Here's why Apple won't let YOU upgrade a Mac Studio [Part 2] 

It's been a crazy 24 hours with a ton of new information about this topic. Personally I can't say I'm surprised but I am disappointed, and I hope that a workaround can be found! Big thanks to Aura for sponsoring, check them out for 2 weeks free! aura.com/LukeMiani

As Linus from LTT says: a team of people engineered this to be worse. People spent part of their actual lives to make sure this product was worse for consumers.

In their last WAN Show, LTT (Linus in particular) said that the "SSD" being only flash memory and the logic being done directly on the logic board was an option and called it the "worst case scenario" because that means it's essentially impossible to upgrade or replace. Unfortunately, he was right on that one.

I own a small print firm that has had Macs since the 80s. The lack of upgrade ability is very disturbing. When you can't even replace an SSD or RAM, the machine is basically disposable. I love OSX, but this is my line in the sand. We have been slowly moving our 5 design machines over to Windows.

They did this in response to the failing nand on MacBooks that have the ssd soldered. Now they can charge you to replace failed/worn out nand but try to get you to buy more storage up front.

Great investigation. It’s always fun to be curious and go on a quest, but I am amazed at your ability to tolerate frustration and dead ends. Great job 👏

my take: apple wanted to stick with their new ‘mantra’ of repairability, in the narrowest sense. Since the studio is marketed towards professionals, (who rely a lot on the device) they thought about hard drive failure as a common pain point. Therefore, build storage modules as repairable without an entire logic board swap, that way turnaround times (stocking little modules instead of logic boards in-store) and ease of the repair (in your words, 4 minutes) are reduced, increasing the customer satisfaction. What they don’t mean by repairability, which is what we all really want from them, is modularity. Simply put, if you want a modular apple product, no problem… starting price is the Mac Pro.

Awesome video Luke, and this is the fist time ive watched a sponsor all the way, was quite entertaining!!

Your efforts here are appreciated. Gripping viewing watching to see what happens. I bet you were sweating bullets installing the firmware Luke. Wow.

I have to put my hat off to you Luke for trying though and I think everyone should as well.👏👏👏 It will be interesting to see what the Mac Pro has to offer in a few months time with ‘upgradable’ parts if any…

It is infuriating that Apple understands the importance of removable storage when it comes to reducing their production cost and streamlining their production progress but they are unable to understand it when it comes to keeping the computer out of the landfill. For a company that removes chargers from the box to save the planet and install solar panels on the roof of their office and makes a big deal about it, this is stupid. As an Apple sheep, I am infuriated

You're the best, Luke! Thank you for going to such great lengths to provide information on the inner workings and (unfortunately non-existent) upgrade possibilities of the Mac Studio. Thank you for not accepting free review units (like other RU-vidrs who predictably suck up to the manufacturer), but instead put your own money on the line and hold the manufacturer accountable.

Thanks for this, keep up the very cool testing and great technical advise! I completely agree with you, upgrading storage should be allowed!

As they said on LTT I think the removable storage is to help Apples supply lines. They could easily allow people to change it - as you said - it's a middle finger.

Great work Luke. I appreciate the dedication

First of all thank you for this amazing coverage… It’s great to see your channel quoted all over the Mac o sphere! It’s a shame about the storage and a real missed opportunity by Apple to do something to really rethink Mac desktops in a really positive way. Lunacy, that’s what it is, sheer lunacy! Anyway I hope the recalcitrant Studio Mac boots up and kudos again for the awesome investigative work!

Like Linus said, it would have been very complicated to make multiple models of Mac studio with different types of chips and different types of storage, so the "ssd" are modular because it benefits apple, but when it doesn't benefits Apple they stop being reasonable (in this case providing end user the opportunity to change the ssd). For young generation in couple of years this practice by tech companies will become a normality. Even car companies (witch in the past where more flexible for repair) have resume to the same practice. It's a shame I truly belive that a tech company like Apple has the power to change how a company should and can work in an era that everything its disposable, this mambo jambo that Apple cares about environment its absolut crap.

If those drives are "dumb" nand chips with no controller at all - because the controller is integrated in the M1 chips - Apple's "ssd" prices are even more outrageous.

Amazing commitment. Thanks for the video.

Great information thanks Luke

Bricked an ultra for us. Give this guy a round of applause

I salute you, Luke. This vid is a lot more interesting to the many “me too: I also got a studio Mac.”

Thanks for sharing the invaluable test result. Thumbs up!

Thanks for this and the handwork, i just felt that this channel is a bit underrated compared to other channel, not comparing content but the views and subscriber. This is more technical than the others. Wish it will have more views and subscribers. Cheers!

