MacBook Pro with Touch Bar’s SSD soldered to logic board, preventing upgrades

By Jaina Grey Published November 18, 2016

Looking to upgrade the storage in your brand-new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar? Well, it looks like you’re out of luck. According to an intrepid MacRumors reader who pried open his factory-fresh MacBook Pro, it appears that the SSD is not removable and not expandable.

This is actually a first for Apple, as every previous MacBook Pro model has had a user-removable hard drive, leading to some of the loyal fanbase the notebook has acquired over the years. Oddly enough, the least expensive MacBook Pro, the one without the Touch Bar, does feature a user-removable SSD, as evidenced by the iFixit teardown.

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According to MacRumors, neither the 13-inch nor the 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar features a removable SSD. Apparently, it’s soldered directly onto the logic board, effectively barring any post-purchase expansion.

It’s certainly something to keep in mind if you’re considering a MacBook Pro purchase. You may want to spring for the extra storage because you’re very likely going to need it. The smallest, and least expensive, storage option for the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is a paltry 256GB, the same size as the largest iPhone 7. It may seem like a lot, but it will fill up fast and will probably start feeling pretty cramped a year or so from now.

However, if you did order a 256GB MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in hopes that you could expand the storage later, you do have some options available. First up, make sure you’re making prodigious use of cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and iCloud. Naturally, Apple would prefer you use iCloud and your new MacBook Pro does feature some impressive iCloud integration built right into the operating system — just check out our breakdown of MacOS Sierra’s robust cloud storage integration.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jaina Grey is a Seattle-based journalist with over a decade of experience covering technology, coffee, gaming, and AI. Her…

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