Apple Mac Studio Has An SSD Slot That You Cannot Use

Apple's Mac Studio is one of a kind desktop computer that does not support any sort of hardware upgrade. The Mac Studio is available with either the M1 Max or the M1 Ultra silicon with soldered RAM and a modular SSD storage solution.

However, despite having modular SSD slots, one will not be able to upgrade the storage on the Mac Studio using an off-shelf SSD. Not just that, you can't even use an SSD from one Mac Studio in another, and the SSD is likely to be hardware locked to the specific Mac Studio.

Mac Studio Has Two SSD Slots

According to a video by Luke Milani, the Mac Studio (M1 Ultra and the M1 Max) variant has dual SSD slots. The base model with 1TB storage will have a single SSD, while models with 4TB and 8TB of internal storage are likely to include two SSDs of equal capacity.

Luke demonstrates that the Mac Studio refuses to boot even when the SSD is taken from the primary slot to the secondary slot. Similarly, the SSD is also not cross-compatible with any other Mac Studio, as the SSD seems to be hardware locked to a specific device.

Hence, although the Mac Studio has a modular SSD design, users won't be able to upgrade the storage or even replace the SSD if something goes wrong. This again is an anti-repair move by Apple which helps the company to make more money by charging a lot more to the higher storage variants.

Is There Any Workaround?

According to a few reports, Apple's official service centers should be able to upgrade the storage on Mac Studio. However, Apple has not commented anything about future storage upgradability of storage on Mac Studio. Just like the Mac Pro, one should be able to use Configurator 2 to upgrade the storage on the Mac Studio. However, as of now, there is no proof for the same.

If you are planning to buy a Mac Studio, then try to get a higher storage variant, as the probability of upgrading the storage on the Mac Studio is very slim. You can get the Mac Studio with up to 8TB storage, while the base model just offers 1TB of storage.