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Is the slow TB/USB-4 ports due to a bug in M1 chips or Apple intentionally made it slow so we buy higher capacity SSD from them?
- Thread starter hajime
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No because they are not slow. Get a proper TB or USB4 enclosure and they are extremely fast. I get 3100MB/s Read and 2900MB/s write on my Mac Studios and MacBook Pro w/ with the M1 Max.
Your numbers are about the range I have been seeing. An enclosure manufacturer just told me that such lower than expected speed is due to a "bug" in the M1 chip. I think I read something about such limitation on the M1 Mac and M1 iPad in other threads.
For ethernet connection, is 10Gbps achievable?
For ethernet connection, is 10Gbps achievable?
the question makes no sense. We would have to purchase the mac, find out it was a bit slower than we thought (even though it isn’t) wait until we wanted to upgrade, and then buy a larger ssd in the hope to shave a few seconds? Talk about the long game.
Apple would need to be totally dedicated in their attempt to really swindle their customers. I know that’s a popular thought around here but I highly doubt this is what’s happening here.
Apple would need to be totally dedicated in their attempt to really swindle their customers. I know that’s a popular thought around here but I highly doubt this is what’s happening here.
These are close to the theoretical maximum one can get with a TB3/4 connection. It's not going to get better than that. Why do you think this is "much lower than expected?"
If you get a junk enclosure with a cheap controller chip, expect junk speed. In addition, some of the enclosure manufacturers and NVMe manufacturers have issues with their firmware and that's not an Apple problem. Finally, you can't get the USB 3.2 2x2 20GB/s devices--Apple has never supported those. If you want fast, get Thunderbolt certified.
the ethernet speed issue appears to be related to which RealTek chip is used in the adapter.
the older version of the chip is slower when used with the M1 macs.
this was brought up in another thread you were involved in.
Everything suffers are usb based devices, not Thunderbolt based devices.
10Gbps is solid and stable on my M1 and M1 Max.
It’s an internal drive……. They’re always faster.
And you’re comparing it to apples internal drive which is one of the fastest available, even compared to what is on PC
Another thing to consider is that Apple’s IO implementation is security-first, with much stricter device isolation than many others, and it might have an impact on performance. And of course, it’s their first-gen implementation, it still might lack maturity. But no, they are not throttling the performance on purpose. That would be stupid.
P.S. I am not trying to defend Apple or justify their IO performance deficits, just wanted to point out some things that might be relevant.
P.S. I am not trying to defend Apple or justify their IO performance deficits, just wanted to point out some things that might be relevant.
The limitation is with TB4 / USB4 and not the SSD.
The maximal theoretical bandwidth of TB4 is around 4000MB/s, probably lower in practice.
Right.
40 Gbps * 1 Byte / 8 bits = 5GB/s. But a single Thunderbolt device is limited to PCIe 3.0 x4 = 4 * 8 GT/s * 128 bits / 130 Transfers = 31.5 Gbps. * 1 Byte / 8 bits = 3938 MB/s
An NVMe connected to a real PCIe 3.0 x4 slot can do around 3500 MB/s.
An NVMe in a Thunderbolt enclosure is limited to ≈ 3000 MB/s.
I heard some rumors that Apple has been working on this M1 design for the last 5 years (which lines up when Apple got frustrated with Intel). I wouldn't be surprised if there is a bottleneck/old design somewhere. But I think people need to cool it down a bit thinking every little thing is malicious by Apple to get more money. There could be a fixable bug, it could be M1 architectural flaw, or its just the limits of the ports as others have stated.
Also, external while about 90% efficient will not 100% match an internal connection.
Also, external while about 90% efficient will not 100% match an internal connection.