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 introduced its new Mac mini M2 and M2 Pro, as well as the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Very nice machines on paper and a complete success according to the media that had the opportunity to test them, although the entry price is still very high.
This is all the more true as it seems inadvisable to opt for the more affordable versions of these computers so as not to suffer from lower memory performance.
One chip instead of two
The 256GB Mac mini M2 and 512GB MacBook Pro M2 Pro feature newer generations of memory chips…resulting in a drop in performance for your SSD. A height!
YouTuber Brandon Geekabit took the time to take the base model Mac mini M2 apart and discovered that it only has a 256GB chip for its SSD, newer than in the M1 models. In the latter, however, Apple had integrated two 128 GB chips, which allowed the speeds to be multiplied.
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 though, this is benchmark data, therefore it reflects very accurate usage. It is very likely that in daily use the difference will be much less marked, especially since the performance of the SSD is already very good.
The MacBook Pro also affected
For its part, 9to5Mac noted the same concern in the 512GB MacBook Pro M2 Pro. During its benchmarks, the media noted 30% lower write and 40% lower read performance compared to the 512GB MacBook Pro M1 Pro. beast, they obviously discovered the presence of a single NAND chip, compared to two in 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 writing and 1.5 GB/s reading, it’s much slower than the SSDs we usually test in ultraportables in this range. This is objective criticism that can be leveled at Apple, but it doesn’t really feel in use.“. On desktop models orPro», intended for more intensive use, the doubt arises more, but we will have to wait until we have them in our hands to realize it.
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