Bad news for the new MacBook Pro M2 13-inch from Apple. As it turns out, the base model with 256GB of storage has SSDs with significantly slower read / write speeds than the previous M1. So let’s go find out something more.
MacBook Pro M2: SSD is found to be slower than that of the previous M1 model
These days YouTube channels like Max Tech e Created Tech tested the 256GB MacBook Pro M2 with Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app. The result is quite amazing – you choose whether in a positive or negative sense -: the reading and writing speed of the SSD is about 1,450 MB / s, which is about 50% less for reading and 30% less for writing than the previous M1 model. More specifically, these were the results shared by Vadim Yuryev by Max Tech:
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1 / 256GB) Read speed: 2900
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (M2 / 256GB) Read Speed: 1446
- MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1 / 256GB) Write speed: 2215
- 13-inch MacBook Pro (M2 / 256GB) Write speed: 1463
After taking apart the MacBook Pro M2, Yuryev found that the 256GB model comes with only one NAND flash memory chip, while the previous model had two 128GB NAND chips each. A difference that explains why the new MacBook has a significantly slower SSD than its predecessor. A detail that would seem to concern only the 256 GB model. As noted on the MacRumors forum, Aaron Zollo used the Disk Speed Test App on the 512GB model as well, noting the SSD’s read / write speeds similar to those of the M1 model – meaning that this perhaps boasts two chips. 256GB flash memory -.
However, it is still unclear why only the base model of the MacBook Pro M2 has an SSD with such slow speeds. This, as you can imagine, has quite serious repercussions on simple tasks like transferring files to an external drive, or on overall overall performance. Therefore, if you are considering buying a new MacBook and are looking for high performance, we suggest you order a model with at least 512GB of storage.