I want to love Apple, but they’re making it hard - Mac Studio SSD Swapping

We have reached the times when consoles have become more upgradeable than Macs.

Someone definitely got fired for not locking out power supply swaps.

Apple: We didn't include power bricks cuz enviornment. Also Apple: Oh your SSD died? looks like you need a whole new Mac

I used to work at Apple as a hardware technician and I can't even begin to express how infuriating it was that I always had to use special software developed for internal use ONLY to solve issues like these. All their devices can theoretically be modified and repaired as you would normally expect, but they've made sure to lock everything so you NEED to use their own software and programs to make it work...

The Mac Studio was such an opportunity for them to finally become repairable and modular. They made the devices harder to repair on purpose, they were not constrained by thinness or performance issues. They just wanted the computer to be unrepairable.

Linus: you can switch the power supply Apple: we have made a huge mistake and our customers are in grave danger

Love how I can easily add several 2 TB SATA SSDs to my 11 year old ASUS 6PTE mobo, but would be stuck with a meager 512 GB with this state of the art compact computer. Absolutely ridiculous.

Apple in 2004: "Our Imacs only have 3 screws on the back so our computers are easy to open" Now: "Weld it shut or get fired" (they dont weld it but you get my point)

They made such an effort to make it unrepairable.

5:20 I thought it was better if the power lines connect before data lines, no? For ESD purposes, data lines are weaker, so I would prefer power lines to connect and discharge ESD before data lines connect. But you may prefer to live more dangerously!

FYI… they’re gonna do it even if customers make a stink. As history has proven. I was a Mac Genius for 7 years… you guys are discovering what we in the GR knew about the Fruit Co back in 2006 💚 Pre 2012 was a glorious time for Macs. Expandable RAM & storage, could pull the ODD and add a 2nd SSD… good times. Fast forward 10 years, they’re appliances.

The biggest irony is that the number of people they prevent from doing this is so so small that they likely loose money by even spending the time to develop these protections and in place. Not to mention the customers they might have lost by doing so. They are literally costing themselves money by trying to make more money.

Certified tech here: The SSD can be upgraded but the storage controller firmware in the SOC has to be reconfigured, this can only be done by booking a repair in apples systems and then entering a diagnostic mode allowing the mac to connect to Apples servers which will remotely install the configuration. And yes, I agree it's dumb. Edit: Theoretically they could probably enable people to do this at home since the entire update process is cloud based and only requires the user to enter the serial numbers of the new chips into their system. It works the same way for iphones, and they're going to enable self repair for those. Will they? Probably not.

Linus: "Confirmed. You CAN switch power supplies!" Apple: "Thanks Linus, chipping PSUs is a great idea! We haven't thought about that!"

I just successfully "swapped" a SSD drive between two Mac studios(4TB vs 8TB). I struggled on the same issue but funny thing it turns out that I just need to change the original disk location and then it works out well(both units restore successfully after the swap). In stead of slot A to A swap, try slot A to Slot B swap.

I replaced some flowers that have died in the garden, then the whole house stopped working, the locks, the toilet, the curtains all just froze up. I had to put the dead flowers back in for the house to work again. I now have the option to replace the flowers for $1,000 each by the builders or leave them alone.

I wonder if, by the time the repairability, upgradability, or serviceability of almost all modern devices is revealed to be zero to a majority of the population, it will be too late to do anything about it.

I think the Apple cardboard engineers may be the best and most elite type of engineers they have. Just making it neat, practical, robust and eco friendly, no manpower wasted on actively making it worse.

I really respect Linus for standing for the customer. He stands with Louis efforts with right to repair and recently with the Filmora lifetime upgrades fiasco. Worth letting the ads play completely. 👏

I'll be damned. After watching Linus for about 10 years, I think I'm gonna use the sponsor discount :) Give Glasswire a try 👌