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Should you pay MORE for Apple storage?

10:51 video

If you’re shopping for a Mac and considering a storage upgrade, you’ve seen the eye-watering prices, and may not afford the model you want with enough storage. There are options. I came across an empty Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, which I didn’t know existed: add your own storage, any size, and save a ton compared with upgrading the Mac’s internal storage.

The DIY enclosure

You need an M.2 NVMe SSD, which looks like a little RAM stick and slots right in. I’m using a 4 TB drive. In the box: a Thunderbolt 3 cable, thermal pads to put on top of the SSD to keep heat down, a small instruction booklet, and the enclosure. It’s pretty small, solid aluminum, with a Thunderbolt port and a thumb screw on the bottom that opens it. Line up the SSD’s keys at a 45° angle, press it down, and use the retaining ring to hold it, then close it.

Apple’s prices

  • M2 MacBook Air (256 GB base): 1 TB is +$400; 2 TB +$800.
  • MacBook Pro (512 GB base): 1 TB +$200, 2 TB +$600, 4 TB +$1,200, and 8 TB +$2,400.

Compare with the DIY route. The Thunderbolt 3 enclosure is $110. Using a Sabrent drive: 1 TB $79, 2 TB $130, 4 TB $350, 8 TB $1,000. Even 8 TB at $1,000 plus $110 is way less than Apple’s $2,400.

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Speed

With Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the Thunderbolt 3 enclosure gives about 1,300 MB/s write and 1,500 MB/s read. That’s lower than the maximum I’ve seen from Thunderbolt drives, up to about 2,800 MB/s, and this drive itself is faster, so the enclosure is limiting it to about 1,600 MB/s. It isn’t the fastest I’ve seen, but it’s fast enough for just about anything, including multiple streams of 4K editing.

For comparison: my 14-inch MacBook Pro’s 2 TB internal SSD does about 6,400 MB/s write and 5,300 MB/s read, way faster, while the base M2 MacBook Air does about 1,400–1,600 MB/s, in line with this enclosure.

Other options

  • USB 3 enclosures: limited to maybe 1,000 MB/s.
  • USB4 enclosure: the ACASIS USB4, using the same style of SSD. It’s backwards compatible with other versions of USB, so if you don’t have Thunderbolt, it still works, and you can keep it when you upgrade. It’s slightly larger, all aluminum, and about $140 versus $110. It got about 2,100 MB/s write and 2,600 MB/s read, quite a bit faster than the Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
  • Samsung T7: a newer form factor, with roughly 700–800 MB/s, plenty for most things.
  • OWC Envoy Pro FX: Thunderbolt 3, backwards compatible with USB, about 2,600 MB/s read.

For 2 TB, read speeds versus price:

Option Read speed Price
MacBook Pro internal about 5,300 MB/s
MacBook Air upgrade the most expensive, about $800
ACASIS USB4 / OWC Thunderbolt about 2,600 MB/s similar prices
Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 about 1,400 MB/s about $240
Samsung T7 up to about 700 MB/s about $100

Why buy internal anyway?

One reason: convenience. I bought this MacBook with 2 TB internal, which gives me room for my current Final Cut Pro projects, and when I’m done I move them to my NAS. I worked with external drives for years and they work fantastically, and I still use them for other needs, but I don’t use them for daily work anymore, so I don’t have to connect and disconnect a drive each time I take my laptop to the couch or downstairs.

If that doesn’t matter to you, or you have a desktop Mac, an external drive is definitely the way to go to save a ton of money. Do you want the convenience of built-in storage despite the price, or to save cash with something external?

In this video

  • 0:00 tb3 enclosure unbox and install
  • 1:57 pricing vs apple
  • 4:57 speed tests
  • 6:44 usb4 enclosure option
  • 8:12 other options for external ssd
  • 9:24 why to get apple storage

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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