Samsung SSD vs others (e.g. Sandisk)

[bastiaanonline]

Hello,

Reading this forum the last couple of weeks I noticed multiple people having issues with a new iMac with a SSD not made by Samsung and (what I noticed) many users prefer a Samsung SSD.
Benchmarks (e.g. this) show that with a Sandisk the write speed is a lot less than with the Samsung SSD. Is this only the case with a 128GB SSD?
I'm hoping to be able to purchase an iMac with a 256GB SSD instead of the 1TB HDD at the end of this year (after product refreshment) and since I will be exporting and importing a lot this seems like an unfortunate issue.

Thank you.

 

[yjchua95]

Hello,

Reading this forum the last couple of weeks I noticed multiple people having issues with a new iMac with a SSD not made by Samsung and (what I noticed) many users prefer a Samsung SSD.
Benchmarks (e.g. this) show that with a Sandisk the write speed is a lot less than with the Samsung SSD. Is this only the case with a 128GB SSD?
I'm hoping to be able to purchase an iMac with a 256GB SSD instead of the 1TB HDD at the end of this year (after product refreshment) and since I will be exporting and importing a lot this seems like an unfortunate issue.

Thank you.

You're playing the SanDisk/Samsung lottery for the 256GB as well.

The SD0256F benchmarks at 550MB/s write and 700MB/s read.
The SM0256F benchmarks at 670MB/s write and 720MB/s read.

If you don't want to play the lottery, get the 512GB/1TB SSD, Samsung is the sole supplier for these capacities.

 

[bastiaanonline]

You're playing the SanDisk/Samsung lottery for the 256GB as well.

The SD0256F benchmarks at 550MB/s write and 700MB/s read.
The SM0256F benchmarks at 670MB/s write and 720MB/s read.

If you don't want to play the lottery, get the 512GB/1TB SSD, Samsung is the sole supplier for these capacities.

Thanks for your answer. The difference is a bit less than I thought but nonetheless present. When I'm ready to buy the iMac it will be after the next release I so I hope the changed it up a bit. 512GB SSD is a bit out of my price range, maybe after the refreshment they shifted the prices around.

 

[yjchua95]

Thanks for your answer. The difference is a bit less than I thought but nonetheless present. When I'm ready to buy the iMac it will be after the next release I so I hope the changed it up a bit. 512GB SSD is a bit out of my price range, maybe after the refreshment they shifted the prices around.

I don't think so. SanDisk is notorious for having bad sectors even in brand new SSDs. Apple will still keep using both Samsung and SanDisk because Apple is trying to be less dependent on Samsung.

 

[bastiaanonline]

I don't think so. SanDisk is notorious for having bad sectors even in brand new SSDs. Apple will still keep using both Samsung and SanDisk because Apple is trying to be less dependent on Samsung.

And this lottery is only at the 27" model? Or is it the same deal with the 21,5" model? Thanks for your time btw, I know I ask a lot of questions which might be simple...

 

[yjchua95]

It's for all Macs. Both 21.5" and 27" iMacs, MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and even the Mac Pro.

 

[bastiaanonline]

It's for all Macs. Both 21.5" and 27" iMacs, MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and even the Mac Pro.

Ok, thanks for the info!