13" Mbp Only 1.5gb Sata ? - SOLVED!!!!!!!!!

[fpnc]

"Danger, Will Robinson!" (more wild speculation)

A long, long time ago, or actually just within the first 24 hours of this thread, I made the comment that the restriction to 1.5Gb SATA could be the result of a hardware problem in the new MacBook Pro design. At that time I said that such a suggestion was probably about like yelling "Fire!" in a crowded auditorium. Same is true today, however, it's worth considering that this problem may actually affect all of the 9400M-based products and it's just now that Apple is taking action.

What I mean is that since the 13" and 15" MacBook Pros are the only completely new products it may be that Apple has finally decided to correct for a problem that has been lurking in the background on all of the 9400M products. I mean they could hardly issue new firmware for the existing products that reduced the SATA to 1.5Gb without causing a truly HUGE storm of protest (and the resulting demand for an explanation). Thus, it could be that they are just leaving well enough alone on the previous products (since it may only affect a very small percentage of users on the earlier generation products).

One thing that would kind of fit this SPECULATION is the rumor that circulated about Vertex having problems with the reliability of their new SSD on the Mac platform (the rumor was that it was "too fast" for the Mac). Although this rumor was subsequently discredited (or so it seems) perhaps there was SOME truth there and Apple reacted by cutting the SATA interface speeds on their newest products. Of course, this doesn't explain why they didn't take this opportunity to reduce the SATA speed on the new MacBook Air and 17" products, since these did get some simple configuration changes (but, apparently, no redesign).

In any case, I'm still thinking that this WILL be fixed with a firmware update. And, of course, I'm just building speculation on complete rumor which is kind of like throwing more gas on this fire.

However, if it proves to be true then I'll be able to claim creds for the revelation (but more likely just foot-in-mouth).

 

[fpnc]

I clocked start-up (cold from a complete shut down) five separate times and here are the results:

1.) 48.6s
2.) 52.5s
3.) 51.3s
4.) 54.8s
5.) 51.3s
...

Those times seem slow for an SSD (even when run at 1.5Gb SATA). I wonder if something went wrong with your clone of the startup drive. Also, how much free space to you have on the SSD? Next thought would be some peripheral (USB, BlueTooth) or network issue (WiFi, ethernet) that is slowing boot times. Also, any startup processes? Lastly, could you just have a badly fragmented startup image? The times I quoted for my MacBook and Mac Pro were on relatively clean 10.5.7 systems.

I also have an external, 3.5", 7200RPM, USB2 drive that will boot my MacBook in about 37 seconds (yes, that's even faster than the MacBook's internal drive).

 

[Sareth]

Those times seem slow for an SSD (even when run at 1.5Gb SATA). I wonder if something went wrong with your clone of the startup drive. Also, how much free space to you have on the SSD? Next thought would be some peripheral (USB, BlueTooth) or network issue (WiFi, ethernet) that is slowing boot times. Also, any startup processes? Lastly, could you just have a badly fragmented startup image? The times I quoted for my MacBook and Mac Pro were on relatively clean 10.5.7 systems.

I also have an external, 3.5", 7200RPM, USB2 drive that will boot my MacBook in about 37 seconds (yes, that's even faster than the MacBook's internal drive).

+1 for there being some other problem.

My S128 which has speeds roughly equivalent to those benchmarks naturally boots in approximately 25s (admittedly on a unibody MB but at the speeds these drives are running at that shouldn't make a difference).

 

[Icaras]

In any case, I'm still thinking that this WILL be fixed with a firmware update. And, of course, I'm just building speculation on complete rumor which is kind of like throwing more gas on this fire.

However, if it proves to be true then I'll be able to claim creds for the revelation (but more likely just foot-in-mouth).

I will build a statue of you if you are right about the firmware.

 

[MacCurry]

The USB controller is very different from the Serial-ATA controller. At least thats the way I understand it. I think the article is wrong.

HAS ANYONE INSTALLED ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM ON THESE NEW MAC BOOK PROS THAT WOULD INDICATE A 3.0 GB/s SPEED?

I thought someone here had installed Windows 7 and it was reporting a SATA 3.0 GB/s speed?

 

[aleksandra.]

I clocked start-up (cold from a complete shut down) five separate times and here are the results:

1.) 48.6s
2.) 52.5s
3.) 51.3s
4.) 54.8s
5.) 51.3s

I'm going to assume some amount of error as my hand on the power button and the stop watch wasn't always completely synchronized, but it was definitely less then a 1 second off. Even taking that into account, these boot-up times are atrocious. I did not clock it before the SSD install (although I should have and gotten some benchmarks as well for comparison).

Can anyone tell me what the bootup time is on their HDD 13" MBP?

Sorry if it's obvious to you and you already tried, but what about PRAM reset? Sometimes it fixes issues with a slow boot after installing new drive/logicboard/other part.

