Upgrading my MacBook Pro...advice needed

[deckard1]

Hello,

I am looking to upgrade my Mac for making music with DP8 and some sample libraries. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have the following MacBook Pro: 15" Retina, Late 2013, 2 GHz, Intel Core i7, 256 GB Flash Storage, 8 GB RAM.

1. ) Is a flash storage drive the same thing as an SSD drive? If not, can I have someone put an SSD drive in to replace the flash storage? If so, how big of a drive can be put in?

2.) Is the RAM upgradable?

3.) Any other suggestions to speed my Mac up?

Many thanks.

[mikehalloran]

The Retina MBP is not upgradable. The non-Retina is. Both types were made in 2013.

Internal flash drives are a blade type of SSD. There are vendors who have larger Apple OEM units if yours didn't ship with the largest available -- you generally find them on eBay when they are available. Other than that, there is nothing else available that I know about.

OWC has 1T and 2T units for Retina iMacs and the new Mac Pro but I don't recall anything for the Retina MBP. Likewise, the RAM is soldered in.

[daniel.sneed]

AFAICT, 8Go Ram will allow most VIs, but may be short with huge ones.

256 Go SSD may be short to host OS, DP projects and sample libraries.
I don't think you can upgrade HD inside Retina MBP.

If 256 Go ain't enough, you'll want to add an external HD to host libraries (SSD would be better for this purpose too).

[deckard1]

The Retina MBP is not upgradable. The non-Retina is. Both types were made in 2013.

Internal flash drives are a blade type of SSD. There are vendors who have larger Apple OEM units if yours didn't ship with the largest available -- you generally find them on eBay when they are available. Other than that, there is nothing else available that I know about.

OWC has 1T and 2T units for Retina iMacs and the new Mac Pro but I don't recall anything for the Retina MBP. Likewise, the RAM is soldered in.

Many thanks! Looks like I will have to go the external SSD route. How does this look:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147377

Why in the world would Apple make it so their consumers can't upgrade a product they purchase from their company? There must be some monetary advantage for Apple. Any ideas?

[daniel.sneed]

[...]Why in the world would Apple make it so their consumers can't upgrade a product they purchase from their company? There must be some monetary advantage for Apple. Any ideas?

Just guessing:
- selling more new computers
- selling big Ram (initial ones, no retrofit from other companies)
- selling big SSDs (initial ones, no retrofit from other companies)
And, please, forget about that so outdated *client satisfaction*...

[mikehalloran]

There are vendors who have larger Apple OEM units if yours didn't ship with the largest available -- you generally find them on eBay when they are available...

i told you where to find them. There are system pulls and new available:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Samsung-1 ... 234c65c692

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Samsung-1 ... 2347aa35a8

You have to move fast when these become available. When they're gone, they're gone and you won't find them anywhere.