In some respects, some versions of the new Mac Mini and MacBook Pro may underperform the previous generation models.
Source: apple
On January 17, Apple introduced 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 that have had the opportunity to test them, although the entry price is still very high.
This is all the more true since it does not seem advisable to opt for the cheapest 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 incorporate new generations of memory chips… resulting in a performance drop for their SSD. A peak!
YouTuber Brandon Geekabit took the time to dissect the base Mac mini M2 and found that it only has a single 256GB chip for its SSD, newer than the M1 models. On the latter, however, Apple had integrated two 128GB chips, which allowed speeds to be multiplied.
This reduces read and write speeds compared to the previous generation. MacRumors, for example, claims to have measured drops of 30-50% compared to the 256GB Mac mini M1, but beware, this is data from benchmarks and therefore reflects very precise usage. It is very likely that the difference will be much smaller in everyday use, especially since the performance of the SSD is already very good.
The MacBook Pro is also affected
For its part, 9to5Mac noted the same concern with the 512GB MacBook Pro M2 Pro: During its benchmarks, the medium noted 30% less performance in writes and 40% in reads compared to the 512GB MacBook Pro M1 Pro beast, they obviously spotted the presence of a single NAND chip, compared to two on the previous generation.
However, this is not the first time this has happened. The MacBook Air M2 also had slower read and write speeds than the 2020 model. That’s a lot slower than the SSDs we typically test on ultraportables in this lineup. It’s a factual criticism to make of Apple, but in fact it doesn’t feel like it’s being used. In the case of desktop or “Pro” models, intended for more intensive use, the question is more likely to arise, but we’ll have to wait until we have it in our hands to realize it.
Help us build the future of Frandroid by answering this survey!