Every so often we come across Mac computers that have the disadvantage of being closed for the change or replacement of hardware parts. Generally obtaining equipment with reduced dimensions implies that the disassembly of the equipment is complicated. This time it was the turn of the 15 ″ Macbook Pro that as we read in various forums, makes it impossible to replace SSD disks.
Apple has decided to sacrifice a possible change of SSD disks for the new OLED bar in these teams. Therefore, we must calculate the amount of memory to use as accurately as possible, so as not to fall short, or we will have to resort to external disks.
As reported by some users, there is not enough space left on the motherboard to remove the storage disks in the versions with Touch Bar. Other users indicate something similar with the smaller computers, the 13 ″ ones, but always in the version with Touch Bar.
Everything seems to indicate that the incorporation of the new OLED bar, compresses the space of the new equipment so much that it prevents the replacement of storage memories. On the other hand, this does not occur on newer standard Macbook Pro or without Touch Bar, which appear to be replaceable.
If confirmed that the SSD memories are soldered to the motherboard, it would be the first Mac with soldered SSD memory since the 12 ″ Macbook. Therefore, We must select what capacity we need, if 512 Gb or 2 Tb, because we cannot expand it. However, let's think about other, even more important repercussions: backup in these equipments, since a failure in the disks implies the loss of information with a very high probability.
It is true that the first impression that I received when I had the new Macbook in my hands (I had a 13 ″ in my hands) is that we found a very light and versatile computer, we must assess whether these attributes compensate us against the versatility of a more configurable team.
I suppose that what the article refers to is that the most worrying thing of all is that if the motherboard or power supply fails, it is impossible to extract the data from the SSD disk, even a RAM memory failure that makes it impossible to boot the system operational or recovery tool.
This is very serious in a professional team, backup copies are always used because of the importance of the data that is handled, but there is no doubt that it is an important detail, anyone who has been in computing for a while knows that sooner or later we will find ourselves with situations of this kind. Now to run out of access to data there are many more points of failure than the SSD.
As they continue like this in a few years a Macbook Pro will be exactly the same as an iPad Pro, I do not know if it is the years, the speed with which everything changes or that there is someone who does not know very well the course to take. Does it make sense to have the Macbook Air and MacBook line?