: 14 It supports both legacy SATA and PCI Express storage devices, with AHCI and NVMe as the logical device interfaces.
: 14 Ī high-level overview of the SATA Express software architecture, which also applies to M.2. While the support for AHCI ensures software-level backward compatibility with legacy SATA devices and legacy operating systems, NVM Express is designed to fully utilize the capability of high-speed PCI Express storage devices to perform many I/O operations in parallel. The M.2 specification supports NVM Express (NVMe) as the logical device interface for M.2 PCI Express SSDs, in addition to supporting legacy Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) at the logical interface level. Different M.2 connector keying notches denote various purposes and capabilities of both the M.2 hosts and modules, and also prevent the M.2 modules from being inserted into incompatible host connectors. It is up to the manufacturer of the M.2 host or module to select which interfaces are to be supported, depending on the desired level of host support and the module type.
Ĭomputer bus interfaces provided through the M.2 connector are PCI Express 4.0 (up to four lanes), Serial ATA 3.0, and USB 3.0 (a single logical port for each of the latter two). Employing a more flexible physical specification, M.2 allows different module widths and lengths, which, paired with the availability of more advanced interfacing features, makes M.2 more suitable than mSATA in general for solid-state storage applications, particularly in smaller devices such as ultrabooks and tablets. M.2 replaces the mSATA standard, which uses the PCI Express Mini Card physical card layout and connectors.
M.2, pronounced m dot two and formerly known as the Next Generation Form Factor ( NGFF), is a specification for internally mounted computer expansion cards and associated connectors.
Both the new M2 variant and the older M1 version of the Apple MacBook Pro 13 laptop featured the same starting price of US$1,299.A size comparison of an mSATA SSD (left) and an M.2 2242 SSD (right) The Max Tech video shows two instances where the slower SSD meant the M2 MacBook Pro 13 from 2022 lagged behind the M1 MacBook Pro 13 from 2020, in the Logic Pro Music Production test and in a Photoshop photo-editing comparison. It is important for those considering a purchase of the latest MacBook Pro 13 laptop from Apple to be aware of the considerable differences in storage speed that seems to be partly dependent on the amount of NAND chips installed. Fortunately, there are two NAND flash storage chips visible in our review of the 1 TB model of the Apple MacBook Pro 13 2022, although its benchmark results are hardly spectacular: 2,819 MB/s read speed and 3,036 MB/s write speed, with our review editor pointing out that Apple still relies on slower PCIe 3.0 drives, although laptops that come fitted with PCIe 4.0 SSDs out of the box are still pretty thin on the ground ( Eurocom Sky Z7, Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 6, etc.).
This apparent and deliberate flash storage chip reduction could also affect the 512 GB model of the M2 MacBook Pro 13, as the SSD performance as tested by zollotech also seems to struggle, producing a 2,080 MB/s read speed and 2,273 MB/s write speed in this instance. Yuryev’s results aren’t outliers either even our slightly more reserved M1 MacBook Pro results still leave the M2 model hanging (see table below). The M1 MacBook Pro’s SSD destroyed those marks, coming in 33.95% faster in write speed (2,215 MB/s) and a whopping 50.14% faster in read speed (2,900 MB/s). In the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the M2 MacBook Pro’s drive scraped together read and write speeds of 1,446 MB/s and 1,463 MB/s respectively. Unfortunately, a lack of current transparency means that a buyer of the 2022 MacBook Pro 13 may be lumbered with a slow SSD if they selected a 256 GB or 512 GB model.įor starters, Max Yuryev at Max Tech discovered that because Apple has only fitted one NAND flash storage chip into the 256 GB model of the M2 MacBook Pro, the SSD test results looked very poor against the 2020 Apple MacBook Pro 13 with M1 chip, which had a 256 GB SSD unit divided over two chips running in parallel.
In this case, a couple of YouTube-based reviewers have discovered that the SSDs in certain configurations of the M2 MacBook Pro 13 appear to have been affected by some crafty cost-cutting. Reviews of Apple’s M2-based MacBook Pro 13 have scattered across the Internet like wildfire, and while the laptop has received plenty of justified praise, it appears some of the painted-over cracks have started peeling to reveal some shocking secrets.