Updated MacBook Air sports tweaked SSD tech 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. iFixit SSD snap …
"I don't believe there's something special about mSATA that means that 500GB drives are an impossibility."
"I don't believe" in many things either... but surely there's a reason why no one is selling one? My bet is that mSATA has physical dimensions restrictions which mean no current flash densities can support 500GB within those.
This entire discussion brings back memories of the gigantic thread here when Apple used extra pins in the SATA interface to directly report drive temperature instead of using the standard in-band - but performance destroying - SMART commands. Apple simply isn't shy of going their own way when faced with an engineering problem the market hasn't solved yet.
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, and they will again with this new one.
So go push your propaganda somewhere else. I hear all the cool anti-Apple sheep hang out at hexus.net
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This post has been deleted by its author
"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.
When you're designing a very tiny laptop and trying to omit as much crap as possible from circuit boards then obviously you're going to go down the proprietary route.
Why is everyone so against proprietary tech on such "appliances"? you don't complain that your phone screen isn't upgradable or that you can't just plug in a new CPU on your smartphone.
There's only a small number of people who will attempt to upgrade a laptop. Most will either carry on using it or get another one. They are an appliance computer.
Because it's a very expensive laptop computer, not a "cheap" phone. (Cheap as in a good quality phone is less than one quater of the cost of this laptop)
I don't know about Apple laptops, as the one I own is only a year old (and was upgraded with a new HDD and RAM within 2 weeks of buying it to replace the crap it came with) but my Windows machines last me on average about 6 years before the chip becomes just too slow for the tools I want to run. I that time I generally up the memory to the max the machine can take and upgrade the HDD at least once.
Ergo, I do not want something where I can upgrade from one supplier and one supplier only - making the machine obsolete long before it's time. I want something I can upgrade myself in my home after picking the best part for what I want and need.
Shame really as the screen really does sound great (though it doesn't sound like I can use it for desktop real estate)
And yet people claim that Macs are expensive because they run forever!
As to not buying a Mac if you want to upgrade - the 13" MBP is a doddle to upgrade (mechanically that is, software wise is another matter - it hated the new HDD and Memory until I found some tricks online to making it like them). I've heard people love the Mac Pro's as they are nice to work on on the inside unlike HP machines that try to cut your hands to ribbons everytime you open the case. (But I want to say that I loved your comment anyway ;p)
Wrong. They don't expect that at all.
APPL expect that those who bought one 3-4 years ago (or more) might be enticed to buy a new portable, for performance reasons, or because it's been dropped and the lid is loose (see unlike so many people here I can spell and know the difference between lose and loose) or one of a hundred other reasons that people might want to replace. A small percentage for whom money is no object "might" upgrade yearly, but they are a very small minority.
APPL also hope that lots of people in the replace/upgrade/first time buyer market will be enticed to buy their offerings. In my own family, we now have 4 APPL laptops. 3 years ago it was zero. My profession puts me in front of WindowsServer2008R2 all day every day, but I chose APPL for my laptop. I am not alone, and it would appear that APPL is generally growing their sales volume and market share for laptops. APPL must be doing something right.
This bizarre idea that nerds on this site have that APPL lives from selling useless shiny toys to morons is exceedingly tiring to read.
Paris: Because she is doing something right too!
Somewhere on theis or the main REG site it was postulated by me or someone else, that the end result of the SAMSUNG V APPLE lawsuits would be that APPL would simply wind down their use of Samsung hardware in their devices, and that Samsung would suffer massively for it. APPL is a MASSIVE buyer of Samsung hardware.
I expect this move away from Samsung has already started, and as contracts expire, other suppliers than Samsung will get the business. Samsung has shot itself in the foot, and they are going to bleed. I doubt Galaxy sales will make up the shortfall.
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