Macbook Neo - SSD speed differences?

[jclardy]

Has anyone found any reviewers that have had both the 256 and 512? I'm wondering if we could see any SSD speed differences between the two models, given we have seen this in the past on the Air where the lowest model was significantly slower. Given the 8GB of RAM this could be a big consideration for general swap speed if there is lower performance in the smaller drive.

 

[Digitalguy]

It's around 1500 vs 1700 sequential from different reviews I have seen, so not a big difference

 

[jclardy]

It's around 1500 vs 1700 sequential from different reviews I have seen, so not a big difference

Ahh, that's not bad then. The M2 Air issue was a significant drop from the M1 model of the same storage size.

 

[hajime]

Same or faster? In the case of faster, by how much?

 

[bapegg]

Most of us won't know until sometime tomorrow or Thursday.

I'll post Blackmagic disk speed test results either tommorow evening or Thursday for my 51GB Neo. Hopefully those with the 256GB version will do the same.

 

[hajime]

Thanks

 

[hajime]

It's around 1500 vs 1700 sequential from different reviews I have seen, so not a big difference

Is this noticeable in practice? Doesn’t seem to be different.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

512gb version. I get an average of 15.5 read & write. The photo is the best try. Never came close to 1700.

 

[bapegg]

Here is my Blackmagic result.

 

[GeorgeRussell]

I'm surprised the 512GB is slower than my 256GB M1 Air. I assumed SSDs increase with higher SSD capacity (or rather more SSD modules). Must be using slower SSDs for the Neo.

 

[bapegg]

The Neo read/write speed is on par with the Crucial P510 Gen 4 NVME drive in a Terra Master D4-SSD DAS and a bit faster that the Crucial P310 Gen 4 NVME drives in the D4. I have the D4 connected to my Mac mini using Thunderbolt 4.

For giggles I tested a Kingston NV2 1TB NVME in a SSK USB Gen 3.2 NVME enclosure plugged into the Neo's USBc 3 port. It didn't do too bad.

 

[ivnj]

The Neo read/write speed is on par with the Crucial P510 Gen 4 NVME drive in a Terra Master D4-SSD DAS and a bit faster that the Crucial P310 Gen 4 NVME drives in the D4. I have the D4 connected to my Mac mini using Thunderbolt 4.

For giggles I tested a Kingston NV2 1TB NVME in a SSK USB Gen 3.2 NVME enclosure plugged into the Neo's USBc 3 port. It didn't do too bad.

View attachment 2612443

Have you tried other drives in the USB 3 port? Is 1000 the max speed any drive will do in the USB 3 C port?

 

[bapegg]

Have you tried other drives in the USB 3 port? Is 1000 the max speed any drive will do in the USB 3 C port?

I haven't tried any other drives since all of my faster drives are either in my DAS or installed in my Minisforum BD895I build. I'm too lazy to remove disks from either one.

I plugged the drive into the front USBc port on my M4 Mac mini and got the same read/write speeds. I then plugged it into a Thunderbolt 4 port and got the same write speed but a slower read speed of 750 MB/s

I would say the limiting factor in my case is the SSK enclosure , at least when testing on the M4 Mac mini. I don't have a single disk Thunderbolt 4 enclosure to test.

 

[ivnj]

I haven't tried any other drives since all of my faster drives are either in my DAS or installed in my Minisforum BD895I build. I'm too lazy to remove disks from either one.

I plugged the drive into the front USBc port on my M4 Mac mini and got the same read/write speeds. I then plugged it into a Thunderbolt 4 port and got the same write speed but a slower read speed of 750 MB/s

I would say the limiting factor in my case is the SSK enclosure , at least when testing on the M4 Mac mini. I don't have a single disk Thunderbolt 4 enclosure to test.

I did the same thing with my m4 mini. I think the case is limiting. I have an Asus cobble.

 

[bapegg]

I actually get faster read/write speeds with the Kingston NV2 in the SSK enclosure than I did when I had the drive in my OWC Express 4M2 enclosure plugged in directly to the back of the mini. I have the older black Express 4M2.

Even my faster Crucial P310 and P510 drives are slower in the OWC 4M2 compared to having them in the Terra Master D4 SSD enclosure.

 

[Elwe]

I'm surprised the 512GB is slower than my 256GB M1 Air. I assumed SSDs increase with higher SSD capacity (or rather more SSD modules). Must be using slower SSDs for the Neo.
View attachment 2612398

The M1 Air 256GB had two NAND chips. It might be better to compare the Neo against the M2 Air 256GB as that has one NAND chip. This caused an uproar at the time, and the M4 Air 256GB returned to used two NAND chips.

The MacBook Neo 256 has one NAND chip. The controller is also different, of course.

 

[hajime]

Some people are trying to decide between 256 and 512 of Neo. Not to compare with M1 Air which should be in another thread. Why many posts on the M1Air?

 

[bzgnyc2]

Have you tried other drives in the USB 3 port? Is 1000 the max speed any drive will do in the USB 3 C port?

1000MB/sec is close to the max one is going to get through any 10Gbps USB port. The best I've measured through one on any computer is about 1050. There might be a few combinations that peak slightly higher but I wouldn't worry about it.

If one needs to go faster than that, Thunderbolt/USB4 is the way to go.

 

[Elwe]

Some people are trying to decide between 256 and 512 of Neo. Not to compare with M1 Air which should be in another thread. Why many posts on the M1Air?

I have seen several Blackmagic speed tests which out the SSD speeds between the two variants as roughly equal. But I haven’t seen any teardowns of the 512GB model yet, so can’t confirm if two NANDs are used. I would guess one is used based on the speed, but it is theoretically possible something else is limiting—like the controller part of the silicon itself.

Apple sources NAND chips packages from 128GB to at least 1TB. Even at the same sue, they are clearly not all of the same capability. Who knows what the prices deltas are, but I would have to guess the Neo (and lower end iPads) get least performant by design.

 

[JPack]

I have seen several Blackmagic speed tests which out the SSD speeds between the two variants as roughly equal. But I haven’t seen any teardowns of the 512GB model yet, so can’t confirm if two NANDs are used. I would guess one is used based on the speed, but it is theoretically possible something else is limiting—like the controller part of the silicon itself.

Apple sources NAND chips packages from 128GB to at least 1TB. Even at the same sue, they are clearly not all of the same capability. Who knows what the prices deltas are, but I would have to guess the Neo (and lower end iPads) get least performant by design.

Teardowns of the 256GB model show a single sided board with no additional pads for second NAND. It's extremely unlikely the 512GB would use a different board.

 

[JPack]

1TB: 1,600 MB/sec

 

[ivnj]

1TB: 1,600 MB/sec

View attachment 2613298

How did you get a 1tb in the neo? I thought 512 was the max?

 

[MultiFinder17]

How did you get a 1tb in the neo? I thought 512 was the max?

Check out the video. It’s a fellow with the skills and equipment to replace the NAND p on the logic board.

 

[joshwithachance]

The M1 Air 256GB had two NAND chips. It might be better to compare the Neo against the M2 Air 256GB as that has one NAND chip. This caused an uproar at the time, and the M4 Air 256GB returned to used two NAND chips.

The MacBook Neo 256 has one NAND chip. The controller is also different, of course.

And strangely the 512GB is ALSO using a single NAND chip... Must be a limitation imposed by the A18 Pro. Or just another cost cutting measure. Perhaps both.🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[JPack]

How did you get a 1tb in the neo? I thought 512 was the max?

Lots of shops across China offer this upgrade service for Apple products.