4 ms·

Why do you say butchered? I don't think it's any worse (or better) than standard mSATA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

• bitcartel 14y ago
  The physical connector is different, so you can't plug in a standard mSATA drive. "Keep in mind that although the interface is electrically SATA, it is not physically SATA or mSATA or any other standardized interface - this is entirely Apple's own creation." http://www.anandtech.com/show/6005/apples-new-ssd-its-fast http://www.anandtech.com/show/6005/apples-new-ssd-its-fast
  • zdw 14y ago
    Don't blame Apple too much for this. mSATA's reused mini-PCIe card form factor was physically too small to contain all the chips needed for a high capacity SSD, given the capacities per chip that were available when the MacBook Air/Retina were released. There is a new "NGFF" standard that basically apes Apple's longer form factor with a standardized connector, but I haven't seen any devices that use it yet: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6293/ngff-ssds-putting-an-end-to-proprietary-ultrabook-ssd-form-factors http://www.anandtech.com/show/6293/ngff-ssds-putting-an-end-...
  • jfb 14y ago
    In exchange for "butchering" the connector, the drive is significantly smaller. As an rMBP owner, I feel that that's a perfectly cromulent trade-off to make. Somebody has to be first; since Apple is invested in improving their hardware in ways unconstrained by the requirements of "bolt 'em together" OEMs, it makes perfect sense to me.
    • DanBC 14y ago
      As long as people know, it's fine for Apple to use weird connectors. Asus soldered the (tiny) SSD into the EEE PC and that's worse.
• rosser 14y ago
  Incompatible with the rest of the world is a pretty good, if non-standard, definition of "worse" in my book.