SSD options for macbook Air Late 2015

peche · Dec 26, 2020

Hi Techpowerupians!

His my barely back! I'm lurking this time for a new SSD for my loved macbook air, currently have the stock 128GB one, i would like to double the size or go beyond, my mac is running big sur, core i5 4GB ram, i would like to see if a faster and bigger SSD could solve my boot time and also bring a better storage option.

All comments are help are always welcome!

Regards,

FreedomEclipse · Dec 26, 2020

You'd be looking at an NvME SSD. You cant really upgrade anything else apart from that and the wifi card because everything is soldered on AFAIK

bonehead123 · Dec 26, 2020

Go big or go home...1 or 2TB for sure, unless you're tight on cash... which would dictate a 512GB, 'cause anything else would just be a waste of time, money & effort.....

Also unless money is an issue, I would suggest you stay away from the el-cheapo, dram-less crap shooters that are out there, and stick with the better ones like WD, Sammy, Corsair, Crucial etc....

Having used those brands, I can vouch for all of them, as I have had very good luck with them, and their performance/durability are great, with good warranties & customer support too

peche · Dec 26, 2020

Sup fellas, that mac does not require that much storage, i am primary windows user, the mac is used for traveling, some monkey stuff and web applications, is a personal computer that helps when traveling, so 256-512GB are the deal here, 1TB is way too much and budget, is tight for this, as mentioned before this machine never run that much info, i have plenty USB drives for storage, several capacities.

Regards,

yotano211 · Dec 26, 2020

Does the 2015 mac have nvme connection or SATA connection.

tabascosauz · Dec 26, 2020

Unfortunately, for earlier generations between the really old SATA drives and the newest soldered laptops, Apple used a M.2-esque form factor with NVMe...

...but it's a proprietary connector format. It looks similar but it's not the same, even though it's still over the same PCIe 2.0/3.0 x2/x4 bus. You can't just buy any M.2 NVMe drive.

There are a number of compatibility guides out there. Look for your laptop on there.

Mac SSD Upgrades for All MacBook Air Models - Macs By Capability: EveryMac.com

Hard drive and SSD upgrades for each Apple MacBook Air with complete specs. Includes storage speed, hard drive size and dimensions, SSD specifics, identifiers and more.

everymac.com

Bottom line is, if you're upgrading, you're going to need to buy an proprietary drive off an Apple dedicated website from one of the suppliers (Toshiba, Samsung, etc), or an Apple-specific vendor lijke OWC. That, or you can look for Apple format-to-M.2 adapters that'll allow you to use a normal NVMe drive, but those have compatibility/QVL lists that you need to follow relatively strictly.

You can check OWC's website for Apple specific drive upgrades.

Hachi_Roku256563 · Dec 26, 2020

ALL of this is irrelevant apple uses a custom keying on their ssds (if its nvme which im 97% sure it is)
so you need to buy an apple ssd that is 500 dollars for 100gb

Devon68 · Dec 26, 2020

Not to promote this guy but It might help. Watch from 6:50

TLDR: You will need an adapter to fit an Nvme ssd.

Static~Charge · Dec 26, 2020

Isaac` said:
ALL of this is irrelevant apple uses a custom keying on their ssds (if its nvme which im 97% sure it is)

It is not. Apple used a proprietary PCI Express connector.

Isaac` said:
so you need to buy an apple ssd that is 500 dollars for 100gb

If you have more money than sense. OWC sells compatible drives for a lot less than that.

lexluthermiester · Dec 26, 2020

tabascosauz said:
Some of you have never opened up a Macbook in the last 7 years and it shows...

Don't care to either, but I digress...

Isaac` said:
ALL of this is irrelevant apple uses a custom keying on their ssds (if its nvme which im 97% sure it is)
so you need to buy an apple ssd that is 500 dollars for 100gb

Not for a 2015 model. They didn't start the nonsense you're talking about until around 2018.

Ahhzz · Dec 26, 2020

Devon68 said:
Not to promote this guy but It might help. Watch from 6:50

TLDR: You will need an adapter to fit an Nvme ssd.

Devon's right. I had to buy a special adapter for a client moving his MacBook Pro to a larger drive. Regular NVMe wouldn't hit on the Mac.

lexluthermiester said:
Don't care to either, but I digress...

Not for a 2015 model. They didn't start the nonsense you're talking about until around 2018.

