In some respects, some of the versions of the new Mac Mini and MacBook Pro may perform worse than the previous generation models.
On January 17, Apple unveiled its new Mac mini M2 and M2 Pro, as well as new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Very nice machines on paper and a real success according to the media who had the opportunity to test them, although the entry price is still very high.
This is all the more true since it seems inadvisable to opt for the most affordable versions of these computers to avoid suffering from lower memory performance.
One chip instead of two
The 256 GB Mac mini M2 and the 512 GB MacBook Pro M2 Pro embed new generations of memory chips… generating a drop in performance for their SSD. A height!
YouTuber Brandon Geekabit took the time to disassemble the base model of the Mac mini M2, discovering that it only has a single 256 GB chip for its SSD, newer than on the M1 models. On the latter, however, Apple had integrated two 128 GB chips, thus allowing to multiply the speeds.
As a result, read and write speeds are reduced compared to the previous generation. MacRumors indicates, for example, that it has measured drops of 30 to 50% compared to the 256 GB Mac mini M1. Be careful, however, this is data from benchmarks, therefore reflecting very precise use. It is very likely that, on daily use, the difference is much less marked, especially since the performance of the SSD is already very good.
The MacBook Pro also affected
On his side, 9to5Mac noted the same concern on the 512 GB MacBook Pro M2 Pro. During its benchmarks, the media noted 30% less performance in writing and 40% in reading compared to the 512 GB MacBook Pro M1 Pro. the beast, they obviously discovered the presence of a single NAND chip, against two on the previous generation.
This is not the first time, however, that this has happened. The MacBook Air M2 also had slower read and write speeds than the 2020 model.up to 2 GB/s write and 1.5 GB/s read, that’s much slower than the SSDs we usually test on ultraportables in this range. This is an objective criticism that can be made to Apple, but in fact, it does not feel in use“. On desktop models orPro», intended for more intensive use, the question arises more, but it will be necessary to wait to have them in our hands to realize it.
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