The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip, of which we have already shared our analysis, comes with a key disadvantage that you should take into account before making the purchase. According to the benchmark carried out by Vadim Yuryev (via MacRumors), recognized youtuber of the Mac world, the new portable integrates a significantly slower SSD than its predecessor with M1. This statement is true, at least, in the model with 256 GB and 8 GB of RAM.
The speed of the SSD can be 50% slower, too high a percentage. Especially when you expect the MacBook Pro M2 to perform better in multiple sections like any generational jump.
Now, there is a specific reason that has caused the drop in SSD performance. Yuryev opened both computers and the answer quickly appeared: the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 has a single NAND chip, instead of two like the M1. This simple fact is what caused the speed of the storage drive to drop drastically. Of course, the difference is noticeable in both reading and writing speed:
Writing:
MacBook Pro M1: 2,215MB/s
MacBook Pro M2: 1,463MB/s
Reading:
MacBook Pro M1: 2,900MB/s
MacBook Pro M2: 1,446MB/s
In many of the activities that we carry out every day on our computer, the reading speed is usually the most important, and it is in this area where the MacBook Pro M2 falls far short of its counterpart with the M1.
As Yuryev rightly points out, some might think that this disparity in speeds is not too important, but it is not. The youtuber carried out several tests where it is verified that, indeed, MacBook Pro with M1 is faster when browsing the web or opening applications.
Why when apps open? macOS, like other operating systems, falls back to the SSD when RAM is full. In a computer that has 8GB of memory, it is not so strange that this situation arises, mainly when you are using applications aimed at the professional sector.
In general, when the MacBook Pro M2 is subjected to more complex tasks – like photo editing, for example – it will fall behind its predecessor due to the SSD. The difference may be a matter of seconds, yes; But again, not the performance you expect when you buy the newest computer.
To be honest, to this day many of us still don’t understand the reason for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2, at least not in the hardware features it offers beyond the new chip. Why does it keep the old design? What is still integrated into the Touch Bar?These are decisions that do not make much sense, even more so when the new MacBook Air M2 offers almost the same performance with a renewed design and even the MagSafe connector.