Apple launched the $599 MacBook Neo on March 11, a funds Mac powered by the A18 Professional chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, 8GB of unified reminiscence, and a 13-inch display. Although it presents respectable specs for the value, there’s a catch: the storage tops out at 512GB. 

Nonetheless, a Chinese language restore technician, DirectorFeng, has swapped the default NAND chip for a 1TB chip, successfully unlocking the MacBook Neo’s storage. The technician has posted the complete video on a YouTube channel. 

How did DirectorFeng pull this off?

DirectorFeng changed the NAND flash drive soldered to the MacBook’s logic board after which reflashed macOS, so it acknowledges the third-party driver and storage. The method concerned eradicating the unique chip, cleansing the solder pads, and putting in a higher-capacity substitute utilizing skilled restore instruments. 

This wasn’t a screwdriver-and-YouTube-tutorial scenario; that is microsurgery on a logic board, the type that makes most individuals’s palms sweat. Nonetheless, as soon as reassembled, macOS acknowledged the larger-capacity NAND drive with out firmware points, and storage efficiency appeared regular as properly. 

The storage, as seen within the video, goes up from 256GB to 994.61GB (marketed as 1TB). As soon as the method was full, the changed drive supplied learn and write speeds of 1,551 MB/s and 1,506MB/s, respectively. 

Must you strive upgrading your MacBook Neo’s storage?

It’s value noting that Apple makes use of soldered NAND reasonably than a removable SSD, which suggests that any capability change would require microsoldering and would nearly definitely void the producer’s guarantee. Nonetheless, the profitable storage improve signifies that the Neo is comparatively simpler to work on than different MacBooks. 

Is that this a consumer-friendly improve? No. Must you strive upgrading your MacBook Neo’s storage your self? Actually not. The one key takeaway right here is that the gadget works with third-party storage with none firmware points. So, a storage improve, a minimum of in idea, is feasible.