Transcend Debuts JetDrive SSD Upgrade Kits Up to 960GB for MacBook Air, Retina Macbook Pro

Transcend has introduced new JetDrive SSD upgrade kits designed for the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with Retina display. The upgrade kits offer up to 960GB of internal storage capacity and come with both installation tools and instructions.

JetDrive kits also ship with an aluminum USB 3.0 enclosure, which allows upgraders to reuse their original SSD, and all kits include a five year warranty.

Stop shuffling around your files and fretting about storage space. Transcend's JetDrive SSD upgrade kits offer up to 960GB of storage capacity. Upgrading your Mac to a JetDrive SSD ensures you'll have plenty of space for all your favorite music, videos, and photos.

The JetDrive SSDs are able to take advantage of JetDrive Toolbox monitoring software, which keeps track of the health of the drive and enables TRIM support for optimum write speeds and SSD life. JetDrive SSDs also have maximum read speeds of 495MB/s and maximum write speeds of 495MB/s.

The company has three separate products for early MacBook Airs, mid–2012 MacBook Airs, and mid-2012 Retina Macbook Pros, in multiple capacities. While mid–2012 MacBook Airs and Retina MacBook Pros can be upgraded with 240, 480, or 960 GB of storage space, earlier MacBook Airs (late 2010 and mid–2011) are limited to 240 or 480 GB. Transcend's JetDrive kits are not PCIe and are not compatible with the most recently released 2013 MacBook Airs and Retina MacBook Pros.

Transcend's JetDrives can be found on Amazon.com, with prices ranging from $190 for the lower end upgrade to $600 for the higher end upgrade. Ordering information and specific links can be accessed on Transcend's website, but the 960 GB SSDs have yet to make their way to Amazon.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner. Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri ...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

Kuo: iPhone 17 Models Won't Have Smaller Dynamic Island

Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels

Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch. In each of the past four years, ...
apple power beats pro 2

Apple's First Product Announcement of 2025 is Imminent

Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year. Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...

Top Rated Comments

TranscendInfo Avatar
140 months ago
Hello Everyone!
This is Transcend's Official MacRumors account. We'd love to answer any questions you might have!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TranscendInfo Avatar
140 months ago
“ JetDrive SSDs deliver the performance you need.”


They're not PCIe and the don't really deliver performance...
Hi treichert,
You'll be pleasantly surprised that our JetDrive SSDs are significantly faster than OEM Apple SSDs. For example, our 480GB JetDrive 520 installed in a 128GB Mid 2012 MacBook Air boosted sequential read speeds from 403 MB/s to 490 MB/s and sequential write speeds from 150 MB/s to 422 MB/s*. We'll be providing samples to various media for third party testing to substantiate our claims as well.

*Tested with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maflynn Avatar
140 months ago
“ JetDrive SSDs deliver the performance you need.”


They're not PCIe and the don't really deliver performance...

My SATAIII SSDs is quite fast so while you may not be pleased with that. I'd say a SATA SSD is going to be faster then a SATA HD. So in a sense they are delivering performance. Just not to your liking.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Binarymix Avatar
140 months ago
So NOT for the 2013 Macbook Air :(


They need to get 3rd party SSD's for the 2013 models!!!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TranscendInfo Avatar
140 months ago
Everything has been tried. It was inserted properly and retried several times. If you look at the stock Apple drive, there's plenty of room for it to fit. That is not the case with your drive, as is quite evident in the side-by-side shot.

I've already requested the return to Amazon. Shipping back tomorrow. Don't see the point of discussing this matter further. This was the first time I've purchased a product made by Transcend. "One chance to make the right impression." G'luck with that.
Hello endlessct9a,
Thank you for your feedback on this issue. Again, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience we have caused you. We take such matters very seriously here at Transcend, and we’d like to take some time to explain our findings after thoroughly investigating this issue.

What we’ve found:

1. 13” Retina MacBook Pros are not affected by this issue since the SSD is located in it’s own plastic tray beneath the trackpad. Transcend’s JetDrive 720 is fully compatible with the 13” MacBook Pro with Retina display.

2. JetDrive 500 and 520 are not affected by this issue.

3. We have found that on some 15” Retina MacBook Pros, Apple’s assembly tolerances may allow for the motherboard to be shifted slightly to the right, decreasing the clearance between the speaker and the back of the SSD. The reduced clearance caused by the shifted motherboard will prevent our JetDrive 720 from seating correctly since it is 0.5mm longer than the stock SSD. We are therefore announcing that our JetDrive 720 is currently incompatible with the 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Our next steps:
1. We will change all Amazon listings and our own website to reflect this issue.
2. We will redesign our JetDrive 720 PCB to be the exact length as the stock SSD, making it fully compatible with both the 13” and 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display.

We have attached a few photos to illustrate the above issues. (imgur link (http://transcendinfo.imgur.com/all/))

13" MacBook Pro with Retina display

Stock SSD


Transcend JetDrive


15" MacBook Pro with Retina display

Stock SSD


Transcend JetDrive


Stock SSD


Transcend JetDrive
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jakesaunders27 Avatar
140 months ago
YAY!!! Finally can stop living with 64GB!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)