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I have been seeing online that Apple has locked down their storage modules so that they are not user upgradable. I am curious as to the justification for not allowing someone to get a cheaper one with less storage, and either as their storage needs grow or when they save up enough money to buy more capacity let them upgrade. Is there a security reason? Is it technologically impossible to upgrade storage after the fact? Any explanation is helpful.
I get that upgrading the storage on the device isn't as important when it's a desktop (Mac Studio) vs a laptop but it's still nice to be able to just make the internal storage larger so that you don't need any plugin storage. Although nothing beats mass storage like a hard drive.
LIkely a security concern since upgrading the storage in the 2019 Mac Pro goes through a long process that involves using another computer and the Configurator app
Install or replace SSD modules in your Mac Pro (2019) - Apple Support
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/apple-configurator-2/id1037126344?mt=12
Also, based on information from the web it appears that the storage modules are not a complete SSD in that they are only the storage chips with the controller being on the logic board. Normally, the controller is in the same package as the storage chips.
I agree with what you state but also Apple probably wants to control their profit margin.
Like you said the 2019 Mac Pro has an intel CPU but the 2022 Mac Studio with the M1 which means the controller is baked into the CPU. So then wouldn't it be even safer than when the controller used to be on the SSD to make the storage user upgradable because the storage modules hold nothing but flash chips? I haven't seen anything about it but wouldn't it be impossible to just plug the flash modules from one Mac Studio to the other and be able to read it because the controller is on the chip itself?
Just add external storage. That's what you would do if your files were enormous anyway.
There are YouTube videos of users trying to plugin and use a storage module from another Studio but it did not work. They even used the Configurator-2 app like required for the 2019 Mac Pro.
Mac Studio storage upgrade