It's obvious. They designed it this way to make it both easier and cheaper for THEM to repair/replace the storage devices, which is no surprise given the ongoing component shortages. The storage device is typically the most common failure point. Why can't you swap storage modules of different storage tiers? Because Apple still wants full control over their storage options and want to require that upfront investment for tiered storage. So, they're pretty much maintaining their status quo whilst simultaneously making it easier, cheaper, and less resource heavy to repair/replace failed storage modules, which is what will typically end up failing first. This design decision is for Apple, not for us.

I'm using Apple Configurator 2 for work on a daily basis and I'd try to click on restore (not revive) while in DFU mode, to restore your M1 Max Mac Studio and get it working again. Done this several times for firmware-bricked iPhones and M1 MacBooks. It's worth a try, when recovery mode isn't usable. Sadly I have to confirm, what the Genius Bar employee told you: After performing a repair (replacing the logic board or the storage module), the technician has to run a tool named "System Configuration" within Apple's diagnostic console which rewrites and updates the device's firmware-databases to handle the just replaced components. In theory it should be possible to teach the device's firmware how to handle storage modules with a different size - sadly there's no option for that within Apples diagnostic console nor within Apples repair frontend. You're only able to select the parts used, enter the related serial numbers and let the tool do the magic. It's the same tool used for newer iPhones to pair new displays, batteries, face-id sensors, cameras or whole rear systems. You're only able to select replacement parts for your device's specific configuration. With right to repair moving forward, Apple someday would have to grant end-users access to these tools - maybe in a simplified version, so that customers can perform e.g. display repairs on an iPhone without loosing functionality such as face-id. Let's hope that Apple will be greedy enough to sell storage upgrade kits for Mac Studio in the future :-D As said before: It should be possible, it's just not intended by Apple at the moment. But it's still a good sign for the longevity of the Mac Studio, that Apple decided to design it with repairability in mind (replaceable storage - or keepable storage in case of logic board replacements). greetings from Germany ;-)

Thanks for all your videos!

The reason the storage modules use slots instead of being soldered to the board is likely not for upgradability or repairability, but for manufacturability. These slots surely simplify the process of manufacturing different Mac Studio models configured with different storage options.

“Almost a huge middle finger to the consumer” couldn’t be more of an understatement. While I agree that it’s not surprising, I just find it HIGHLY frustrating that they called this machine modular and made access to this module so easy and left ports empty for lower tier models if users can’t access it.

I've been awaiting this computer to replace my 2009 MacPro that has been CPU and firmware updated, but now I'm having second thoughts about buying a new Mac. I don't say this easily as I bought my first AppleII+ in 1979. Thank you for doing this Luke.

You should have way more Subs !!! thanks for going the extra mile on this project,Subbed and Liked !!

Again thank you for your efforts.

Good job with the 2nd video Luke, I'm very impressed by these findings, its a real shame we can't update those machines. At least they can be fixed with a module of the same size in case the original one dies.

Is it foreseeable that someone might come up with a third party tool to perhaps transfer the serialization to a new module so it is recognized by the configuration tool?

Love the dedication

Excellent work Luke. You have moved into the pole position on Mac online videos. I trust you.

Update: The Mac Studio requires an IPSW restore after changing its SSD modules to ensure that they are readable and able to boot. Running a Device Firmware Update (DFU) restore using the macOS IPSW package for the ‌Mac Studio‌ should enable the machine to boot from a different SSD, providing that both of the modules are of the same size and make, meaning that storage upgrades still appear to be feasible.

Re-installing the operating system was the simplest thing on a Mac. Why the hell has Apple made it difficult ? I really want to meet the psycho’s that work at Apple that hate customers so much that they came up with this utter user unfriendly design.

I agree with you a thousand times over 👍thank you for doing a second part.

fantastic work!!!!! excellent information, thank you for doing all this dirty work

LOVE THIS CONTENT

On changing the storage module, go into DFU mode, on restarting the Mac if the module is larger the Mac studio will go into FU mode.

Great review

great work!!

They did this purely for 3 reasons. 1.They at least acknowledged that soldered on SSD's is stupid on a professional machine, and SSD is a wear item. 2. To save their own cost of warranty service. 3. To further push their consumer anti-repair and anti-upgrade agenda.

Fantastic content as always Luke. Fair play to you for giving this a go. Its a shame Apple held off letting you upgrade it like the old school Mac Minis.

Thank you Luke, being with with us.

