Apple’s 13-inch 256GB MacBook Pro M2 may have worse SSD performance than the equivalent M1, according to testing by YouTube’s Max Tech and Created Tech sites seen by MacRumors. The base model for $ 1,300 showed about 50 percent lower read speeds (1,446 MB / s compared to 2,900 MB / s) with write speeds 30 percent lower.
Max Tech opened the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 and found that it only has one 256GB NAND flash chip for storage instead of two 128GB chips like the previous M1 model. This would mean that the device can only use two lanes in parallel, so performance is limited to the speed of one lane.
The higher-end 512GB and 1TB models don’t seem to suffer from the problem, and many review units (like ours) come in a 1TB configuration. The model’s slower disk speeds of 256 GB can affect application loading, file transfer, and data retrieval times. Overall performance can also be hit, as virtual memory (used when RAM is full) will be slower and the base model has only 8 GB of RAM.
It is not clear why Apple changed the configuration of this model, although the global shortage of chips may be a factor. Either way, this is something to keep in mind if you’re looking to buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro M2.
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