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Apple adds speedier SSDs to latest batch of MacBook Airs

by Michael Grothaus Apr 17th 2011 at 9:30AM

When the new MacBook Airs began shipping last October they sported Toshiba's Blade X-gale SSD (Solid State Drive). However, it appears that the latest batch of MacBook Airs uses a blade SSD from Samsung. Apple typically will use multiple vendors to supply the same parts for a particular product, as there usually isn't a performance difference in using parts from different vendors. However, in the case of MacBook Airs equipped with Toshiba SSDs and MacBook Airs with Samsung SSDs, there is a difference.

AnandTech has run some speed tests on the two blade SSDs and found that the original Toshiba device with the model number TS128C has a read speed of 209.8 MB/second and a write speed of 175.6 MB/second. That's slower than the newer Samsung SSD with the model number of SM128C. The Samsung SSD has a read speed of 261.1 MB/second and a write speed of 209.6 MB/second. While that read/write speed increase isn't astonishingly faster, it is noticeable in real-world use. It's also important to note that AnandTech can't confirm that the newer SSD is manufactured by Samsung, but it is likely that is who makes it since Apple has used Samsung SSDs before and because the performance of the SSD matches Samsung's 470 Series of blade SSDs.

So, how do you tell which blade SSD your MacBook Air is equipped with? Go to the Apple menu and select About This Mac. Click the More Info button to launch the System Profiler app, and then select Serial-ATA from the Contents source list. If you see Apple SSD SM128C, you have the newer, faster Samsung blade SSD. If you see Apple SSD TS128C, you have the older, slightly slower Toshiba blade SSD.



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When the new MacBook Airs began shipping last October they sported Toshiba's Blade X-gale SSD (Solid State Drive). However, it appears...
 

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17 Comments

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mulacs

Speedier?!? Go to hell.
This blog's linguistic standards are bloody awful, even by yank standards.

April 18 2011 at 3:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to mulacs's comment
tyten83

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the pond this morning.

April 18 2011 at 10:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tim

~200MB/ps ..is that it! It should be 1GB p/s.. some SSD are nearly that fast and I don't plan to buy anything that doesn't break that mark. For me its like the 1GHz barrier.

April 17 2011 at 2:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Tim's comment
Dave

I'm not aware of an consumer level drives that hit that. Which ones?

April 17 2011 at 2:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jdcampbe

Which Consumer SSD drives are at 1gbs?

April 17 2011 at 5:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rdnymllnsktr

If you cannot confirm that Samsung makes these SSDs, then why through the whole article do you call them "Samsung's", and in only ONE sentence, do you mention that they aren't guaranteed to be Samsung's?

April 17 2011 at 12:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Rdnymllnsktr's comment
Dave

Because they most likely are. They have similar characteristics to a known samsung product in a form factor that Samsung makes. It's deduction, yo'.

April 17 2011 at 2:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dfree01

I have checked my SSD and it shows APPLE SSD TS256C. Is that faster than the
Apple SSD SM128C?

April 17 2011 at 11:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to dfree01's comment
Cy Starkman

No but it is twice as spacious

April 17 2011 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan

the linked article doesn't go into much detail. I'd like to see what random read/write performance on small files to see what sort of real world results we'd see in everyday use.

i see the same issue with class ratings of sd/micro sd cards.

class 6 and 10 cards may seem real speedy and are great for large files/sustained read/write but if you look at the random read/write tests for small files you'll often see the that performance is pretty poor. a sandisk class 2 or 4 can often out significantly out perform many class 6 or 10 cards in all but sustained transfer speeds. this is crucial info and often over looked information if one is planning to run android off of sd cards in various products.



April 17 2011 at 10:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

Screens are still too small, drive capacity is still too small. Pass.

April 17 2011 at 10:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to mark's comment
crisss1205

Okay, then don't get this and get a MacBook Pro.

Its like saying I don't like the the Chevy Aveo because I want it to seat 10 people. Then the Aveo is not the car for you and you should get a Chevy Tahoe.

April 17 2011 at 11:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
myagci

He he... Of course if you have 256 GB SSD, then the model numbers will vary accordingly :)

April 17 2011 at 10:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
me

I think what you're talking about it the ability to yank the drive and throw it into an external enclosure if the computer dies. While I agree this is handy, it is reallly a poor way to retrieve lost data since there are many ways both the computer and the storage drive could be killed at the same time.

My favorite solution is online backup. You get continuous backups, and it's offsite. My service of choice is backblaze.

April 17 2011 at 10:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
uzombie

The real problem with these "blade" SSDs are, how are we to do a recovery?
Seems Apple put the kabash on 3rd party enclosures, and Toshiba hasn't released the Blades SSDs to consumers or retail.
Try finding a mSata enclosure. Remember: always have a backup plan.
Atleast OWC has an upgrade path for bigger (and pricier) drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

April 17 2011 at 9:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to uzombie's comment
Level 5

External hard drive over USB? You can also use Time Machine if a drive is connected to another Mac over the network. Not understanding where Apple's restricting anything really.

April 17 2011 at 10:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MRCUR

You use an external HD maybe?

April 17 2011 at 10:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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