
2018 MacBook Pro Has Fastest SSD Ever - lleddell
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/2018-macbook-pro-benchmarks
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brianpgordon
> 2018 MacBook Pro Has Fastest SSD Ever

This title is misleading. I have a faster SSD in my year-old home desktop.
They say in the article that they mean the fastest SSD they've ever seen in a
production laptop.

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dogma1138
No you don’t, that speed is for an OS level copy not the advertised max seq
write speed.

I have the 960 pro in raid and I don’t get more than 2000-2200 MB/s when
copying a files of that size on an actual file system.

Based on the copy speed vs advertised speed I would put the max seq write
speed of that drive at least in the 3000 MB/s range this is at least as fast
as the 970 evo in its largest capacity if not faster since Apple tends to use
Sammy SSDs I’m betting that this is a newer version of the PM981 which might
some day be released as the 980 evo or even pro.

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satysin
My XPS 15 shipped with a PM981 (1TB) and while it is fast it isn't as fast as
the speeds in the article. However I think this is more down to Apple
"cheating" at the file system level with delayed write and snapshots or
whatever other tricks they are using.

Also the PM981 is the same tech as used in the 970 EVO. Samsung have also had
the SM line previous which was the same tech as used in the PRO line but there
doesn't seem to be an SM981 so maybe they are no longer doing OEM MLC?

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dogma1138
It’s not the PM981 but it quite possibly be a newer version of it, the WD
Black reaches speeds of 2800 MB/s in its 1TB version so it’s not unreasonable
that a Sammy refresh of the 981/970 will be at least as fast as the newer WDs.

And while Apple can cheat at least on the mid 2015 15” MBP with a 1TB NVME I’m
not getting any speeds that aren’t in line with my drive this is on a Mojave
preview with APFS.

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satysin
I will have to test on my 2018 MBP when it arrives in a couple of weeks. Will
be interesting to see side-by-side against the PM981.

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kraftman
[https://www.anandtech.com/show/12167/the-microsoft-
surface-b...](https://www.anandtech.com/show/12167/the-microsoft-surface-
book-2-15-inch-review/3) this seems to disagree.

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bcheung
So Copy on Write (essentially NOPs) are now being counted towards disk
performance tests?

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xt00
Also, apple is using the new file system that makes things like copying files
more efficient (not sure how exactly), but sounds like the test is going to
make the mac look awesome even though many people who pay extra for a 1 TB
samsung EVO 960+ SSD are going to be matching apple's performance..

For example, my 2012 MBP uses a Samsung EVO 960 SSD and yes its super fast..
and I didn't have to pay $4000 for the computer..

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nodesocket
A new 13" with 16 GB of memory, 256 GB SSD, and 2.3GHz quad‑core
8th‑generation i5 is $2,000. Half your quoted $4,000.

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xt00
In my case an i5 with only 256GB SSD and 13" is not so great.. and I would
prefer to replace my 15" MBP from 2012 with a 1TB SSD and 16GB ram and an i7
with also a 15" MBP with similar class stuff.. I guess maybe if I got used to
using an external monitor always then the 13" would be nice, and I would just
use an external mouse and keyboard -- but then its not clear why I'm buying
the mac since the display and trackpad are typically some of the selling
points. Keyboard used to be, but not so much anymore..

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nodesocket
Something I noticed that is interesting is the 13" models run 2133MHz LPDDR3
while the 15" models run 2400MHz DDR4. Both are 8th generation Intel's. Does
that mean they run different chipsets?

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bgentry
This was a necessary tradeoff in order to offer 32GB RAM in the 15" machines.
After years of delays, Intel's chipsets still do not support LPDDR4. It's
possible that it's still the same chipset on both machines, though.

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nodesocket
So the 2400MHz DDR4 is obviously faster because of the increased bus speed
right? LP just mean low power.

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iClaudiusX
That depends on the clock cycle latency but ceteris paribus yes, a higher
frequency at the same timings would have higher bandwidth.

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throwaway5580
Hold up, doesn't APFS mean that just copying files is instant because they're
not being "physically" copied? Does anyone know if BlackMagic Disk Test
actually touches the files?

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dogma1138
Black magic writes files to disk however they should use a cross platform
benchmark.

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notadoc
Great.

When can we get a pro MacBook Pro without the non-pro Touch Bar and with a pro
reliable keyboard?

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nodesocket
Agree, not useful. I have a 2017 with Touch Bar, and don't think I have used
it more than a few times and that was just tinkering and boredom.

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notadoc
I use the hardware escape key and function keys dozens if not hundreds of
times per work day, and like most touch typers the last thing I want to do is
look down at my fingers ever to type anything, let alone at some microscopic
screen to fidget around with some tiny screen menu system to find a weirdly
indented digital escape key, brightness adjustments, audio buttons, or fn
keys. It creates complexity where none was needed and where nobody asked for
it.

I really have no idea who the Touch Bar was built for, or what it was made
for. It's certainly not for pro users.

