Replacing the hard drive in a Macbook Pro Retina?

[alexd]

I am still leaning towards getting one but I have no clear answer on replacing the hard drive in it. I know the ram is soldered in, so I would probably get an 8gb model, but what about swapping out the drive.

I was at Filtech today sizing up a 500 gig Samsung SSD and Charles (the owner) tells me that Mac owners come in all the time and buy them to upgrade their storage without paying the APPLE store dividend.

So can I actually slap a new hard drive in a Macbook Pro Retina?

Also, where does the operating system come from when I install the new drive? Does the MBPro come with an operating system CD, or do I pull the operating system down from the Apple cloud or something?

 

[DJ Vuvu Zela]

I was at Filtech today sizing up a 500 gig Samsung SSD and Charles (the owner) tells me that Mac owners come in all the time and buy them to upgrade their storage without paying the APPLE store dividend.

So can I actually slap a new hard drive in a Macbook Pro Retina?

not the retina models. apples "classic" macbok pro will accept a standard 2.5" data drive.

the retina models need a drive with apples propriety connection. the good news is it will perform faster than a standard SATA SSD, the bad news is it will be more expensive. Here's an aftermarket dealer that sells them (Apple does NOT):

OWC SSD (Flash) Drives for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2012

you can also buy locally from a dealer called macdoc in the GTA.

if you're buying new i'd suggest just getting the upgrade from apple, but if you're buying used or refurb it's a decent option.

 

[acheron]

How to Upgrade Retina MacBook Pro SSD Storage (15-Inch) @ EveryMac.com