Luke, what a commitment you have made to bring all of this to light. Then investment in these machines is no "small potatoes" that's for sure. Thank you for all the time you spent on getting all of us these details.

Great job! Don’t change, you are what Linus tech tips used to be.

Completely agree with you on this! I probably wouldn't ever upgrade (I ordered the 2TB) but very disappointing at the steps Apple has taken to prevent any upgrade.

I am always both impressed and grateful of Luke Miani’s immenses sacrifices to offer us the best content possible 😅

Really interesting video Luke. I suspect that Apple could upgrade the storage in these machines if they wanted to. Maybe this will be an option at some point in the future. I am sure it will be an Apple only upgrade though.

Seeing as how the Mac Pro SSD kits come in pairs, there is a possibility that it’s not the size of the modules but rather that they have to be placed in their designated sockets which between the M1 Max and Ultra are opposite. The Mac Pro SSD modules are labeled 1 and 2 meaning they most likely have some differences on them meaning they have to be put in where they’re labeled. And since the Mac Studio only allows ships with both slots filled on 4TB and 8TB models, this would most likely mean that there is no way to get a secondary module working unless you have the ones for those models. Perhaps you can get a single 1TB or 2TB module working but you’ll have to try in each slot to confirm since it’s very specific.

They really may as well have soldered the nand to the board at this point. I hope something changes, or we get a more clear cut answer from Apple on why things are the way they are, but for the moment, I'm pretty disappointed at what we're seeing here from Apple...

Luke you have a true Mac spirit!

Great investigation detective Luke! This completely removes any doubt about the Mac Studio being in upgradeable. 🙌🏽

Two thoughts come to my mind: 1) this issue will be fixed with a future firmware update, but 2) it will not happen until the M-series Mac Pro has been out for a while. I think this is to ensure sales of the Mac Pro as the "...upgradeable product..." much like the 2019 Mac Pro when it comes to the proprietary boot SSD.

Great research and video. No need for Mac Studio at this time for me. I am happy with my MBP 16 inch 2021, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD. Was thinking to buy the Mac Studio if I could at least upgrade the internal SSD. But I trust your research completely. Apple will probably design a new upgradable Mac and call it the MM (The Mac Miani).

Luke always has the best lounge jams.

I watched a video the other day where someone upgraded the memory on an older Macbook Air, a 2012 model I believe. It came with 4GB soldered to the motherboard and he removed the chips from the motherboard and replaced them with 16GB. However, in order to get it to boot afterward, he also had to remove an eprom which controlled the memory and rewrite the information on it, then replace it. It got a little deep for me but I understood the basics. In the end, he had a working Macbook Air with 4x the memory it had previously. I'm thinking there's something similar in the Studio. There's a chip on the board somewhere with information on the amount of storage. Apple has a way to rewrite that information. It might be stored in the system firmware.

Absolutely absured that Apple would do this! I can't see any reason why this would be beneficial for their users.

Yeah Luke, as a long-time Mac user (since 1985) I thought it would be pretty incredible for Apple to design an upgradable Mac without some sort of caveat. I was thinking there would be no way they would allow the average joe to take their baby apart and install an off-the-shelf upgrade like that. I am sure glad you went through that instead of me. I would have stayed up for weeks on end trying to figure out some sort of way to do it cause that's pretty much what I do as a systems engineer. Sometimes, however, it's just better to wait and let others go through the pain of seeing if something actually works or not. This effort will eventually lead to new collaborative ideas that lead to a solution. Good on you for trying though. =)

good followup thanks :)

Awesomeness brother!

I think that you should always take a company at face value; if they say it's not user upgradeable, user reapirable, or user recycleable, dont go into that purchase expecting otherwise. When people started tearing down their Mac Studios, they rushed to conclusions and published video and headlines of "Apple Lied" etc. Now that the information has become clearer, a lot of those headlines and video titles need changing, because, Apple was telling the truth, the Mac Studio is NOT user upgradeable.

Thank you Luke. It’s changed my mind about even buying one of these. Upgradability is an important consideration about buying a computer. When I make a significant investment like this, I want to be able to use it for as long as possible, or improve it if my requirement increases, not throw it away and have to buy a bigger version. I’m interested to see if you do eventually find a way to make improvements.

Aloha! Your presentations are done very well. I'm not a tech. I recently purchased an Apple Mac Studio M-1 with 1-TB of Storage. I really wanted more storage space initially prior to buying it but cost was a major factor. I settled with the 1 TB. It seems that you tried your best to upgrade your units without any success. I come to the conclusion that Apple wants to make more money by having you sent it back to them for future upgrades. It comes down to money, money money! jc

Good work bro.

