OWC Unveils Mercury Aura Pro SSD For 13-Inch Retina Macbook Pro

Other World Computing has announced the first SSD drive for the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which Apple recently unveiled. The Aura Pro is a 480GB high-performance solid state drive for those brave enough to crack open their MacBook and do a bit of tinkering. Additional capacities will be announced next month.

The Retina MacBook Pro comes with 128GB of storage space, which isn't enough for many users. OWC has stepped in with a solution, which it says offers $220 in savings over comparable 512GB drives. One of its biggest features is allowing users to keep the original flash module, which it says is often not the case with other solutions.

OWN is releasing a portable enclosure for the original factory flash module in December, which will let users utilize the drive via USB. According to the press release, several reviews have indicated that the Aura Pro drive reaches speeds of approximately 500MB/s. The original drive can reach speeds of approximately 460MB/s.

According to the announcement, one review stated that "the Aura Pro SSD outperforms the Apple SSD in nearly every way. For rMBP owners (or soon-to-be-owners) who ordered a model with the stock SSD, the upgrade to the Aura Pro is a no brainer if you need more capacity, speed, or both." The SSD is currently available, and costs $579.99.