15-Inch MacBook Air With 256GB Storage Has Slower SSD Speeds Than Higher-Capacity Models

[Weasel13]

I really wish MacRumors would stop amplifying low-quality channels like Max Tech.

Pretty obvious from your comment that you didn't actually watch the video.

 

[LeeW]

What I find more scandalous is that Max Tech has over 1m subscribers.

 

[MALmen]

256GB in 2023 when a 1TB module costs 50$

 

[Isengardtom]

It’s a shame Apple isn’t a bit more transparent with this sort of thing. And upgrading storage / ram is always (too) expensive with apple.

That being said, the vast majority of users isn’t going to notice this much.

 

[hajime]

I don't have a M2 Mini base model with me but if I am correct, it takes longer for the MacBook Air 15" to reach the login screen. What could be the reasons?

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Wow! The MBA Pro is a disgrace to the Pro lineup.

 

[ShivneelSingh]

and if a mba met your needs then congratulations on massively overbuying with MBP with a Max Processor.

Well I wanted a larger screen, and two years ago, only the 16” MacBook Pro had the larger screen. Also, it’s nice to be able to edit some video footage and export large amounts of photos whenever I need to.

Anyway, this computer is almost two years old, and we are all Apple fans, so gotta have the latest and greatest.

 

[klasma]

This is normal for Apple, no?

It’s also normal for MacRumors to report it to get some clicks.

Everything is so normal.

I'm slightly bored.

yawn

 

[Longplays]

M1, M2 & M3 are consumer SoC... so a slow-ish SSD is understandable and acceptable by the consumers buying them for family computer, non-IT students, etc.

It is a good there is an option nearly double the throughput by bumping up the SSD to 512GB.

 

[femike]

There was an opportunity to improve the cooling in the 15in and Apple should of abandoned the 8/256 model.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Eh, that's always the deal. For years you had the 5400 RPM HD on the lowest iMac, then the Fusion Drive, then the pure SSD on the high end. Nothing surprising here.

except the 3yo mba has twice as fast SSD , that's a regression

 

[Kottu]

I bought my 16" M1p almost a year ago in mint condition because M2 MBA with 16/512 costs in Sweden more than I paid for MBP. 16" looked massive for me in the beginning but I got used to the screen realestate. It's not a a portable one and I don't need that much power but I really love the display. I have a 2017 MBA at work when I need extreme portability but whenever I use it, I love my 16" more.
15" with 16/512 costs same as 2021 14" M1p base model's price last year.
And if I get rid of my 16" just to save 600g of weight, I will loose a lot of money, better display, speaker system etc.. so, I don't bother carrying a bit more weight for the distance of 20m between parking and job.

 

[boss.king]

Pretty obvious from your comment that you didn't actually watch the video.

That's the beauty of a Max Tech video — you don't have to watch it to know it's a waste of time. But in the interest of fairness, I did give it a quick watch after reading your comment and, as expected, it doesn't add anything of value. Even when they're taking the machine apart, it's clear that half the time they're just guessing at what things are or glossing over anything that might actually be interesting.

This is the same channel that rushed out botched benchmarks of the 13" M2 Air that they ran only after taking it apart and shoddily putting it back together, and then after whining about how the machine was thermally compromised and no one should buy it completely reversed course and tried to act like it was other people who were blowing the issue out of proportion.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I don't think it's the $2 they save on the 256GB model that matters, it's the extra $200 they get making people jump to the 512GB model.

it's actually cheaper than 2$ I believe, so your point stands

but if it were 2$...that would have been a lot of money saved. how many mba do they sell ? millions right ? millions*2 is quite something

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

This is news? This is the same as the 13 inch.

 

[MikeSmoke]

In my opinion there still is no better deal than the M1Air on sale for $799. Glad I got one. After 5 previous macbooks this is the first one purchased new.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

We view the MacBook Air as a family, so I think having that familiarity when you're looking at the MacBook Air, you're really choosing between display size. And so we wanted to keep that consistent.

We made sure to use a single NAND in order to make the mba even lighter !

 

[coolfactor]

I knew Apple was going to do this, that's why I didn't pull the trigger.
SOOO glad I'm keeping my 2021 MBP M1 Max. I don't mind the weight of the 16"

Sounds like you didn't need to replace the machine, other than "because". 😜

 

[jz0309]

Purely spit-balling, but my guess is Apple got a great price on the 128GB storage modules - a price for two lower than they would have had to pay for a single 256GB module. Once those deals ran out, they switched to the 256GB module. If this is the case, what would be interesting to know is if Apple is still manufacturing M1 models today, do those models have the 128GB modules or have they also switched to 256GB modules?

It is also possible Apple spent more money to use multiple 128GB modules for the M1 models to help the machine benchmark as high as possible since they were going to be compared to the existing Intel models. Once Apple Silicon was established, they could then move to 256GB modules to save money since even if disk reads/writes were slower, the overall performance was still much better than the Intel models.

Or, the manufacturer of the actual NAND chips discontinued the 128 models???

 

[coolfactor]

I'm shocked😳
Apple wouldn't do this!

Oh wait. They just did.
And the model before. And the model before😂

Actually I'm starting to think that the original M1 256 is the right way to go.

Just keep in mind ... "slower" does not equal "slow". Just because they might be slower than their big brother doesn't mean they are slouches. There are many other optimizations in the system that take precedence over pure SSD read/write speed.

 

[ShivneelSingh]

Sounds like you didn't need to replace the machine, other than "because". 😜

LOL true! I was going to keep the 16" MBP as a dedicated desktop, connected to the dual Apple Displays. Then use the 15" Air on the sofa or the bed.
Editing photos and minor videos in bed is so underrated.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

That's the beauty of a Max Tech video — you don't have to watch it to know it's a waste of time. But in the interest of fairness, I did give it a quick watch after reading your comment and, as expected, it doesn't add anything of value. Even when they're taking the machine apart, it's clear that half the time they're just guessing at what things are or glossing over anything that might actually be interesting.

This is the same channel that rushed out botched benchmarks of the 13" M2 Air that they ran only after taking it apart and shoddily putting it back together, and then after whining about how the machine was thermally compromised and no one should buy it completely reversed course and tried to act like it was other people who were blowing the issue out of proportion.

I really hate the whole clickbait and making 10 videos on a single stupid topic

but please, tell me , is this a waste of time :

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Just keep in mind ... "slower" does not equal "slow". Just because they might be slower than their big brother doesn't mean they are slouches. There are many other optimizations in the system that take precedence over pure SSD read/write speed.

irl they are actually quite slow, much slower in fact

 

[jz0309]

Pretty obvious from your comment that you didn't actually watch the video.

And that makes him/her a bad person? I didn’t watch the video either, what does that make me?

 

[boss.king]

I really hate the whole clickbait and making 10 videos on a single stupid topic

but please, tell me , is this a waste of time : View attachment 2217717

Kinda. It's not like this is a new revelation, it's exactly what we saw with the 13" M2 Air and 13" Pro.