Here's my 2ct on this: As you said in the video, the modules you're swapping in and out are not SSDs, they are not even "drives", they are the sole NAND packages, that usually are soldered onto the SSD PCB. I think (disclaimer: this is pure speculation on my part) the SSD controller IS capable of different size NAND packages, but you need to "teach" the controller the physical specs of the (new) NAND packages - that's also the reason why there's two slots, the controller CAN utilize both, if configured accordingly. So, step 1: Configure NAND layout (incl. ports to use) at/in/for the actual SSD controller. THEN (and this is hinted by the serial thingo thing you also mention in the video) the encryption needs to be paired as well. I'm pretty sure the raw data on the NAND packages is encrypted, and what you talk about as "serialisation" is actually configuring the NAND packes with encryption (keys) matching the SSD controller setup. Without that, the controller - even though layout might match - can't work with the NAND chips due to en- and decryption failing. So, step 2: Pair encryption parameters from the SSD controller to the NAND packages.

I love how it's become the fashion to just eviscerate this hardware that apple is trying to make so inaccessible. I just had a JOY watching Linus RIIIIIP that non-removable power cable out of a $1500 display! Savage. All of you are SAVAGE.

Great video Luke! I hope that someone figures it out. 🤞

Love your videos

So how about this for a theory. The “memory module” is capable of storing 4TB but if you purchase the 1TB option the rest of the space is made unavailable. Wouldn’t a software configuration be easier and less expensive than a hardware change in order to customise each unit as it goes out the door.

Storage should be upgradable, but there should be something of a “linking” step so we can have secure boot. Cryptographically, you need to know and trust the CPU and drive to store keys safely.

Thankyou so much for this. I really hope it leads to a future where we will be able to do an upgrade in the coming years. For now...long story short, max out your storage needs when you order your Mac Studio as it's highly likely you won't be able to upgrade it in the future. Thanks again.

Luke thank you so much 4 this two part series breaking down the Mac Studio- you risk your own bacon for your community and that’s honourable! I’m a sub 4 life I’m also a owner of a studio and have a question, if we’re unable to tweak the internals inside the studio what can we use for storage on these studios do you recommend anything specific- I’m looking into enclosed cased nvme ssds but it’s a lot going down the rabbit hole trying to find the right one -> Please mac tech god help us haha ! Cheers

I deeply respect the admirable goal of figuring ways around Apples boundaries. But speaking for myself, it wasn’t why I purchased the Apple Studio. It doesn’t matter if I order an Apple TV, iPad Pro, or even the new Studio Display, Apple intends to sell a fixed hardware appliance you plug in and use. It’s why some people just hate them with a passion. The focus for the customer is not to re-engineer it before it’s even arrived! Apple has a long history of disappointing those who try to work around their design intentions. The impossible to remove rubber feet should have been your first clue. If collectively, we feel that the right to repair is important, then Apple will have to change or loose customers. We don’t have removable batteries or memory expansion ports on our iPhones or iPads either, but we keep buying them. So if someone happens to read this who JUST bought their Studio, and you’re feeling a bit down after watching this video, don’t! Enjoy your unboxing when it arrives. Plug the Studio in with that perma-smile, and have fun. It is what it is. We will survive this together. :-)

Apple gave up on user-upgradeability a long time ago. And now they are a multi-trillion dollar company. You do the math.

Good video as always, Luke. Just curious...what's the thing with pulleys in the background of this video?

Great job Luke. So if I understand you correctly. If you would like a bigger "HD" you would also need a new logicboard?

Good video. A thought as to why Apple would design the storage modules to be removable/replaceable but not upgradable (as opposed to soldered) that gives Apple the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps since this is more of a Pro product with an expected longer lifespan than other consumer products, Apple designed it this way to make it more repairable given the acknowledged more limited lifespan of NAND memory after heavy use for many years? This would also be consistent with Apple’s decision to simultaneously start offering AppleCare on an subscription basis for as many years as a customer wants and not just 3 years like before. If Apple needs to be able to repair a failed SSD 4-7 years later under warranty in one of these, it makes technical and business sense for Apple to make this potential point of failure replaceable by Apple without having to replace the entire (presumably more expensive) whole logic board.

I love my Apple products in general, but this is a HUGE middle finger to the consumer. And a missed opportunity. Apple could’ve gained so much positive press by announcing the storage was user upgradeable. Instead they once again reaffirm all the negative press they get on this topic.

