Is the 2012 128GB Macbook Air an Apple or a Lemon?

[DVD9]

I have read and searched the forums here and used Google to no avail in my quest to find out what the speed hit is for the 128GB Toshiba HD in the base 2012 Macbook Air when using Filevault2. Even asking in the a thread here about the difference in speeds for the Toshiba vs. Samsung HD brought forth no reply. The Toshiba uses a Sandforce controller, which has been noted to have problems with encryption.

So here is the question which can only be answered by someone who owns a 2012 Air with the 128GB Toshiba HD: Using the Black Magic Disk Speed Test, what are the benchmarks when your drive is encrypted with Filevault2?

 

[DVD9]

No one with a base 2012 Air with the Toshiba SSD uses Filevault2?

What happens if your Air needs to be repaired? You're going to leave it with the Apple store with the drive unencrypted? There are plenty of court cases that leave no doubt whatsoever that computer repair personnel routinely look through their customers files. If your drive is not encrypted you're screwed.

There has been very poor reporting about this issue in the media though. Here is the detention order for an employee of Best Buy's Geek Squad. He worked for years as a member of the Geek Squad and went undetected stealing customers information - social security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords to email and Facebook accounts etc. He also stole Apple laptops and iPods off the Best Buy delivery trucks and sold them on sites like eBay and Craigslist. He was never caught doing these things. He was discovered after getting busted trading child porn over Limewire.

 

[KPOM]

I have the Samsung. However, I think the issue with the Sandforce controllers has been resolved, at least for the drives Apple is using. FileVault2 is one of Lion's selling points. I don't think Apple would ship drives that conflict with it. Anyway, it's possible that AnandTech's review (when it comes out - hopefully this week) will have information on this.

 

[shaown]

Why would there be a speed hit from FV2 encryption due to SF issues? Keep in mind how it works - it does NOT use controller level encryption - its CPU based. That's unlike FDE that depends on the HW in the controller (i.e. Sandforce or Intel).

I have read and searched the forums here and used Google to no avail in my quest to find out what the speed hit is for the 128GB Toshiba HD in the base 2012 Macbook Air when using Filevault2. Even asking in the a thread here about the difference in speeds for the Toshiba vs. Samsung HD brought forth no reply. The Toshiba uses a Sandforce controller, which has been noted to have problems with encryption.

 

[DVD9]

I have the Samsung. However, I think the issue with the Sandforce controllers has been resolved, at least for the drives Apple is using. FileVault2 is one of Lion's selling points. I don't think Apple would ship drives that conflict with it. Anyway, it's possible that AnandTech's review (when it comes out - hopefully this week) will have information on this.

You would think that Apple would not do so, but you would also think they would go with Samsung drives since they have the best performance and reliability.

The big question though is why I can't get a real answer to this question about the Toshibia SSD and Filevault2. In my Googling I found others asking the same question, but they too received no reply.

As for Anandtech, you could bet your house and car that he will be reviewing an optional model with a Samsung drive and i7 processor. Even there he will probably never mention Filevault2 as discussion about encryption is pretty much verboten just as there are no articles about computer techs raping your hard drive when they get their eyes on it.

 

[KPOM]

As for Anandtech, you could bet your house and car that he will be reviewing an optional model with a Samsung drive and i7 processor. Even there he will probably never mention Filevault2 as discussion about encryption is pretty much verboten just as there are no articles about computer techs raping your hard drive when they get their eyes on it.

Last year his most comprehensive review was of the i5 models. He borrowed an i7 to do some tests and published an update about 2 weeks after his initial review. He also went into some detail about the Samsung vs. Toshiba issue. I believe he also ran some tests with and without FileVault 2. Anyway, as someone else pointed out, FileVault 2 is software encryption that doesn't rely on the controller's encryption mechanisms.

 

[jsolares]

Why would there be a speed hit from FV2 encryption due to SF issues? Keep in mind how it works - it does NOT use controller level encryption - its CPU based. That's unlike FDE that depends on the HW in the controller (i.e. Sandforce or Intel).

Last year his most comprehensive review was of the i5 models. He borrowed an i7 to do some tests and published an update about 2 weeks after his initial review. He also went into some detail about the Samsung vs. Toshiba issue. I believe he also ran some tests with and without FileVault 2. Anyway, as someone else pointed out, FileVault 2 is software encryption that doesn't rely on the controller's encryption mechanisms.

The sandforce issue is not with controllers encryption (although 256bit is actually 128bit encryption on them)

The issue is that sandforce does extremely well with highly compressible data, and encrypted data is not highly compressible anymore, so it'll be slower.

