Apple charges $3,800 to upgrade the new M5 Max Mac Studio from 512GB to 8TB. You have better and more flexible choices that can save you money.
Before Apple’s June price increases, the storage upgrade prices were easier to justify. They’re much harder to swallow now.
The new M5 Max Mac Studio starts at $2,499 and is available to preorder ahead of its September 22 release. Selecting 8TB in Apple’s configurator adds $3,800 to the base model’s price.
An external SSD adds 8TB without replacing the 512GB already inside the Mac. It can also move between computers, be replaced later, and remain useful after the Mac Studio attached to it is retired.
The comparison isn’t perfectly equivalent. Apple’s internal storage needs no cable or power adapter, takes up no desk space, and avoids the latency and protocol overhead introduced by an external connection.
Still, current external storage is more than fast enough for demanding video, photo, and audio work. Five of the finished options below use 80Gbps connections, while the sixth trades a lower peak speed for steadier performance during long transfers.
Every finished 8TB option was commercially available for less than the M5 Max upgrade as of August 27, though SSD prices can change quickly.
And one more note: this is not just a random list. Our Managing Editor Mike Wuerthele has used or reviewed all of these enclosures and drives. In the course of writing this piece, he helped me shop and gave me recommendations. It turns out, that we didn’t need to look any farther than his suggestions!
What 80Gbps means for an external SSD
Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 2.0 can provide an 80 gigabits-per-second bidirectional link, but external SSDs can’t use all of it. PCIe tunneling is limited to 64Gbps, and protocol overhead pushes real-world peak performance just over 6 gigabytes per second.
Thunderbolt 5’s advertised 120Gbps Bandwidth Boost doesn’t make storage faster. The asymmetric mode redirects bandwidth for high-resolution displays, while storage remains within the ordinary 80Gbps connection.
Four of the six products come from OWC because the retail-packaged 8TB market at this speed is still unusually thin. The list reflects what’s actually shipping under the price ceiling rather than forcing a wider mix of brands with slower products.
The iodyne Pro Mini is the one deliberate exception. Scroll down for that one.
OWC Express 1M2 80G
The 8TB Express 1M2 80G costs $2,199.99. OWC claims more than 6,000MB/s from its 80Gbps USB4 connection when attached to a compatible Thunderbolt 5 Mac.
The drive is bus-powered, fanless, and wrapped in a finned aluminum enclosure that serves as a heat sink. OWC includes the required cable, and the case can be opened later to replace its M.2 SSD.
The Express 1M2 is the simplest choice for anyone who wants fast, silent storage they can carry around and upgrade later. It’s available for $2,199.99 on Amazon.
Buying the Express 1M2 instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you $1,600.01.
OWC Envoy Ultra
The 8TB Envoy Ultra costs $2,299.99. It’s a Thunderbolt 5-certified portable SSD, and OWC rates its peak performance at more than 6,000MB/s.
The fanless enclosure is IP67 rated and described as crushproof, while its short Thunderbolt cable is built into the drive. It remains bus-powered, so there’s no external adapter to carry.
OWC reports initial writes above 6,000MB/s, but longer writes fall to 1,350MB/s on the 2TB model and 1,700MB/s on the 4TB version, which is normal for most SSDs as their caches fill. The manufacturer doesn’t publish an equivalent sustained-write result for the 8TB model.
OWC Envoy UltraThe rugged construction makes the Envoy Ultra the better choice for field work, travel, or moving large projects between locations. The 8TB model is available for $2,299.99 from OWC.
Buying the Envoy Ultra instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you $1,500.01.
Glyph Atom EX80
The 8TB Atom EX80 costs $2,399.99. Glyph rates the drive for transfers of up to 7,000MB/s over its 80Gbps USB4 connection.
Its compact, fanless enclosure has a removable silicone sleeve and a magnetic mounting system for attaching the drive to MagSafe accessories or other metal surfaces. Integrated location tracking also works with Apple and Android tracking networks.
The Atom EX80 has the highest claimed single-drive speed in this roundup. Its tracking and mounting features make it particularly useful for photographers and filmmakers carrying storage between sets, studios, and editing locations.
Glyph Atom EX80The 8TB Atom EX80 sells for $2,399.99 at Adorama.
Buying the Atom EX80 instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you $1,400.01.
OWC StudioStack
The 8TB StudioStack also costs $2,399.99. OWC rates its Thunderbolt 5 NVMe storage for peak transfers of up to 6,302MB/s.
This desk-bound option is designed to sit above or below a Mac Studio. Along with the 8TB SSD, it provides three downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports, three USB-A ports, and an empty SATA bay for adding a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive.
The additional expansion requires a larger enclosure, an external power supply, and an adaptive cooling fan. StudioStack makes the most sense when the Mac also needs a hub or a second, higher-capacity drive for backups and archives.
OWC StudioStackThe 8TB StudioStack is available for $2,399.99 from OWC.
Buying the StudioStack instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you $1,400.01, and gives you more ports to use too.
OWC Express 4M2 Ultra
The 8TB Express 4M2 Ultra technically clears the limit at $3,799.99. A one-cent saving isn’t persuasive by itself, but this is a four-drive Thunderbolt 5 array rather than a single portable SSD.
