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esharon

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2013
36
6
2018 MacBook Pro 15" 512gb ssd and 1tb ssd should be the same performance?
Same read/write speed on both sizes?
 
Typically, same brand and series of SSD, larger capacity SSD is usually faster performance.
That difference could be measured, but the difference in real life is probably not noticeable to the average user.
 
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Apple's speed stats are based on 1TB drives, which would lead you to believe that there is negligible difference between 1TB and larger drives.

However for sizes smaller than 1TB there is a more clear difference, with 1TB being the fastest.

That said, all the storage sizes Apple sells in its MacBook Pros are extremely fast.
 
This is from the 1TB.

upload_2018-8-10_10-18-19.png
 
Ultimately I don't think there will be any real world use difference, but the larger SSD may (or may not) be slightly faster on larger transfers. It has to do with the cache size when transferring data, and larger drives tend to have a larger cache than the smaller drives.

Whether or not that is the case on MBPs, I don't know, but I would doubt it is enough of a difference to be concerned with. I'd just buy the drive you need based on your storage needs.
 
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Thank's
Someone with 15" and 512gb can upload photo of Blackmagic disk speed test?
 
Do they still use Samsung SSD drives? If so anyone know the model?
- There's no model as they don't use a complete SSD from another manufacturer. They use NAND chips with an Apple-designed controller, all soldered directly on the logic board. I believe the NAND is Toshiba - at least it was in iFixit's teardown of the 2018 13" and 15".
 
Anyone post the numbers from the chips? Are these same as used in the PRO or EVO models?
 
I can confirm that my 2018 rMBP with 512GB is slower than the 1TB configuration. I'll post a pic later, can't do right now.
 
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I'm sure it will be faster, but given the intense speeds of these SSDs, will we imperfect humans really even notice a few milliseconds between the 512 and 1tb? I think this especially the case in typical usage, where people don't tend to move huge files around.
 
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The 1tb SSD will probably be a little faster with writes.

But -- both are so fast to begin with, that you won't notice any difference between them in day-to-day usage.

Not much more to say.
 
I just got my 13" 512GB model and the SSD performance is not what I expected.

I've had 3 generations of retina iMacs and have always gone 1TB SSD but based on peoples reviews here that is absolutely no difference between the 256, 512 and 1TB speeds using diskspeed test.

Now all of a sudden everyone is saying a larger drive is faster...

So I went onto YouTube and this particular video has a 512gb model that is hitting over 2000mb/s compared to our 1600mb/s


so what gives?
 
No one here knows?
Not sure what you’re looking at.. both screen shots answer exactly what was asked. And they show exactly what one should expect from each drive

Edit: depending on the sample size you choose when doing a speed test, it will change the results. But In the end the larger drives are faster for each size.
 
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Not sure what you’re looking at.. both screen shots answer exactly what was asked. And they show exactly what one should expect from each drive

Edit: depending on the sample size you choose when doing a speed test, it will change the results. But In the end the larger drives are faster for each size.

1. The screenshots show the speed of each SSD size no doubt.

2. The YouTube video I posted above shows that the 512gb model Apple sent them has a faster write speed (1600mb/s vs 2400mb/s) than the 512gbs here

3. As I’ve mentioned and if u look at the review threads here for the iMac there is no significant difference between the 256gb and the 1TB models in terms of speed

4. There are no difference in speeds between the 1TB and 4TB models

What’s I’m trying to establish is if Apple is using slower SSDs in their smaller capacity models
 
1. The screenshots show the speed of each SSD size no doubt.

2. The YouTube video I posted above shows that the 512gb model Apple sent them has a faster write speed (1600mb/s vs 2400mb/s) than the 512gbs here

3. As I’ve mentioned and if u look at the review threads here for the iMac there is no significant difference between the 256gb and the 1TB models in terms of speed

4. There are no difference in speeds between the 1TB and 4TB models

What’s I’m trying to establish is if Apple is using slower SSDs in their smaller capacity models
Yes. The smaller capacities are slower. It’s a function of the technology though and not Apple trying to pull a fast one. It might be possible to increase speeds of the smaller capacities but it’s likely too costly and not practical. These speed differences are also apparent in their iPhones. It’s extremely common.

As for the iMacs. I imagine it’s because it’s a desktop and since space and energy is less of a constraint, I believe they have been able to have more/same number of lanes in each capacity and therefore equal throughput in each size. Just a quick logical guess though.

As far as the YouTube video that I won’t watch. Speeds vary on year, model, brand of the SSD and controller, test sample size in blackmagic (is 1gb - 5gb), drive format, and how full the drive is. So any of these are good reasons why you’re seeing a discrepancy.
 
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on my 2018 Macbook Pro 13" 256GB ssd, I am only getting 1300-1400 on write, 2600 read using Black Magic
 
Thinking Apple updated the chips maybe on the SSDs since the 2018 perform much faster than this as seen in my post.

I just rebooted and ran it again and mostly got 2000 Write and 2000 Read.

What's the best way to get a clean test without some background process interfering? Is that even possible? I don't think my results are accurate because they vary wildly from one trial to the next.
 
This is from a 2tb just to compare.

[doublepost=1544281567][/doublepost]
Thinking Apple updated the chips maybe on the SSDs since the 2018 perform much faster than this as seen in my post.

Why do you keep ignoring that everything below 2TB performs slower for each size?

and yes apple did upgrade chips. from super neat Samsung chips to coil-whining Toshiba chips.
 
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