Fastest SSD speed for 2013 Macbook Air

[finarfinius]

I am considering to upgrade the SSD on my

Apple MacBook Air "Core i7" 1.7 11" (Mid-2013)
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/specs/macbook-air-core-i7-1.7-11-mid-2013-specs.html

but i read confusing info, that the bus will allow only for max 1400 MB/s, this would mean that using a higher speed SSD would be useless

i was going for
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sintech-NG...h=item4b4716afb7:g:bw8AAOSw~ztbLwlr:rk:7:pf:0

and

Samsung PM951-A 512GB
MZVPV512HDGL
Sequential Read: 2150MB/s, Sequential Write: 1600 MB/s,

or even the Samsung 960 for 2000 and 3000MB/s

so my question is

What is the highest speed to go for with this model?

 

[MacManiac76]

You will only get 1400-1500 MB/s read/write speeds as the bus is PCIe 2.0 x4 speed. I have the same limitation on my 2017 MacBook Air with the Samsung 970 EVO that is actually capable of 3500/2500 read/write speeds on a full PCIe 3.0 x4 bus, which the Air does not have on 2017 and earlier.

 

[b738]

I also want to update the SSD of my 2013 MBA but I want one that has low temperature, like the original one, that doesnt even heat up and its very low power! Which one do you recommend then?

 

[Macdctr]

I also want to update the SSD of my 2013 MBA but I want one that has low temperature, like the original one, that doesnt even heat up and its very low power! Which one do you recommend then?

you can run a Samsung 950 EVO or PRO without having too much heat generated. I'm running a 512GB 950PRO in my 2015 MBA with no issues. I use iStat Menus to monitor temps and have not experienced any issues.

 

[Audit13]

You'll have to disable hibernation with a nvme drive to prevent kernel panics unless you flash the air with a modified bootrom. 2015 and newer MacBooks do not need to have hibernation disabled.

 

[finarfinius]

is this kernel panic and not working hibernation issue with all nvme, or is this limited to some models?

What would be than the best one for a 2013 11 Air?

 

[Audit13]

The hibernation issue will affect all nvme drives.

Disabling hibernation will prevent the kernel panics but causes higher battery drain since the MacBook is not allowed to enter deep sleep, the contents in ram are not copied to the SSD, and the MacBook can't turn off the battery.

 

[finarfinius]

does it also affect PCI-e ACHI SSD ? like the MZHPV512HDGL ?

 

[Audit13]

It seems to affect all non-oem Apple drives. Ahci drives have not been used in the past few years outside of Apple.

512 GB for $375 is too high imho.

 

[Walee]

2015 and newer MacBooks do not need to have hibernation disabled.

Wait, I thought only MBPs from 2015 and up have no issues with hibernation to nvme drives. Couldn't find a definitive answer regarding MBAs, so I assumed that's not the case and patching bootrom is required to get rid of hibernation issues. As far as I know early 2015 Air launched with an AHCi drive (according to tear down by iFixit)...

 

[MacManiac76]

My 2017 MacBook Air has no hibernation issues with the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 drive installed.

 

[Audit13]

I have an early 2015 MBA, Intel 600p, small Sintech green adapter, and hibernation works without issue. When I open the lid after the MBA has been hibernating, I see the loading/progress bar at the bottom of the screen before the login screen appears.

The 2017 and 2015 MBA are identical except for a faster cpu in the 2017. They share the same bootrom version too.

 

[Macdctr]

The 2017 and 2015 MBA are identical except for a faster cpu in the 2017. They share the same bootrom version too.

To clarify faster CPU the 2015 MBA had 1.6GHz i5 and the 2017 had 1.8GHz i5 CPU. That is the only difference...

The i7 CPUs used between the 2015 and 2017 MBA are the same at 2.2GHz.

 

[finarfinius]

i have the late 2013 model, so i should probably expect the hibernation issue

But i found out that there are 3 different working hibernation modes which can be set and may help by encountering those issues (like RAM only sleep)

 

[Audit13]

Disabling deep sleep or hibernation should eliminate panics related to hibernation by not letting the MBA copy of ram contents to the SSD and powering off the MBA.

Disabling hibernation will not prevent battery drain while the lid is closed.

 

[Walee]

My 2017 MacBook Air has no hibernation issues with the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 drive installed.

I have an early 2015 MBA, Intel 600p, small Sintech green adapter, and hibernation works without issue.

That's great news. Thank you!

 

[finarfinius]

I did end up buying

Samsung SSD SM951 NVMe 512GB, M.2 (MZVPV512HDGL-00000)
for 99 Eur (including shipping) / slightly used (benchmark was available)

(i went with this model, as the speed limit is 1400 anyway, so looked useless to buy a more expensive 970 or 960)

and

https://www.ebay.com/itm/222617863013
(i liked the options of screwdrivers being included)

will let you know how it works in my high end 2013 Macbook Air 11

 

[finarfinius]

Hi

All worked great, sleep works without issues!!!

i went from aprx.

Write 200 MBs to 1200, thats a 6x boost in write performance
and
Read from 600 Mbs to 1500, thats a 2.5 boost in read speed

 

[Audit13]

Hi

All worked great, sleep works without issues!!!

i went from aprx.

Write 200 MBs to 1200, thats a 6x boost in write performance
and
Read from 600 Mbs to 1500, thats a 2.5 boost in read speed

Is hibernation mode set to 25?

 

[finarfinius]

i installed clean Mojave and dint changed any hibernation settings

check in terminal reveals all ok and working on default mode
Admins-MacBook-Air:~ admin$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode
hibernatemode 3

 

[Audit13]

probably, i installed clean Mojave and dint changed any hibernation settings

To verify, run pmset -g from terminal. This will display global power settings.

With hibernation, opening the lid after the MacBook has been hibernating will display a loading progress bar as the SSD contents are loaded into ram before the login screen appears.

Thanks.

 

[finarfinius]

Hi, yup edited my prev. answer, hibernatemode is 3, which is default

Admins-MacBook-Air:~ admin$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode
hibernatemode 3

 

[Audit13]

Hi, yup edited my prev. answer, hibernatemode is 3, which is default

Admins-MacBook-Air:~ admin$ pmset -g | grep hibernatemode
hibernatemode 3

Thanks for checking.

Hibernate mode 25 is deep sleep. With mode 25, the MacBook may panic.

 

[finarfinius]

Thanks for checking.

Hibernate mode 25 is deep sleep. With mode 25, the MacBook may panic.

will watch out if i encounter Hibernate panic, but didn't encounter it for now

 

[Audit13]

will watch out if i encounter Hibernate panic, but didn't encounter it for now

You should not have sleep panics unless you enable mode 25.