On the Mac : Macbook Air and Macbook Pro SSD Upgrade Kit

Good news fellow Mac users. A couple of days ago, Transcend announced a series of SSD upgrade kits for some of the Macbook models. Specifically -

• Late 2010 and mid-2011 Air - JetDrive 500
• Mid-2012 Air - JetDrive 520
• 2012 and early 2013 rMBP - JetDrive 720

The JetDrive 500 comes in 240/480GB while the 520 and 720 comes in 240/480/960GB versions. For more details on the specifications and compatibility, you can refer to the Transcend JetDrive Product page. In short, all the non-PCI-e SSD based Macs will find one model which suits it. Transcend said you'll have to wait a while for the PCI-e version for the mid-2013 Air and rMBPs.

The kit comes with all the tools that you need to open up your Mac, be it the Air or rMBP. It also includes a nice little housing where you can pop in your original SSD and turn it into an external drive with a USB3 connector. Follow the video posted on the Transcend page for the installation instructions.

When you're done, do remember to set your spanking new drive as the boot disk and also install the Transcend toolbox software that comes with the kit. This toolbox software will enable TRIM on your new SSD. For those who are wondering why we have to do this - because Apple does not like 3rd party SSDs and will not enable TRIM on them. SSD without TRIM is not the wisest of choice to make.

Initial reviews from some early adopters are very positive, including ease of installation and better performance than the stock Apple SSDs.

Transcend made all these models available on Amazon -

• Transcend JetDrive 500 240GB SATA III SSD Upgrade Kit for Macbook Air SSD (Late 2010 - Mid 2011) TS240GDJM500
• Transcend JetDrive 520 240GB SATA III SSD Upgrade Kit for Macbook Air SSD (Mid 2012) TS240GJDM520
• Transcend JetDrive 720 240GB SATA III SSD Upgrade Kit for Macbook Pro with Retina display (Mid 2012 - Early 2013) TS240GJDM720

At this point, all the base models list at $189.99 and some models has a ship time of between 2-4 weeks. All qualifies for free international shipping to Singapore. Take note that only the 240GB versions are GST exempted while the 480/960GB version attracts import tax.

This is definitely going to give my 128GB mid-2011 Air some new lease of life.