However it's still be faster than the SSDs in the 2011 lineup.

 

[DVD9]

Last year his most comprehensive review was of the i5 models. He borrowed an i7 to do some tests and published an update about 2 weeks after his initial review. He also went into some detail about the Samsung vs. Toshiba issue. I believe he also ran some tests with and without FileVault 2. Anyway, as someone else pointed out, FileVault 2 is software encryption that doesn't rely on the controller's encryption mechanisms.

Well Anandtech did indeed do a comprehensive review of the Air and the Toshibia SSD issue with Sandforce controller, and he tested Filevault2 on it.

The Toshibia SSD is a LEMON.

"If you're going to be using FileVault, stay away from the Toshiba drive."

Very disappointed that Apple would do this. They should clearly use Samsung drives only. Sandforce controllers cripple Filevault2.

 

[KPOM]

Well Anandtech did indeed do a comprehensive review of the Air and the Toshibia SSD issue with Sandforce controller, and he tested Filevault2 on it.

The Toshibia SSD is a LEMON.

Very disappointed that Apple would do this. They should clearly use Samsung drives only. Sandforce controllers cripple Filevault2.

It isn't a lemon. It's slower than the Samsung, but it is still significantly faster than a HDD, and it is also at least as fast, if not faster, than the SSD used in the 2011 MacBook Air.

Not everyone uses FileVault2. If you don't, the Toshiba is faster.

There aren't very many suppliers of SSD controllers. Samsung and Sandforce are two of the better ones. Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages. Arguably, the Toshiba/Sandforce is better for most people because it writes compressed data faster, and it writes to the NAND less often, improving the overall SSD lifespan.

In case you haven't noticed, Samsung and Apple are fierce competitors. They are in court a lot. We're lucky that Apple relies on Samsung as a supplier as much as it does.

If not for everyone posting benchmarks all over the place, the average user probably wouldn't notice much of a difference. A lemon is a product that doesn't work. The Toshiba drives do their job. They aren't nearly as speedy as Samsung on compressed data, but they do the job.

Alternatively, maybe APPLE, and not Toshiba, needs to change. Maybe they ought to optimize FileVault 2 so that it uses the Sandforce drive's built-in encryption technology rather than Apple's software-based encryption. Sandforce is upfront that they optimize their controllers for compressible content (which most content is).

 

[kermitxc]

You would think that Apple would not do so, but you would also think they would go with Samsung drives since they have the best performance and reliability.

The big question though is why I can't get a real answer to this question about the Toshibia SSD and Filevault2. In my Googling I found others asking the same question, but they too received no reply.

As for Anandtech, you could bet your house and car that he will be reviewing an optional model with a Samsung drive and i7 processor. Even there he will probably never mention Filevault2 as discussion about encryption is pretty much verboten just as there are no articles about computer techs raping your hard drive when they get their eyes on it.

you can't get a real answer cause you're acting like a girl.

 

[26139]

Tinfoil hat on!

You don't take your ssd or hard drive out when leaving it with a tech?

 

[Nova Sensei]

you can't get a real answer cause you're acting like a girl.

Why use girl as an insult?

 

[JVlasy]

DiskSpeedTest

Hope this helps... I have an APPLE SSD TS128E in 2012 13" MBA with 8GB RAM and i5. Only system services are running at that time and everything else is shut down with FileVault2 turn on.

I do believe that before FileVault2 was turned on the write speed was in range of 300+ MB/s, but I am not sure thou. Anyway the SSD in the 2012 MBA is pretty fast enough, with the exception of 64 GB in 11".

 

[tERS09]

i have the base 13" MBA with toshiba SSD, before i encrypted my drive my black magic was around 360mb/s write and 460mb/s read. After encryption it is around 240mb/s write and 440mb/s read

 

[DVD9]

i have the base 13" MBA with toshiba SSD, before i encrypted my drive my black magic was around 360mb/s write and 460mb/s read. After encryption it is around 240mb/s write and 440mb/s read

Amazing.

Before Anandtech's thumbs down was posted this post sat for a week with no reply to the question. Now fanboys decided that it would be better to post their results than let the Anandtech review stand as the final review.

And they wonder why fanboys are hated.

 

[tERS09]

Amazing.

Before Anandtech's thumbs down was posted this post sat for a week with no reply to the question. Now fanboys decided that it would be better to post their results than let the Anandtech review stand as the final review.

And they wonder why fanboys are hated.

Truly miraculous, considering i have never actually read Anandtech and haven't read any reviews i must be a fan boy. You wanted people to post what they have found which i did and now i am a fan boy for doing so? You are a tool.