Updated MacBook Air sports tweaked SSD tech
Retina display Pro too
Apple has changed the MacBook Air's SSD connector - again.
A dissection of the skinny new machine by iFixit reveals the SSD, which is implemented as a slot-in slimline daughtercard containing Flash chips and controller, uses an almost but not quite mSata interconnect: 26 lines in the slot, 24 lines on the SSD.
Now...
Source: iFixit.com
The drive is manufactured by Toshiba and equipped with a SandForce Sata III controller. When iFixit took the previous 13in MacBook Air apart, it found a Samsung SSD. It used an 18-pin interconnect. In turn, it was slightly different from the one used in the 2010 MacBook Airs.
The new 15in MacBook Pro with Retina Display also use the new SSD interconnect, SSD upgrade seller Other World Computing said.
...and then
Source: iFixit.com
The upshot: the new drives deliver increased data transfer speeds - up to 500MB/s, Apple claims, though that's presumably the read speed rather than the write - at the cost of short-term upgradeability. OWC pledged to support the new interconnect in its line of Air SSD upgrades, though it couldn't say when this will be.
As per previous Airs, the new models' memory chips are soldered onto the motherboard, further reducing their upgradeability, though that's the proice you pay for such a slim system. ®
COMMENTS
Re: @AC: Embrace, Extend, Extract money.
"I want something I can upgrade myself"
Then you don't really want to buy an Apple, so why are you reading, and commenting on an article about a new apple laptop?
Wait a minute, I build my own PC, why am I commenting?
Re: Embrace, Extend, Extract money.
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.
Old drive by Samsung, new drive by Toshiba
Wonder if there's an ulterior motive there.....
Re: "Faster speeds/higher capacities = different interfaces"
"My bet is that mSATA has physical dimensions restrictions which mean no current flash densities can support 500GB within those."
The device is the same size as an mSATA drive, it just has a different interconnect so you can only use it in Apple computers.
"The vendor lock-in argument is bollocks since - as the article says - OWC and others have been selling third party drives with Apple's interfaces for ages now"
...which you can only use in Apple machines. This is vendor lock in.
"So go push your propaganda somewhere else"
Gosh, I talk about vendor lock in, something that is clearly a cornerstone of Apple's business model and which they'll cheerfully admit, and I'm suddenly pushing anti-Apple propaganda? Your rage against the "cool anti-Apple sheep" is clouding your vision a little.
But what I want to know is
How many SONGS can I fit on it (and how fast does the new interface allow me to listen to them)?
