Other World Computing announced today the OWC Mercury Aura Pro as the industry’s first high-performance Solid State Drive upgrade for 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display (rMBP) computers. Available in 480GB capacity, the 6G (6Gb/s) SandForce Driven Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners 87.5 percent more capacity than the factory 256GB model. Additionally, customers buying the $579.99 MSRP Aura Pro direct from OWC until September 30, 2012, will later receive the OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 bus-powered portable enclosure (a $59.95 value) for re-tasking the rMBP’s factory flash module as an external drive at no additional cost.
When introduced this past June, the MacBook Pro with Retina display base model offered a 256GB SSD configuration with no upgrade option. Now, instead of being “factory locked”, rMBP owners can add 87.5 percent more capacity with a 480GB Mercury Aura Pro SSD. The only other and far more costly and time-intensive option for rMBP owners, as discovered by The SSD Review.com, is to upgrade the SSD through an authorized dealer. Making this an even less desirable option is the fact that the original 256GB flash module is retained and sent back to Apple.
Pricing, Availability
The Mercury Aura Pro for 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display is available immediately on a pre-order basis for $579.99 MSRP with shipping to commence on/about August 21. Orders placed direct with OWC by September 30, 2012, will receive the OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 bus-powered portable enclosure (a $59.95 value) for re-tasking the rMBP’s factory flash module as an external drive. The external Envoy Pro enclosure will be shipped separately to all qualifying customers by the end of 2012.
“We’ve received significant user feedback that 256GB just doesn’t provide adequate capacity for this machine and in fact, some users have maxed out the factory drive space,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, Other World Computing. “Offering nearly double the capacity along with the ability to reuse the factory drive as a high speed external drive is an unbeatable combination upgrade value.”
New Model Continues OWC’s First-to-Market Streak
The new Mercury Aura Pro for 2012 rMBP machines continues OWC’s two year streak as being the first manufacturer offering an SSD upgrade for the latest Apple notebook computers. There’s an Aura Pro/Envoy enclosure bundle for 2010 and 2011 MacBook® Air computers and an Aura Pro SSD upgrade for 2012 MacBook Air owners.
In addition offering first and only upgrades for the latest Apple machines, OWC also offers world record-breaking 3G (3Gb/s) and 6G (6Gb/s) Mercury SSDs for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade in capacities from 30GB to 1TB with prices starting from $49.99.