Apple Announces M1 Ultra CPU, Mac Studio and Studio Display

[Leesureone]

I would either (1) just peel back the rubber a bit where the screws are or (2) cut off bits of the rubber where the screws are so that I'd always have easy access to them.

That could work too, my Ultra should be here late April or early May and I'd love to add more storage as well. I bet it'll be a year before anyone produces a compatible SSD though, sooner of course would be welcome. I basically did the same thing to an iMac 27 4k I had following a guide on iFixit using a kit I bought from them. It felt like brain surgery, fingers crossed the whole time, concerned I'd lose the patient.

 

[scottkendall]

Btw, I hate the Dyson fans because of this clogging problem. Eventually, it just became a noise maker and didn't move any air at all. One of the worst purchases I ever made.

My fan still works awesome after 7 years every few months I use my Dyson vac to clean the dust out of the hole.

 

[pastrychef]

My fan still works awesome after 7 years every few months I use my Dyson vac to clean the dust out of the hole.

I trashed mine a long time ago. Back to my 20+ year old Vornado.

 

[Leesureone]

Something just occurred to me after watching the video trs96 linked to...

The SSD doesn't contain any controller chip... I'm assuming the T2 does the controlling. I don't know how difficult it would be for 3rd parties to produce compatible SSDs. On the other hand, it should be a lucrative venture since they wouldn't have to include any controller chip...

This is from Tom's Hardware:
"The drives use a proprietary form-factor, which is logical as the SSD controller resides in the SoC, and the drives themselves do not need to carry one. The critical thing is that both SSD slots are accessible without removing the PSU."

Mac Studio Dissected: M1 Ultra About 3x Bigger Than AMD's Ryzen CPUs

Mac Studio packs massive M1 Ultra and uses modular SSDs that is user-accessible.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[UtterDisbelief]

This is from Tom's Hardware:
"The drives use a proprietary form-factor, which is logical as the SSD controller resides in the SoC, and the drives themselves do not need to carry one. The critical thing is that both SSD slots are accessible without removing the PSU."

Mac Studio Dissected: M1 Ultra About 3x Bigger Than AMD's Ryzen CPUs

Mac Studio packs massive M1 Ultra and uses modular SSDs that is user-accessible.

www.tomshardware.com

Which, I guess, means that even if a 3rd party can't include a controller on the replacement SSD, they should be able to make it recognisable to Apple's own? And even if that is a no-no, and we have to buy from Apple themselves, well that still means the lifespan of the machine can be extended as necessary, even if the cost is a little high.

 

[pastrychef]

This is from Tom's Hardware:
"The drives use a proprietary form-factor, which is logical as the SSD controller resides in the SoC, and the drives themselves do not need to carry one. The critical thing is that both SSD slots are accessible without removing the PSU."

Mac Studio Dissected: M1 Ultra About 3x Bigger Than AMD's Ryzen CPUs

Mac Studio packs massive M1 Ultra and uses modular SSDs that is user-accessible.

www.tomshardware.com

When there are two SSD modules installed, I wonder if the controller sees it as a single SSD... Maybe that's how they achieve 8TB.

 

[trs96]

I wonder if the controller sees it as a single SSD... Maybe that's how they achieve 8TB.

I think that is right. If those are 2230 SSDs there's no way 8TB would possibly fit on one of them. Even making a 4TB capacity on a drive that small is a major challenge. Hope that some reviewers that paid the big bucks for 4 or 8TB upgrades show us their drives. Interested to see how Apple does make it work.

Here's a Samsung 8TB drive where you can see the 8 nand flash chips. Think this is a 2280mm drive but it might be longer.

 

[Middleman]

Just watched the video. I have to say it is an absolute marvel of a feat in both engineering and assembly!
Considering the numbers of parts involved, I cannot imagine just how many gruelling hours the workers behind this have put in to make this. I am thinking they are likely assembled by contracted worker basis each with their own individual assembly stations/tables (most logical answer behind this). Since the early days of mobile phone and digital SLR camera assembly that was how it was done because the manufacturers found that they couldn't make cameras any quicker or better than a robotic single model/product assembly line (like they did for older products), especially when it came to switching out model lines during production (traditional methods of assembly take a lot of downtime to perform). It was far easier to do things by hand, so they turned to manual methods of assembly instead, often done in small groups of 3 sitting around tables.

The fact that the bottom can be removed relatively easily (only 4 screws) is a huge plus in terms of dust cleaning. The intake is where clogging would occur most.

That being said, I'd be loath to go much further than removing the bottom plate.

Unfortunately if you want to remove the dust completely it means you have to also clean out the fans which means you have go the whole hog on disassembly. It's not going to be easy that's for sure.

 

[pastrychef]

Just watched the video. I have to say it is an absolute marvel of a feat in both engineering and assembly!
Considering the numbers of parts involved, I cannot imagine just how many gruelling hours the workers behind this have put in to make this. I am thinking they are likely assembled by contracted worker basis each with their own individual assembly stations/tables (most logical answer behind this). Since the early days of mobile phone and digital SLR camera assembly that was how it was done because the manufacturers found that they couldn't make cameras any quicker or better than a robotic single model/product assembly line (like they did for older products), especially when it came to switching out model lines during production (traditional methods of assembly take a lot of downtime to perform). It was far easier to do things by hand, so they turned to manual methods of assembly instead, often done in small groups of 3 sitting around tables.

Unfortunately if you want to remove the dust completely it means you have to also clean out the fans which means you have go the whole hog on disassembly. It's not going to be easy that's for sure.

I think it's a work of art.

I'm not too concerned with the fans themselves. My main concern was the intake area. I think compressed air blown in to the exhaust should be good enough.

 

[Middleman]

Agreed! It certainly is a work of art - a technical tour de force. However when it comes to aesthetics it is a bit lacking. This is what it looks like under someone’s monitor.