BTW: Great Job. I love your video’s. You arer my goto guy for mac stuff! You and MKBHD 🙂

Nice video my friend. Now i have a question with this new system. Are you try to install both drive on one mac studio. Also its any aftermarket memory for this type of drive. I tell you because i was thinking may be with an adapter can use a real SSD drive for this mac. Will be very interesting for a future video.

Apple will 100% sell their own upgrade kits in the future like they did with the Mac Pro but that would probably still requiere a visit to an Apple store.

I’m not a tech expert but maybe Apple designed Mac Studio with removable storage modules to give them more supply chain flexibility if they anticipate need to procure parts from different suppliers? Also can you run an air intake dust test to see how much dust the Mac Studio can take in before its fan system gets clogged? How often would it need to be taken in for service to get cleaned?

They wanted to solder the memory modules down, but slotted ones help reduce the overhead on the array of configurations so they have to do something else to lock it down

Ok Luke. Your sacrifice to RU-vid and tech was worth it. New watcher. Subscribed. Had to. Get that money to pay for these Mac Studios.

Do you think Apple will say they didn’t want to have people open them up and upgrade cause of the potential risk for electric shock with those exposed capacitors? A company will always hide behind any potential risk. Someone getting shocked when the unit was classified as not upgradable doesn’t land on their doorstep.

This non replaceable storage combined with the “non removable” power cord on the display is way more anti consumer than the normal soldered approach Apple takes. This is actively hostile and taunting the R2R community.

I admire the courage you took to dismantle the Mac Studios and tried to swap the storage modules. I take my hats off to you for trying. Now I have to really make sure that I get one with adequate storage so I don't have to worry about that. I will wait a year or so before I decided to purchase one. I got a feeling that a lot of folks will be trading the Mac Studio in for something else or get rid of it altogether. It reminds me of the backlash of the 2013 Mac Pro that they called the "trash can" Mac. So we will wait and see how this will pan out with the consumers. Great video!

I do wonder what this means for the future Mac Pro, will it use the same system or will they allow upgrades or leave some empty slots to put in extra SSD storage? I'm happy you got one of the Studio's back, hope the other one can be bought back to life.

I look forward to the day Apple is forced by law to allow users to repair and upgrade their own computers.

I'd like to think that in the near future apple may roll out a program that allows studio owners to have the storage upgraded by taking it to an apple store where they would swap out or add extra storage modules (or whatever they are called) and change the firmware in the chip to allow this. Of course, being apple they'd charge the price of a kidney for it but they'd just say, "hey, it is upgradeable now. Not by you, obviously, we can't allow the user to tamper with our pretty machines. I mean, where would we be if we allowed every Luke, Max or Justine to mess with them? That's what the pro is for." Or something. I doubt they will though but hey, one can dream... :)

Luke, what about the second slot? Same procedure, leaving original storage module in original slot and adding the 1Tb storage module in the second slot and repeating procedure?

The controllers under the SSD are for the TypeC Connectors, thats why they are different on the M1 Max (USB-C 10 Gb/s) vs the Ultra version (Thunderbolt 40 Gb/s), different negotiation protocols and power delivery, even if the Thunderbolt is compatible with the USB-C protocols.

Very well done! Thank you! And no, there is no justification since apple could have made a slight design change to make it possible. Guess it’s the middle finger to all of us. Hope they get to explain that in court. It’s a real shame for a company that claims to be environmentally friendly.

Besides the big middle finger from Apple, putting in the connector is a great production management method of being able to customize the SSD size at the last minute. To some extent Apple does this with the M1 chip which has versions of URAM which they can put into the Mother Board at the last minute and will also be part of the internal serial number registration process. It also looks like Apple made a memory module without a controller so they could block any standard SSD module from being used in the slots not withstanding the different connector ........ Apple is not Green, using paper and cloth in their packaging and mostly Aluminum for the computer parts, shell and body does nothing to help recycle all the precious metals and toxic materials that will end up in the landfill, to leach into the ground water for generations.

Were you able to get the M1Ultra back up and running? And, I wonder if by tinkering with it, does it void their warranty? I would be interested in seeing if they would take it and fix it since it's under the 90 days even though you pulled it apart.

The SSD is Locked to the T2 Chip (included in the M1 Chip) just like Intel Macs With Separate T2 Chip but with M1 it's built-in (no separate T2 Chip on the Board). Intel Macs had a built-in T2 chip that handled security and other features on the Macs, but with the M1 chips, that functionality is built right in and a secondary chip isn't required, It needs special tools to config (Copy serial number, reprogram the chip to allow reading the new SSD) the new SSD.