News Apple's Cuts SSD Performance for Entry-level 2023 MacBook Pro, M2 Mac MIni

watzupken

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This is unsurprising. If they have done it on the Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, it should not come as a surprise to see the same implemented on the base model of the cheaper Macs.
 

USAFRet

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Or maybe, Apple has noticed, like a LOT of the rest of us....raw sequential speed numbers do not matter as much as all the test reviews and marketing wonks would lead us to believe.

writes of 3154.4 MBps and reads of 2973.4 MBps
as compared to
3950.8 MBps and 4900.3 MBps, respectively.

Means exactly squat to the vast majority of users.

Like comparing 2 cars.
Car A has a theoretical top speed of 170mph, Car B, a top speed of 150mph.
But ALL your driving is on roads with a speed limit of 70mph. Or lower, mostly 45mph.
 

deepblue08

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Or maybe, Apple has noticed, like a LOT of the rest of us....raw sequential speed numbers do not matter as much as all the test reviews and marketing wonks would lead us to believe.

writes of 3154.4 MBps and reads of 2973.4 MBps
as compared to
3950.8 MBps and 4900.3 MBps, respectively.

Means exactly squat to the vast majority of users.

Like comparing 2 cars.
Car A has a theoretical top speed of 170mph, Car B, a top speed of 150mph.
But ALL your driving is on roads with a speed limit of 70mph. Or lower, mostly 45mph.

If this is MacBook Air, I would probably agree with you. But for MacBook Pro, this is not cool. If it is indeed a technical limitation, they should start the Pro lineup with 1TB of space.
 
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cyrusfox

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The biggest issue, regardless of number of NAND chips is this is a consumable that is placed on the PCB right next to the M.2 chip... NAND cells will wear out(400-2000 cycles depending on cell density and controller). A ticking time bomb. Granted the cells should last 5-20years of normal use, but if there is any sort of flaw in the cells or if MacOS or one of its apps abuse the drive, and the NAND chip goes bad, it is nearly impossible repair to replace the NAND chip, but even if you can replace, currently impossible to get the internal security chip to register and work with the newly attached NAND package.

All new M1/M2 macs are completely proprietary and unrepairable. And apple continues to use storage as a huge price differentiator...
 
Or maybe, Apple has noticed, like a LOT of the rest of us....raw sequential speed numbers do not matter as much as all the test reviews and marketing wonks would lead us to believe.

writes of 3154.4 MBps and reads of 2973.4 MBps
as compared to
3950.8 MBps and 4900.3 MBps, respectively.

Means exactly squat to the vast majority of users.

Like comparing 2 cars.
Car A has a theoretical top speed of 170mph, Car B, a top speed of 150mph.
But ALL your driving is on roads with a speed limit of 70mph. Or lower, mostly 45mph.
In reality Apple saves money on production, maintains/increases margins and doesn't care about the reduced performance because the customer will buy a more expensive model if they care. Apple consistently treats their customers this way, and it doesn't seem to cost them so why should they change?
 

DavidLejdar

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Sep 11, 2022
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It may not make a difference to most users. Personally, I am now spoilt by high transfer rates. Which isn't just about moving files around (or saving e.g. a large video file after editing it), but also about how much stuff can be loaded into system memory "at once", respectively about how many programes can be launched at the same time, while also opening some folders at it (without the storage device being a bottleneck).

And this doesn't mean that a bit of delay would be a disaster. But even if I wouldn't pay hundreds extra for it, pretty much no lag at all when it comes to accessing the storage device/s, it is nice.
 

OneMoreUser

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Jan 2, 2023
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Intel wants eat amd, mac wants eat everyone :) man 499us for a shift m2 aim sold
Better read the specs a little closer. The based model is very basic when it comes to ram and storage space, then once you change to just reasonable amounts of ram and storage you'll see that Apple as usual is charging like 3x-4x or more on top of what those change cost them.
Essentially somehow when ram and storage are sold in a Apple product it is way more expensive than it is otherwise.
 
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Heat_Fan89

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Or maybe, Apple has noticed, like a LOT of the rest of us....raw sequential speed numbers do not matter as much as all the test reviews and marketing wonks would lead us to believe.

writes of 3154.4 MBps and reads of 2973.4 MBps
as compared to
3950.8 MBps and 4900.3 MBps, respectively.

Means exactly squat to the vast majority of users.

