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jgorman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2019
186
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This is a screenshot from a review by the Japanese YouTube channel Appleが大好きなんだよ.

The 2020 model's 512GB ssd reads 1207 MB/s and writes 1275 MB/s.
The 2018 model's 512GB ssd reads 1937 MB/s and writes 1739 MB/s.

mba ssd.png
 
Wow thats pretty slow. Even my external USB nvme SSD with 1TB for 150€ can get 1050 MB read/write.
 
If these numbers are accurate, it might be that Apple has moved from two 256GB chips to one 512GB chip? That can hurt performance

I think real world though these differences are pretty trivial for MacBook Air use cases.
 
Hmm, interesting. Have any other reviewers found the same thing? It would be good to know if someone else has corroborated this.
 
The speeds are presumably the same as the 2019 - it was noted at the time Apple started using slower SSDs when they dropped the price of the 2019 (probably part of the cost saving effort). For MBA usage, it's not a huge deal. It's still as fast as the MBPs from 2015, a considerable upgrade from the SATA drives used in 2014 and before, and the old 2015/2017 MBA.

Edit to add link: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/07/15/macbook-air-2019-slower-ssd/

One benefit will be the 256GB base model should be faster than the 128GB 2019, and the 512GB higher model should be faster than the old 256GB one.
 
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Hmm, interesting. Have any other reviewers found the same thing? It would be good to know if someone else has corroborated this.
- I have seen similar speeds on the new 512 GB in at least one other review; I think it was MobileTechReviews.

It's a bit disappointing actually if the SSD isn't faster than that.
 
I have not seen how the 2019 MacBook Air's 512GB ssd performs. It might be in the same ballpark.

One 2020 model's 512GB ssd reads 1207 MB/s and writes 1275 MB/s (Japanese YouTuber Appleが大好きなんだよ ).
Another 2020 model's 512GB ssd reads 1151 MB/s and writes 1371 MB/s (MobileTechReview).
Another 2020 model's 512GB ssd reads 1262 MB/s and writes 1281 MB/s (ArsTechnica).
Another 2020 model's 512GB ssd reads 1259 MB/s and writes 1328 MB/s (Notebookcheck).

The 2019 model's 256GB ssd reads 1320 MB/s and writes 1007 MB/s.
The 2019 model's 1TB ssd reads 1187 MB/s and writes 1532 MB/s.

The 2018 model's 512GB ssd reads 1937 MB/s and writes 1739 MB/s.

For reference, a 2019 MacBook Pro's (2TB port) 512GB ssd can read 2250 MB/s and write 2070 MB/s (or around that).
 
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If the other site is accurate, I guess that means an inadvertent switching of the titles on that speed test can be ruled out!
 
That's pretty sad. Despite the drop in price, Apple is still charging a premium for SSD storage. NVME 1TB drives go for $130 when on sale that hit roughly 3,000 or so on sequential reads and writes.
 
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I don’t mind the slower speeds but the pricing is still a bit expensive. We’ve just been conditioned to accept double profit prices.
 
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