Hmm... I was thinking it was on the earlier models as well, but could easily be mistaken. We need to research! To the BatLibrary!!

lexluthermiester · Dec 26, 2020

Ahhzz said:
Hmm... I was thinking it was on the earlier models as well, but could easily be mistaken. We need to research! To the BatLibrary!!

It might have been 2017. TBH, my expreience with Apple products is limited, but I remember reading about that very unpleasant development in late 2018.

tabascosauz · Dec 26, 2020

lexluthermiester said:
It might have been 2017. TBH, my expreience with Apple products is limited, but I remember reading about that very unpleasant development in late 2018.

I don't know what you're talking about - Apple's replaceable PCIe-based storage has always been on proprietary connectors. It's just gone through a bunch of generations, and each time they upgrade the bus (2.0 to 3.0, x2 to x4), it's usually a slightly different connector without backwards compatibility. Maybe you're thinking of the SATA days.

You might be thinking of Apple moving to soldered storage instead, which happened roughly in that time period you mentioned.

MacBook Air 13" Early 2015 SSD Replacement

Use this guide to upgrade or replace the solid-state drive in a MacBook Air 13” Early 2015. This MacBook Air uses a proprietary storage drive...

www.ifixit.com

lexluthermiester · Dec 26, 2020

peche said:
Sup fellas, that mac does not require that much storage, i am primary windows user, the mac is used for traveling, some monkey stuff and web applications, is a personal computer that helps when traveling, so 256-512GB are the deal here, 1TB is way too much and budget, is tight for this, as mentioned before this machine never run that much info, i have plenty USB drives for storage, several capacities.

Regards,

Would you happen to have a model number, should be on the bottom of the unit itself..

tabascosauz said:
I don't know what you're talking about

Very possible.

tabascosauz said:
Maybe you're thinking of the SATA days.

Also very possible.

I'm not an Apple/Mac person. I tend to point and laugh at Apple/Mac people. Of course, I'm always willing to help someone fix their Apple system so they can avoid being overcharged(read ripped off) by Apple tech support(if you can call it that..).

docnorth · Dec 26, 2020

Few months ago I smashed the 320gb hdd on a mid 2010 macbook pro. The Crucial mx 500gb made the old macbook very fast and responsive, despite working with sata II speeds.

Hachi_Roku256563 · Dec 28, 2020

I know what I'm talking about y 2013 mac air SSD will not work in any other systems and vice versa

claes · Dec 28, 2020

I don’t know how many “I need help” threads get derailed simply because helpful people with all the answers failed to read the OP and follow-up posts or couldn’t be bothered to google it

Ahhzz · Dec 28, 2020

Speaking of, guys slide back to the topic on hand, please. Any input regarding the options for his MacBook?

claes · Dec 28, 2020

Ahhzz said:
Speaking of, guys slide back to the topic on hand, please. Any input regarding the options for his MacBook?

No offense, but the question has already been answered in every form...

OP can either a) buy a new third-party drive from OWC (best option, backed by warrantee), b) buy an adapter for a m.2 device (YMMV depending on the adapter), or c) buy a used and overpriced Apple drive with the proper keying. Maybe there’s a 4th option here (external device? lol), but I think that at that point we’ve reached a conclusion and that this thread has become a little long in the tooth.

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Cooling	Thermaltake Water 3.0 Pro + Tt Riing12 x2 / Tt ThunderBlade / Gelid Slim 120UV fans
Memory	16GB DRR3 Kingoston with Custom Tt spreaders + HyperX Fan
Video Card(s)	GeForce GTX 980 4GB Nvidia Sample
Storage	Crucial M4 SSD 64GB's / Seagate Barracuda 2TB / Seagate Barracuda 320GB's
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SSD options for macbook Air Late 2015

peche

Thermaltake fanboy

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

bonehead123

peche

Thermaltake fanboy

yotano211

tabascosauz

Moderator

Mac SSD Upgrades for All MacBook Air Models - Macs By Capability: EveryMac.com

Hachi_Roku256563

Devon68

Static~Charge

lexluthermiester

Ahhzz

Moderator

lexluthermiester

tabascosauz

Moderator

MacBook Air 13" Early 2015 SSD Replacement

lexluthermiester

docnorth

Hachi_Roku256563

claes

Ahhzz

Moderator

claes

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