Like comparing 2 cars.
Car A has a theoretical top speed of 170mph, Car B, a top speed of 150mph.
But ALL your driving is on roads with a speed limit of 70mph. Or lower, mostly 45mph.
Thank you for mentioning that. I posted my observations on MacRumors because I think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

I own a 2018 i5 Mini with 256GB SSD which was pretty quick. I received yesterday my base M2 Mac Mini 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. The M2 Mini boots in less than 9 secs from the power button to the desktop. It takes my 2018 Mini which supposedly has the faster SSD 18.61 secs. Apps also open around 50% faster.

Memory mgmt is mindbogglingly good. 8GB works more like 16GB of memory sticks. The M2 Mini sits roughly at around 4-5GB and it quickly starts to compress memory. Memory pressure roughly stays around 40% with multiple apps and browsers open.

So I agree that numbers are one thing, real world results are another. Meanwhile over @ MR those that are considering an M2 Mini are having a hissyfit because they think Apple is trying to pull a fast one on them and getting them to buy buy more expensive add ons of memory and SSD storage. I tried pointing out that what they are chasing are synthetic numbers, to no avail. They won't listen.
 

Heat_Fan89

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I believe most of their M1/M2 system SSDs have been removable, and in a standard size format, but the SSD controller is part of the SoC so you can't just install an off the shelf replacement.
Everything including memory is now soldered on the board. There is nothing removable about the new Apple Silicon Mini's. The last Mini's that allowed for any type of upgrade was the 2018 Mini and that only allowed for RAM upgrade. The SSD was also soldered to the Mobo.
 
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Oct 2, 2022
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Not really an issue, doesn't really affect anyone bar the braggers, benchmarkers and people who think they need to top model for Football Manager or browsing. The typically fanatic will justify it and downplay it, the casual Apple fanboy won't care as long as it looks good on the table in Starbucks.

It's the same kind of upsell to more expensive products as AMD and NVidia have deployed of late, and historically Apple makes them both look like saints in all fairness.

Doesn't really affect anyone in real world usage.
 
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Heat_Fan89

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Not really an issue, doesn't really affect anyone bar the braggers, benchmarkers and people who think they need to top model for Football Manager or browsing. The typically fanatic will justify it and downplay it, the casual Apple fanboy won't care as long as it looks good on the table in Starbucks.

It's the same kind of upsell to more expensive products as AMD and NVidia have deployed of late, and historically Apple makes them both look like saints in all fairness.

Doesn't really affect anyone in real world usage.
You pretty much nailed it. That's what I was trying to say on the MR forums. If the budget M2 Mini with the slower SSD boots faster than a Mini with a faster SSD and does it in half the time. Who cares about numbers?

For those chasing numbers it would take upgrading to 16GB of RAM ($200) and 1TB SSD ($400). So add an extra $600 to the price tag. But here's another thing most Mac users don't consider. Apple most recently has a habit of cutting off older Macs. I suspect my 2018 Mac Mini will probably receive its last OS update this year. So I am looking at 5 years of OS upgrades from Apple.

Meanwhile I took advantage of the education discount (Apple doesn't check status). I used my Apple Card which got me 3% cashback, plus I had $60 in store credit. Out the door my M2 Mini cost me $476 and that's with tax included.
 
Jan 27, 2023
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Every time Apple wins me back they do something incredibly stupid like this. Mac mini entry level model? Sure ok. But it's unforgivable to nerf your "Pro" lineup like this. And seeing the Apple simps try to defend this foolishness reminds me of the worst part about doing business with them. Their community is the worst.
 
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bit_user

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Or maybe, Apple has noticed, like a LOT of the rest of us....raw sequential speed numbers do not matter as much
As mentioned in the article, it affects swapping. Some users have hit swapping so hard, on their M1-based macs, that they've prematurely worn out their storage. So, it sounds like it could be noticeable to some. And with it being soldered down, I guess you toss out the whole machine and buy a new one, when that happens.

Also, with the number of NANDs chips halved, you'd expect the number of channels to be halved, and therefore random performance to be significantly affected.

Memory mgmt is mindbogglingly good. 8GB works more like 16GB of memory sticks. The M2 Mini sits roughly at around 4-5GB and it quickly starts to compress memory. Memory pressure roughly stays around 40% with multiple apps and browsers open.
Memory compression only helps if most of your memory contents are static. Browsing sessions is a good example.

For people doing software builds, doing rendering jobs, or even many games, memory compression will be an unacceptable compromise and swapping is similarly going to disappoint. So, please don't act like it's going to satisfy all users as well as it does for you.
 
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