OWC rates the array for transfers of up to 6,622MB/s, includes three years of SoftRAID Premium, and provides a second Thunderbolt 5 port for daisy chaining. Its four NVMe blades can also be replaced as storage requirements change.
The preconfigured 8TB model arrives as RAID 0, which stripes data across its four drives for capacity and speed without redundancy. A failure of any member can lose the entire volume, while changing to RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 10 reduces usable capacity below 8TB.
The Express 4M2 Ultra is a specialist option for scratch storage and active media that’s backed up somewhere else. Anyone needing 8TB of protected usable space would have to buy a higher-capacity configuration, which breaks the $3,800 price ceiling.
OWC Express 4M2 UltraThe 8TB Express 4M2 Ultra sells for $3,799.99 from OWC. Buying the Express 4M2 Ultra instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you one cent.
There is one exception to the focus on 80gbit/sec SSDs in this piece, and we’re including it because it will sustain transfer speeds, no matter how large.
iodyne Pro Mini
The 8TB iodyne Pro Mini costs $2,195 and uses a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 connection. Iodyne rates both its sustained read and write performance at 3,000MB/s, even with its internal RAID 6 protection and XTS-AES-256 hardware encryption enabled.
That sustained performance makes the Pro Mini more useful than its lower peak figure suggests. Most portable SSDs can post much faster initial numbers before their caches fill, but they may fall well below 3GB/s during a long write.
The bus-powered drive also includes solid-state AirJet cooling, passkey unlocking, an e-paper label, and location tracking through Apple and Google networks. It’s aimed at professional media work where predictable performance and data protection matter more than winning a short benchmark.
iodyne Pro MiniThe 8TB iodyne Pro Mini is available for $2,195 at B&H.
Buying the iodyne Pro Mini instead of Apple’s 8TB upgrade saves you $1,605.
Building an 8TB drive yourself
Buying an empty enclosure and an 8TB NVMe SSD separately can reduce the price further. The process isn’t difficult, but the enclosure and blade must fit physically, remain within the enclosure’s power and cooling limits, and work together reliably.
Start by choosing an enclosure that supports an 80Gbps connection and the size of M.2 blade you intend to install. Cooling designs vary from large passive fins to active fans, while some desktop enclosures add hub ports or room for another drive.
- The $149.99 OWC Express 1M2 80G is a bus-powered, fanless enclosure that accepts single-sided or double-sided M.2 2242 and 2280 NVMe drives.
- The $174 ACASIS enclosure uses active cooling and supports tool-free installation.
- The $379.99 OWC StudioStack can be ordered without NVMe storage for buyers who also want its Thunderbolt hub, and empty SATA bay.
- The $159.99 UGREEN enclosure uses a fanless aluminum case with cooling fins on both sides.
- The $224.99 TerraMaster D1 uses a large, fanless aluminum enclosure and is rated for transfers of up to 7,061MB/s.
Next, choose an 8TB M.2 2280 NVMe drive without a bulky factory heat sink. PCIe 5.0 drives offer the highest internal speeds, but a fast PCIe 4.0 blade can still provide enough performance to saturate much of an external enclosure’s available bandwidth.
- The $1,449.99 8TB Lexar NM790 is a PCIe 4.0 drive rated for reads up to 7,000MB/s and writes up to 6,200MB/s.
- The $1,899.99 8TB WD_Black SN8100 is a PCIe 5.0 drive rated for reads up to 14,900MB/s and writes up to 13,200MB/s. SanDisk lists its average active power below 8W.
- The $2,719.99 8TB Samsung 9100 Pro is a PCIe 5.0 drive rated for reads up to 14,800MB/s and writes up to 13,400MB/s. Samsung lists its average active power at no more than 10.5W.
Thunderbolt remains the performance bottleneck, so a PCIe 5.0 blade won’t reach its advertised internal speed over Thunderbolt 5. A faster blade can still help maintain performance after its cache fills, but buyers should prioritize power consumption, cooling, endurance, and compatibility over the largest benchmark number.
Choose one enclosure and one compatible 8TB blade, then add their current prices and compare the total with Apple’s $3,800 charge. Pairing the Express 1M2 with the Lexar NM790 costs $1,599.98 and saves $2,200.02.
The Express 1M2 and WD_Black SN8100 cost $2,049.98 together, saving $1,750.02. Pairing the enclosure with the Samsung 9100 Pro costs $2,869.98 and saves $930.02.
WD_Black SN8100Buy each blade without its own bulky heat sink because the enclosure handles cooling. Installation involves opening the case, securing the blade, applying the supplied thermal material, and formatting the finished drive in Disk Utility. It’s typically five screws or less to get this done.
Apple’s internal SSD still has advantages
Apple’s upgrade remains the cleanest choice for buyers who want all their storage inside the Mac and don’t want to manage another device. It’s also less vulnerable to accidental disconnection during a transfer or active project.
External storage demands more planning, particularly when RAID 0 or irreplaceable working files are involved. The drive still needs a separate backup regardless of how rugged, expensive, or fast its manufacturer says it is.
For everyone else, the value calculation favors external storage. A finished drive can save as much as $1,605, a DIY build can save more than $1,750, and neither decision has to be made when the M5 Max Mac Studio is ordered.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