The USB controller is very different from the Serial-ATA controller. At least thats the way I understand it. I think the article is wrong.

HAS ANYONE INSTALLED ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM ON THESE NEW MAC BOOK PROS THAT WOULD INDICATE A 3.0 GB/s SPEED?

I thought someone here had installed Windows 7 and it was reporting a SATA 3.0 GB/s speed?

1. What they said is that you won't notice much of a difference in SSD performance unless you do massive reads/writes, and if you're using multiple USB devices (for example, copying photos from your camera, external hard drive and maybe something else yet) at once, you may saturate SATA 1.5 Gb/s. The problem with it is that sometimes multiple USB ports use the same bus, in which case they're all limited to 480 Mb/s. I don't know about USB in MBPs.

2. Yes, people tried benchmarking their drives under Windows. It shows the drives to be SATA 3 Gb/s, but speeds are still limited to SATA 1.5 Gb/s. Effectively it means it isn't a driver issue. Either hardware (which reportedly did not change) or firmware. We know Apple had to change the firmware on 13" and 15" MBPs (card reader, FireWire 800).

 

[bcaslis]

I clocked start-up (cold from a complete shut down) five separate times and here are the results:

1.) 48.6s
2.) 52.5s
3.) 51.3s
4.) 54.8s
5.) 51.3s

I'm going to assume some amount of error as my hand on the power button and the stop watch wasn't always completely synchronized, but it was definitely less then a 1 second off. Even taking that into account, these boot-up times are atrocious. I did not clock it before the SSD install (although I should have and gotten some benchmarks as well for comparison).

Can anyone tell me what the bootup time is on their HDD 13" MBP?

This is way too slow for an SSD. I think you don't have the startup drive selected correctly. Go into System Preferences, Startup Disk and make sure the SSD is selected. Then try again. My 15" with an Intel SSD takes about 18 - 20 seconds to boot.

 

[bugout]

HAS ANYONE INSTALLED ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM ON THESE NEW MAC BOOK PROS THAT WOULD INDICATE A 3.0 GB/s SPEED?

We're 1300 posts into this thread and nobody thought of that...

 

[Philflow]

I clocked start-up (cold from a complete shut down) five separate times and here are the results:

1.) 48.6s
2.) 52.5s
3.) 51.3s
4.) 54.8s
5.) 51.3s

Is that on a clean install?

 

[Philflow]

Same. I have the same config and the thing just runs so blazingly fast (yes I make a living off this)... but yet, people here report me (or it's a mod) for trolling? OK. Thanks; I'll remember not to report back anymore.

It would be nice if you quantified your experience. "Blazingly fast" doesn't make much for accurate comparisons.

 

[iMacmatician]

We're 1300 posts into this thread and nobody thought of that...

Right before you.

Yes, people tried benchmarking their drives under Windows. It shows the drives to be SATA 3 Gb/s, but speeds are still limited to SATA 1.5 Gb/s. Effectively it means it isn't a driver issue. Either hardware (which reportedly did not change) or firmware. We know Apple had to change the firmware on 13" and 15" MBPs (card reader, FireWire 800).

 

[L0s7man]

What bothers me more is that Apple keeps quite. Why? A simple statement would clarify the situation...

 

[SportyMac]

Gals and Guys,
as mentioned earlier on, I got a case number with apple care tech support once my mb990 arrived...
and just today received them calling me back with the following statement:

" Since a number of customers have raised this issue with apple computers of the latest release, we have contacted our technical department with this issue. Up until now, we are not able to clearly state where the problem lies...but are working on a final statement"

Now to me this is a certainly stretchable period of time, especially since my webstore-buy only has 2 weeks of return-ability.
I stressed this point extremely and got this issue escalated upto a point where I got a reassurance, literally in form of a written statement via mail, that according to my specific situation I am able to return my machine within the next 6 months, or /and get it exchanged/upgraded or so...

Now the main reason for me to actually consider this is the fact that my current xbench value is around 100, whereas with the previous mb466 I had a value of about 130!
This clearly states the decrease in cpu and disk performance using one and the same SSD within the machines...just as many of u stated already

Now I reckon it can only be a firmware issue, but we will certainly have to wait a bit more till they sort this out...

Greetz

 

[Lder]

I think we all agree that this situation is not normal (even if this is not very important with HDD cases) especially if you consider that the MB has 3Gbps. Soo why do this? And that's the main question WHY? But only Apple can truly answer that. SO I INVITE EVEYONE TO SEND THEIR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO APPLE TROUGHT THEIR ONLINE FEEDBACK FORM!!!!!!
I believe that people who spent their money (some more than 1500 dollars!!!!) HAVE THE RIGHT to know what's going on. And the people (like me) who are keeping their money in their pockets until this gets cleared are VERY, VERY interested in a answer aswell.
But the most concerning aspect in all of this is that Apple has not said anything so far, wich makes believe that: 1- they are hoping that people just forget about this, like they have did before; 2- they are working in a firmware update and when they finally tell us something they will have the solution for it or; 3- the situation is deliberate and the solution is not so easy as a firmware update. Well that's my humble opinion.

