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2016 MBPs SSD Speed Difference!

M

monkeydax

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 2, 2012
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Been looking around and realised there's quite a big difference between the 256GB SSD and 512GB read/write speeds?

From my quick check:
256GB 2300read/1300write
512GB 5000read/2000write

Can users confirm this?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Late-2016-2-6-GHz-i7-Notebook-Review.185254.0.html

This good review above shows some good details, and is whereI got that 512GB read/write speed from. Can base 256GB users and those who upgraded post their speeds here?

Edit:
I do suspect the 512GB read speed is a little excessive and abnormal there actually. Seems generally this is at about 2900.
 
Last edited:
Yikes, if that's the case, I won't be considering the 256GB SSD.

That yet again raises the price of the damned laptop. I don't need 512GB of storage, but I do want faster storage.
 
PaulWog said:
Yikes, if that's the case, I won't be considering the 256GB SSD.

That yet again raises the price of the damned laptop. I don't need 512GB of storage, but I do want faster storage.
Click to expand...
Can anyone confirm the 256GB is that much slower?
 
Currently using a 128 GB 2015 SSD and it's testing at 500 MB/s write and 1250 MB/s read. It has 13 GB left.
I chose the 256 GB SSD and will be a bit disappointed if it's that much slower, though still a lot faster than my current!
 
ccglows said:
Currently using a 128 GB 2015 SSD and it's testing at 500 MB/s write and 1250 MB/s read. It has 13 GB left.
I chose the 256 GB SSD and will be a bit disappointed if it's that much slower, though still a lot faster than my current!
Click to expand...
Yeah it's making me wonder whether I should get the 512GB option.
 
That 512 SSD in AJA test seems to be wrong. It cannot be over 5000MB/s read speed.

Here's my test on 1TB drive. I have 2x 1TB machines, they are similar. (note that I have FileVault turned on)
 

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powerocool said:
That 512 SSD in AJA test seems to be wrong. It cannot be over 5000MB/s read speed.

Here's my test on 1TB drive. I have 2x 1TB machines, they are similar. (note that I have FileVault turned on)
Click to expand...
Yeah I suspect it's wrong too and Apple didn't even say they could go to that fast. Okay in any case I guess we're supposedly getting around 1400write on the 256 vs 1800write on the 512?
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fs454 said:
256GB is insanely little on a notebook of this caliber - you will not regret doubling it for the speed.
Click to expand...
Yeah I realised it gets a bit tight sometimes, but I work with a network attached storage as well as my portable hard drive if anything, and regularly, I have about 70GBs left on my mac, unless working on huge files which I don't keep for long locally, of course because I don't have that much room to begin with.

You're right, probably will seriously consider getting the 512GB instead.
 
ccglows said:
Why is this?
Click to expand...

To give you an actual answer, basically what happens is on a 128 gb drive there may be say 8 flash chips, all of which may be written to at one time (totally made up numbers). On A 256 gb drive there may be 16. On a 512 gb there may be 32 chips. The reason bigger drives are typically faster are because they spread the writes and reads out across more chips at the same time. This doesn't always keep scaling up because the 512 and the 1 TB or the 256 and 1 TB may have the same number, but denser chips. Hope that makes sense. This isn't a 100% accurate description of why, but it gives you a better idea than you may have had before.
 
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ejl371 said:
To give you an actual answer, basically what happens is on a 128 gb drive there may be say 8 flash chips, all of which may be written to at one time (totally made up numbers). On A 256 gb drive there may be 16. On a 512 gb there may be 32 chips. The reason bigger drives are typically faster are because they spread the writes and reads out across more chips at the same time. This doesn't always keep scaling up because the 512 and the 1 TB or the 256 and 1 TB may have the same number, but denser chips. Hope that makes sense. This isn't a 100% accurate description of why, but it gives you a better idea than you may have had before.
Click to expand...
Yep which is probably why the 1TB and 2TB may not be much faster. But i'm surprised the 256 is significantly slower than the 512?
 
I'm told that the real world differences are negligible unless you're transferring files all day long. In other words, wouldn't even notice the faster SSD speeds. Not true?
 
PaulWog said:
Yikes, if that's the case, I won't be considering the 256GB SSD.

That yet again raises the price of the damned laptop. I don't need 512GB of storage, but I do want faster storage.
Click to expand...

Don't upgrade to 512gb. You won't notice the speed difference as the 256gb is disgustingly fast as it is. Only upgrade if you need storage, not for *potential* speed gain.
 
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what is the difference in real world use? if I upgrade ram AND ssd --> might as well just buy the base 15"... and be broke for a while
 
monkeydax said:
Yep which is probably why the 1TB and 2TB may not be much faster. But i'm surprised the 256 is significantly slower than the 512?
Click to expand...
It isn't significantly slower. I have tested 256GB and 512GB MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. The reads were about the same; the writes were up-to 500MB/s faster on the 512GB. However, the 256GB is still the fastest storage device on the prosumer market. You would never know the difference in day-to-day use.

Combined with the variation between models (Apple often dual-sources SSDs from SanDisk and Samsung; Samsung are faster) it makes the difference potentially even less.
 
Brookzy said:
It isn't significantly slower. I have tested 256GB and 512GB MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. The reads were about the same; the writes were up-to 500MB/s faster on the 512GB. However, the 256GB is still the fastest storage device on the prosumer market. You would never know the difference in day-to-day use.

Combined with the variation between models (Apple often dual-sources SSDs from SanDisk and Samsung; Samsung are faster) it makes the difference potentially even less.
Click to expand...
Yeah probably you're right the noticeable difference would be small. 500MB is, however, a good 25-30% difference in speed. Seems pretty significant.
 
monkeydax said:
Yeah probably you're right the noticeable difference would be small. 500MB is, however, a good 25-30% difference in speed. Seems pretty significant.
Click to expand...
But to write at, say 1800MB/s, you need a source that can provide data that fast - something the average user won't have. The fastest external SSDs on the market right now top up at about 850MB/s read for example. If you want to the 512, go for it by all means! But don't let the speed be the deciding factor because you will never notice it, and the reads are the same anyway (and, generally speaking, read speed is what makes the system "feel" fast).
 
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