Rumor: New MacBook Pros to include hybrid storage system

According to a new report over at BGR, new MacBook Pros — with a whole new storage system — are right around the corner:

… we have been told the OS on the laptops will be loaded to a separate (internal) 8-16GB SSD while everything else will remain on the regular hard drive. There will be options for just SSD drives but the base models will feature regular hard disks with the SSD combo for the OS.

With SSD still too expensive to meet the needs of MacBook Pro owners, a hybrid system like this makes sense. A hybrid system would give users the benefits of SSD — fast boot, fast sleep, etc. — with the large, cheap storage afforded by traditional spinning hard drives.

I think a two volume system would be confusing for some users, though. If a hybrid system is in the works, I’m sure it will be elegant and simple in Finder. That’s what Apple does best, after all.

Editor’s Note: Josh talked about a hybrid SSD/HDD option on The Bro Show, as well as the latest edition of the Macgasm Podcast. You can hear his thoughts on those by clicking on either of those links.

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.