Hi, I read that the 256GB version of the new 13" MacBook Pro M2 2022 has slower SSD performance since Apple is using only a single NAND flash storage chip in it instead of two. How is the situation with the 512GB version of MacBook Pro 16" 2021? Does it has two 256GB NAND flash storage chips or one 512GB NAND flash storage chip? For this specific machine, if I intend to use only about 300GB storage, how much slower it is compared with the 1TB version for daily usages such as reboot and overall performance?
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Does the 512GB version of MacBook Pro 16" 2021 use a single or dual NAND chips?
- Thread starter hajime
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The easiest way to tell would probably be running a disk speed test. I have a 1 TB SSD though. I just need a pointer to drive speed software for Macs.
It's a non-issue with the 14" and 16" MBP M1 Pro and MAXs. 512 SSD is performance is blazing fast and increase up to a saturated 7.4GB/s for as you opt for more storage (Apple M1 Max, 10-core CPU, 64GB of RAM, and 8TB SSD. Tested with FIO 3.27, 1024KB request size, 150GB test file, and IO depth=8)
The iFixit teardown of the base 14" MBP M1 Pro 512 shows 4x Kioxia KICM225UZ0460 128 GB NAND Flash Memory: 2 on main board side 1 and 2 on main board side 2 with PCIe 4.0 interface.
MacBook Pro 14" 2021 Chip ID
Apple introduced its M1 Pro/Max processors in the 2021 MacBook Pros. How do these new in-house SoCs change the rest of the logic board’s silicon?...
www.ifixit.com
Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro Laptop in Review: How much "Pro" do you get with the base model?
Notebookcheck reviews the brand-new Apple MacBook Pro 14 with the M1 Pro CPU, 16 GB RAM, Liquid Retina XDR-Display with 120 Hz and improved speakers.
I own both the base 14" M1 Pro 16/512 and 16" M1 MAX 32/1TB
My 14" M1 Pro 16/512 SSD performance
and 16" M1 Pro 32/1TB SSD performance
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It's a non-issue with the 14" and 16" MBP M1 Pro and MAXs. 512 SSD is performance is blazing fast and increase up to a saturated 7.4GB/s for as you opt for more storage (Apple M1 Max, 10-core CPU, 64GB of RAM, and 8TB SSD. Tested with FIO 3.27, 1024KB request size, 150GB test file, and IO depth=8)
The iFixit teardown of the base 14" MBP M1 Pro 512 shows 4x Kioxia KICM225UZ0460 128 GB NAND Flash Memory: 2 on main board side 1 and 2 on main board side 2 with PCIe 4.0 interface.
MacBook Pro 14" 2021 Chip ID
Apple introduced its M1 Pro/Max processors in the 2021 MacBook Pros. How do these new in-house SoCs change the rest of the logic board’s silicon?...
Apple MacBook Pro 14 2021 M1 Pro Laptop in Review: How much "Pro" do you get with the base model?
Notebookcheck reviews the brand-new Apple MacBook Pro 14 with the M1 Pro CPU, 16 GB RAM, Liquid Retina XDR-Display with 120 Hz and improved speakers.www.notebookcheck.net
I own both the base 14" M1 Pro 16/512 and 16" M1 MAX 32/1TB
14" M1 Pro 16/512 SSD performance
View attachment 2037568
16" M1 Pro 32/1TB SSD performance
View attachment 2037569
I knew that they had four sockets but didn't know that they filled them all. Nice to know though it doesn't really matter to me.
Thanks. Are you able to find out how many nand flash storage chip the 16" is using?
Can't tell. Nothing I found in System Report seems to indicate one way or the other.
At over 5000MB/sec, probably doesn't really matter, lol.
My 14" M1 Pro 1TB gets over 5000MB/sec for both read and write.
Exactly. Who cares if it is 1 chip or 100. Speed is what matters. 5000MB/sec!!! Come on now. That's faster than it takes Scotty to beam up Captain Kirk.
I went to an Apple store and asked. The guy working there had no idea. He just told me to buy one and test it myself.
Now I have it. Any software that could tell if it has one 512GB NAND flash storage chip or two 256GB NAND flash storage chips.
Now I have it. Any software that could tell if it has one 512GB NAND flash storage chip or two 256GB NAND flash storage chips.
If you don’t know how to check yourself, how can it possibly matter? In what real world scenario would you be able to tell?
I just ran Black Magic on my M1 mini and was getting about 2,700 Write, 2.900 read. Given what we know about the M2 MacBook Pro benchmarks, it looks like I have two chips. The tests on the M1 Pro MacBook Pro show much higher speeds and so those likely have four chips - someone here confirmed that I think. So about 1,500 with a single chip, 2,700 - 2,900 for two chips and 5k+ for four chips.
I just ran Black Magic on my 2014 iMac and it got 530 Write and 400 Read. So really slow compared to modern Macs. But I use the system daily and performance is fine. I think that it really doesn't matter all that much for office stuff. 500 vs 3,000 doesn't make a material difference unless you're doing some really big file operations.
This is a PCI interconnect so the number seems pretty low but maybe those were the numbers back then.
I'm pretty sure the 2021 14" & 16" 512GB models have four 128GB SSD NANDs on the main logic board for a total of 512GB. Obviously the parallelism here gives the SSDs faster speed & the larger the capacity the faster they get.
My 256GB M1 Mini gets 2000+Write/2700+Read. It must be a double chipper.
Anyhoo... the speeds these SSDs produce are unbelievable now.
I've worked very happily on 450MB SATA SSDs so I guess we're all getting spoiled.
I use a 2010 iMac with a HDD though I removed it from my desktop a few weeks ago because it makes my desk area too warm. I may bring it back this fall - I'm in an unheated and uncooled basement. I do think that it's worthwhile getting the 512 for the faster speeds as it may be an issue when you go to sell it.
So far general performance is very good but when I downloaded and installed Parallels and Windows 11, it took a long long time. Not sure if it is the SSD being slow or it just takes a lot of time to download and install them.
Besides parallelism, I want to know if they are configured in some sort of RAID for data protection.
Anybody knows if M1 MacBook Pro with more than one NAND flash storage chip have extra data protection like RAID1?
Not sure how long it took to install & setup but I used it maybe twice. Then deleted Parallels & the VM files since I didn't really need it. It was just sort of neat to see & then I was done with it. So I'm gonna be no help there. But no, it's not going to have the data protection of a RAID1. It's more like a RAID0. I wouldn't get too caught up in the SSDs though. They're great. You don't need to worry - unless you spill liquid into your MacBook Pro, so make sure you have a backup of your files.
It uses 4 Kioxia (known as Toshiba in old times) KICM225UZ0460 NAND Flash Memory for 512 (in Yellow, same goes for the other side of the board) , and will use 8 of it for 1TB. There are 4 empty unsoldered spots on the board. (two next to the violet rectangle, and another two under it)