 2280 slots inside. You can put your own PCIe SSDs in the Mac Pro, but that's so wildly marked up compared to an equivalently specced Mac Studio that it probably cancels out any savings.
  - Dalewyn 3y ago
    >there's no good reason There is: Not wanting to support end-user modified products. Apple is never shorthanded on white knights, but more generally I can see why companies might opt to lock out customer modifications under practical pretexts.
    - jsheard 3y ago
      That's their prerogative but I'm not spending thousands of dollars to be treated like a child who can't operate a screwdriver. Hell, I'm sure they could make it a tool-less operation if they wanted to.
  - eurleif 3y ago
    A PCIe/NVME adapter costs $10 on Amazon.
    - jsheard 3y ago
      To USB you mean? The cheap ones only do 10gbps, not even a quarter of the speed a PCIe4 drive is capable of. 40gbps adapters are up in the ~$100 range.
      - eurleif 3y ago
        The description[0] states: "Compliant with PCIE 4.0 X4 80Gbps full speed support." But I suppose it could be inaccurate. [0] https://www.amazon.com/M-2-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink-Solution/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ https://www.amazon.com/M-2-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink-Solutio...
        jsheard 3y ago
        Oh, that type of adapter. Those work but they'll only fit in the Mac Pro, which has a $3000 premium over a Mac Studio with exactly the same specs, so you're unlikely to come out ahead there.
        eurleif 3y ago
        Sorry, I realized I misread your previous comment. I thought you were saying the markup on a PCIe drive for the Mac Pro was too high. Now I understand you were referring to the markup on the Mac Pro itself.
  - samatman 3y ago
    I remain flabbergasted that there's no model of Mac Mini or Studio which has M.2 slots. I believe the Doctrine is that Thunderbolt is fast enough that YAGNI but that's absurd given the amount of open space inside those things. If you look at a picture of the motherboard[0] it's dead obvious that there's room for one M.2, maybe two if they cared about it. [0]: https://www.ifixit.com/News/57898/mac-studio-teardown https://www.ifixit.com/News/57898/mac-studio-teardown
    - jsheard 3y ago
      Thunderbolt is decently fast but the enclosures don't come cheap, it's an extra $100 or so per drive you want to hook up. The enclosure could easily cost as much as the drive you put in it nowadays.
- SirMaster 3y ago
  Why would soldering it cost so much more?
  - xnx 3y ago
    I believe the parent is saying that Apple can charge more because the consumer has no feasible way to replace it themselves after purchase.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>with retail SSD prices continuing to crash When was the last time you checked this? SDD prices have skyrocketed back up in the past ~3-5 months as Samsung and SK have reduced production to halt losses. Prices are now back to where they were ~12 months ago. At least in Europe.
- jsheard 3y ago
  That $130 is the current rate on Amazon for a 2TB PCIe 4.0 drive from a good brand. Maybe it's a little more than it was, but still hilariously cheap compared to what Apple charges.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Sure, but Apple can charge whatever they want. People aren't forced to buy only Apple computers.
- em-bee 3y ago
  i bought a 2TB SSD for about that much in europe just two months ago. and i just checked the prices, they are still at that level. obviously you can find more expensive ones too

Their storage markups only get more obscene with retail SSD prices continuing to crash. $800 to upgrade from 256GB to 2TB? A fast 2TB NVMe drive can be had for ~$130.

paxys 3y ago

> A fast 2TB NVMe drive can be had for ~$130 Not if the drive is soldered to the motherboard..

jsheard 3y ago
With thin laptops you can maybe justify that as a necessary compromise for the form factor, but there's no good reason the Mac Studio shouldn't have a hatch on the bottom with two or three M.2 2280 slots inside. You can put your own PCIe SSDs in the Mac Pro, but that's so wildly marked up compared to an equivalently specced Mac Studio that it probably cancels out any savings.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  >there's no good reason There is: Not wanting to support end-user modified products. Apple is never shorthanded on white knights, but more generally I can see why companies might opt to lock out customer modifications under practical pretexts.
  - jsheard 3y ago
    That's their prerogative but I'm not spending thousands of dollars to be treated like a child who can't operate a screwdriver. Hell, I'm sure they could make it a tool-less operation if they wanted to.
- eurleif 3y ago
  A PCIe/NVME adapter costs $10 on Amazon.
  - jsheard 3y ago
    To USB you mean? The cheap ones only do 10gbps, not even a quarter of the speed a PCIe4 drive is capable of. 40gbps adapters are up in the ~$100 range.
    - eurleif 3y ago
      The description[0] states: "Compliant with PCIE 4.0 X4 80Gbps full speed support." But I suppose it could be inaccurate. [0] https://www.amazon.com/M-2-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink-Solution/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ https://www.amazon.com/M-2-Adapter-Aluminum-Heatsink-Solutio...
      - jsheard 3y ago
        Oh, that type of adapter. Those work but they'll only fit in the Mac Pro, which has a $3000 premium over a Mac Studio with exactly the same specs, so you're unlikely to come out ahead there.
        eurleif 3y ago
        Sorry, I realized I misread your previous comment. I thought you were saying the markup on a PCIe drive for the Mac Pro was too high. Now I understand you were referring to the markup on the Mac Pro itself.
- samatman 3y ago
  I remain flabbergasted that there's no model of Mac Mini or Studio which has M.2 slots. I believe the Doctrine is that Thunderbolt is fast enough that YAGNI but that's absurd given the amount of open space inside those things. If you look at a picture of the motherboard[0] it's dead obvious that there's room for one M.2, maybe two if they cared about it. [0]: https://www.ifixit.com/News/57898/mac-studio-teardown https://www.ifixit.com/News/57898/mac-studio-teardown
  - jsheard 3y ago
    Thunderbolt is decently fast but the enclosures don't come cheap, it's an extra $100 or so per drive you want to hook up. The enclosure could easily cost as much as the drive you put in it nowadays.
SirMaster 3y ago
Why would soldering it cost so much more?
- xnx 3y ago
  I believe the parent is saying that Apple can charge more because the consumer has no feasible way to replace it themselves after purchase.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>with retail SSD prices continuing to crash When was the last time you checked this? SDD prices have skyrocketed back up in the past ~3-5 months as Samsung and SK have reduced production to halt losses. Prices are now back to where they were ~12 months ago. At least in Europe.

jsheard 3y ago
That $130 is the current rate on Amazon for a 2TB PCIe 4.0 drive from a good brand. Maybe it's a little more than it was, but still hilariously cheap compared to what Apple charges.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Sure, but Apple can charge whatever they want. People aren't forced to buy only Apple computers.
em-bee 3y ago
i bought a 2TB SSD for about that much in europe just two months ago. and i just checked the prices, they are still at that level. obviously you can find more expensive ones too