 

[macat]

At least you got a statement. I started a case with Apple last Sunday and have yet to hear back from Apple. I've called a number of times and the only thing they mentioned was that the engineering group was looking at it. I think Apple needs to make a statement if SATA II is going to be supported on the MBP.

 

[Anuba]

What bothers me more is that Apple keeps quite. Why? A simple statement would clarify the situation...

They always do. They won't fess up to wrongdoing until someone is aiming an artillery cannon at their heads. There has to be something extreme, like exploding batteries, to wake them up. Otherwise they...

1) Pretend like it's raining.
2) If #1 fails, correct the problem quietly through a software/firmware update.
3) If #2 fails, try #1 one more time.
4) If #3 fails, blame the user.
5) If #4 fails, admit the problem, but don't fix it.
6) If #5 fails, fix the problem.

 

[Wild-Bill]

I INVITE EVEYONE TO SEND THEIR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO APPLE TROUGHT THEIR ONLINE FEEDBACK FORM!!!!!!

Done.

 

[ImaBigD]

I agree that the boot-up times are uncharacteristically long. Opening individual processes (iTunes, Safari, iPhoto, etc.) is much faster then the stock 160GB but the boot time is making me scratch my head.

I literally received the machine yesterday and there are no start-up processes running and no peripherals attached. I used carbon copy to clone the stock 160 GB drive. Perhaps I should wipe it and start over?

Anyone have any other suggestions. Maybe a clean install of the OS?

Those times seem slow for an SSD (even when run at 1.5Gb SATA). I wonder if something went wrong with your clone of the startup drive. Also, how much free space to you have on the SSD? Next thought would be some peripheral (USB, BlueTooth) or network issue (WiFi, ethernet) that is slowing boot times. Also, any startup processes? Lastly, could you just have a badly fragmented startup image? The times I quoted for my MacBook and Mac Pro were on relatively clean 10.5.7 systems.

I also have an external, 3.5", 7200RPM, USB2 drive that will boot my MacBook in about 37 seconds (yes, that's even faster than the MacBook's internal drive).

 

[ImaBigD]

Aleksandra,

No, that wasn't obvious to me - but now it is. That's what you are here for.

Thanks for the tip - I'll try it and report back.

Sorry if it's obvious to you and you already tried, but what about PRAM reset? Sometimes it fixes issues with a slow boot after installing new drive/logicboard/other part.



1. What they said is that you won't notice much of a difference in SSD performance unless you do massive reads/writes, and if you're using multiple USB devices (for example, copying photos from your camera, external hard drive and maybe something else yet) at once, you may saturate SATA 1.5 Gb/s. The problem with it is that sometimes multiple USB ports use the same bus, in which case they're all limited to 480 Mb/s. I don't know about USB in MBPs.

2. Yes, people tried benchmarking their drives under Windows. It shows the drives to be SATA 3 Gb/s, but speeds are still limited to SATA 1.5 Gb/s. Effectively it means it isn't a driver issue. Either hardware (which reportedly did not change) or firmware. We know Apple had to change the firmware on 13" and 15" MBPs (card reader, FireWire 800).

 

[stylinexpat]

This is way too slow for an SSD. I think you don't have the startup drive selected correctly. Go into System Preferences, Startup Disk and make sure the SSD is selected. Then try again. My 15" with an Intel SSD takes about 18 - 20 seconds to boot.

My 15" MBP shows Macintosh HD and there is no SSD option.

 

[Chad H]

Hey guys,
Just to add to the thread. I added 4GB of RAM today and a 128GB SSD from Kingston. Computer is so much faster now opening applications and stuff. The SSD is still a great purchase even with the SATA issue for now. Also, from cold boot it takes 21.3 seconds to boot up.

 

[TheBrew]

If the optical drive is the reason for slowing down the SATA bus, can we upgrade to a better optical drive and resolve the issue? I would eventually like to install a Blu-ray drive anyway.

This firmware that everyone keeps talking about -- is this on the MacBook motherboard (analogous to a PC's BIOS)?

I tried unplugging the optical drive - didn't change a thing. And yes, a "BIOS"-upgrade.

 

[OrionsTrident]

i have the 2.66 ghz 15 inch the 1999 one with the 9600m and i have a 1.5gbs sata should i have the 3.0 in mine thanks.

 

[bugout]

Right before you.

um.. /sarcasm

 

[Batman101]

Damn, i guess i have to spend the extra for the 17 inch.