Disk Speed Test: Mini with OCZ Solid3 SSD .VS MacBook Air

[deafgoose]

I decided to run a disk speed test on my mac mini with OCZ Solid3 120GB SSD. I also ran the same test on my MacBook Air with 128GB SSD and I was quite surprised by the results.

How in the world could my MacBook Air outperform the OCZ Solid3????

I am really not impressed by the performance of the OCZ drive. :roll eyes:

OCZ Solid3 120GB SSD:

MacBook Air 128GB SSD:

 

[theSeb]

Disk speed test uses incompressible data. Therefore it's a benchmark of a very specific situation and not how fast your drive is in day to day use.

 

[deafgoose]

Disk speed test uses incompressible data. Therefore it's a benchmark of a very specific situation and not how fast your drive is in day to day use.

I am not complaining about the specific data speeds. I am complaining that my MacBook Air outperformed my OCZ Solid3 pretty significantly.

 

[shortcut3d]

The OCZ Solid 3 is an entry level Sandforce 2200 series drive. Thus, it uses lower quality NAND that does not handle incompressible data very well. The higher end Vertex 3 MAX IOPS and similar OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G use higher quality 32nm Toshiba Toggle NAND at a lower density which handles incompressible data much better because there are more channels to each chip.

 

[deafgoose]

The OCZ Solid 3 is an entry level Sandforce 2200 series drive. Thus, it uses lower quality NAND that does not handle incompressible data very well. The higher end Vertex 3 MAX IOPS and similar OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G use higher quality 32nm Toshiba Toggle NAND at a lower density which handles incompressible data much better because there are more channels to each chip.

Good info. THANKS!

Would you say its worth upgrading? Would I "feel" a difference in performance?

 

[paulrbeers]

Good info. THANKS!

Would you say its worth upgrading? Would I "feel" a difference in performance?

No. Frankly, I have 3 different SSD's, the Basic Apple 128gb that came with my Feb 2011 MBP, a OCZ Vertex 2 (sandforce SATA2) and a Corsair Force 3 (sandforce SATA3). I can't really tell a lot of real world difference between any of them. Boot up might be a second or two faster with the Force 3 compared to the slow Apple SSD, but any of them are considerably faster than a Mechanical Drive and that's the most important thing.

I always tell people, don't worry about the benchmarks. If it is fast enough for what you are doing why upgrade?

 

[shortcut3d]

Good info. THANKS!

Would you say its worth upgrading? Would I "feel" a difference in performance?

Probably not in daily use. Unless you do a lot of work with incompressible data. The speed test app that you used is for video editing.