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Nozgog

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 26, 2019
120
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Has anyone had a chance to test the new M3 MacBook Pro/Max with a SSD that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20Gbps)? What speeds are you getting?

Is the M3 generation MacBooks supporting 20Gbps via USB?

If so, can you recommend any enclosures?
 
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From all the information I gathered: M1 and even M2 Pro/Max MacBooks are limited to 10Gbps via USB
 
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USB standards are a total mess. USB 3.2, USB 3.2 Gen2, USB 3.2 Gen2x2, USB 4 and now USB 4 v2. If you are looking for fast SSD enclosures, I suggest you look for ones with JHL7440 (Intel Thunderbolt 3) or ASM2464 (USB4) chips. Both support 40Gb/s on Mac.
 
To answer your second question: yes. The Thunderbolt 4 ports support USB-4 speeds at up to 40Gb/s. Source: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

That’s been the case since M1. Thunderbolt 40Gb/s, USB-4 limited to 10Gb/s without a dongle or workaround


My issue with using the Thunderbolt NVMe enclosures are the sparsely populated options, off brands, and lack of the ‘big guys’; SanDisk, Lexus, Samsung etc making their own. Samsung has 980/90 Pros readily available. Why aren’t they making a 2,000-3,000 Mb/s external SSD for the folls who don’t want to goof around with the enclosure, which size NAND/NVMe stick etc?
I just bought the T-9 4TB akdj@mac.com $239. Seems a bargain but still handicapped speeds - I’d that the case still on the M3 Mac MacBook Pros?
 
USB standards are a total mess. USB 3.2, USB 3.2 Gen2, USB 3.2 Gen2x2, USB 4 and now USB 4 v2. If you are looking for fast SSD enclosures, I suggest you look for ones with JHL7440 (Intel Thunderbolt 3) or ASM2464 (USB4) chips. Both support 40Gb/s on Mac.
Yes it seems new enclosures with ASM2464 are now popping up on Amazon - various „manufacturers“ selling the same looking design

Has anyone tried those yet?
 
I believe the new MacBook Pros have USB4.
That should be good for 40GBps*, IF you have an enclosure and cable that will support it.
And of course -- an nvme DRIVE that will support it, as well...

* I'm going to GUESS that in the real world, maximum speeds will be more like 3,500MBps...
(I welcome correction by others)
 
These work pretty well...

This looks Thunderbolt only?

I have the Envoy Express and that won’t work with USB ports and because of PCIe 3 x2 the speed is good with around 1500 but nothing groundbreaking
 
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