Picture: Apple
Apple’s new M2 MacBook Professional ships with a notably slower SSD than its predecessor. Checks present the pace distinction is as massive as 50% in some situations.
Introduced at WWDC22, the M2 MacBook Professional went on sale beginning June 24.
M2 MacBook Professional’s SSD is 50% slower than the M1 mannequin
Checks carried out by YouTuber Max Tech reveal the SSD on the entry-level M2 MacBook Professional with 256GB storage is 50% slower than the outgoing mannequin.
In Blackmagic’s SSD write check, the M1 MacBook Professional’s storage attained speeds of two,215MB/s. Compared, the M2 MacBook Professional peaked at roughly 1,463MB/s, which is about 30% slower. The identical story continues within the learn check. The M1 MacBook Professional’s SSD achieved a pace of two,900MB/s, whereas the brand new MacBook topped out at 1,446MB/s.
The slower SSD speeds imply the M2 MacBook Professional might be slower to open massive information and apps. That is regardless of the M2 chip bringing a 20-30% efficiency and effectivity uplift.
Why the M2 MacBook Professional’s storage is slower
A teardown by the YouTuber reveals the rationale behind the M2 MacBook Professional’s slower SSD. Apple solely makes use of a single 256GB NAND chip on the bottom mannequin. That is not like the M1 MacBook Professional, the place even the bottom mannequin options two 128GB storage chips. NAND storage tends to carry out higher in parallel, which is why increased densities SSDs provide higher learn/write speeds.
Apple continues to make use of the NAND chips in a twin configuration on 512GB and better storage fashions, so their efficiency stays unaffected. That is possible a cost-cutting measure from the Cupertino large to maximise its revenue margin. It’s unclear if the corporate will undertake an identical technique for the M2 MacBook Air or not.
The M2 MacBook Professional’s product itemizing web page on Apple’s web site doesn’t point out the slower SSD speeds on the entry-level mannequin. Not one of the preliminary opinions of the machine talked in regards to the slower SSD efficiency as properly, primarily as a result of Apple despatched them a configuration with 1TB storage.
