Recently, updated MacBook Pro 13 models with M2 processors went on sale. The first reviews showed that the drives of the “basic” models with a capacity of 256 GB are slower than those in previous versions of these laptops. The new MacBook Air seems to have followed the same path.

Monica Chin of TheVerge drew attention to the slower drives in the MacBook Air as well. Apple has confirmed that the memory configurations of both models are the same. But it didn’t stop Monica from conducting basic tests of the speed of writing and reading data.

We will remind you that in the updated MacBook Pro 13 such a situation arose due to the number of memory chips. Previously, the 256GB models used two separate 128GB chips. Now it’s a single chip of the appropriate capacity that does all the work.

Back to the new MacBook Airs, TheVerge’s 256GB and 512GB test models showed a 15 to 30% difference in write speed and a 40 to 50% difference in read speed in favor of the larger model. The difference was especially noticeable in the test with larger file sizes. The BlackMagic Disk Speed ​​Test program was used for the tests.

MacBook Air M2 256GB (1GB and 5GB file test):

MacBook Air M2 512GB (1GB and 5GB file test):

So, having purchased a new MacBook Air with 256 GB in the drive, when working with large files, you can expect a write speed of 1573.7 MB/s and almost the same read speed — 1536.3 MB/s. From the “older” model, you can get 2187.7 and 2824.4 MB/s, respectively. The results are not bad in any case, but considering the faster “base” models of the previous model, and the even higher price of the new model, the situation is a little disappointing.