There's a lively discussion over at MacRumors where people who just bought the new 13" MBP are reporting that Apple has limited the SATA transfer speed to 1.5Gb. That's for 2.26 and also for 2.53 version. Previous UMBs have 3gb SATA. Someone claimed that he had a phone conversation with Apple engineering and was told that "it was done to reduce the cost". People are still trying to verify if this is just a bug that can be fixed or if this is in fact what Apple has done. (see Apple discussions) From what I've read, SATA transfer speed matters for people who plans to use SSD while its not much of an issue for people using Hard drives. However when SSD prices drops, and people can readily swap their HDD for SSD, it's a different story.
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? Thats one BIG wtf from Apple. Why would it be done to lower costs when its basically the same chip on the logic board? The 9400m controllers should be capable of 3gb SATA. The previous unibody MB is. edit: Although it seems users on regular hard drives won't have any problems...
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? I also started a thread in Notebookreview about it and a tester said that it registers a full 3gb SATA in Windows. So its probably a software issue. Then again if it is indeed true it will probably only affect those who plan to install SSD drives. Edit: Some people have tested it already and it is confirmed. The new Macbook Pro's Hard Drive access speed is actually capped to 1.5 Gb which means its slower then the older Macbook/Macbook Pros with the 3Gb SATA speed.
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? how can you test or check if it's 1.5 or 3GB? edit: eto ba yun? im using an older uMBP so it says 3GB
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? Yep. The older MBPs and MBs (bar the first 2 macbooks) are all on 3gb SATA. Not a big deal to worry about if you're not going to switch to an SSD though. Realistically, hard drives can only read/write data at 1.5gb SATA speeds.
New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces http://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/14/13-and-15-macbook-pros-have-a-slower-sata-interface/ This is disturbing news.... very disturbing news....
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces I guess the good news is, it only affects the folks who will be upgrading to a fast SSD in the future. Those with traditional hard disk will feel no difference. Still psychologically, it simply does not feel good when you know that a cheap 20K netbook has a faster hard disk I/O then your high end Macbook Pro.
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? So far it appears that both mid 2009 13" and 15" MBPs were affected. Some people who contacted Apple support we're told that they (Apple support) are not allowed to disclose any information on the matter. Also an article unearthed, states that "OCZ had to slow down its SSDs because Mac OSX can't handle the speed" The article quotes Tobias Brinkmann, OCZ's Director of Marketing EMEA, as saying, "The Mac version has different read and write specs due to Mac OS limitations." Further, the article stated that: Finally, the article disclosed that: ________ For anyone interested, you may know more about SSD from AnandTech's article "The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ" -- its a long read, but I think its worth it. ________ I wonder how things will turn out... If Apple really capped the transfer speed at 1.5Gbits, what's the reason? Also, if these machines can be fixed by firmware/software update later on.
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces Well I guess the cheaper macbook pro line isn't exactly an "upgrade" in some factors...
Re: 13" MacBook Pro only have 1.5gb SATA ? Wow, thanks for the links. So it seems like the 1.5Gb Speed of the current macbookpros shouldn't be a problem since there are software limitations in file read and write.
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces It really isn't so bad. All the non-unibody Macbook Pro are all 1.5 SATA anyway. So...
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces That's true. Also, to add to the information, i read from a similar thread that the Mac OS X has some limitations when it comes to data handling speed. When SSDs were used, it only was able to read at speeds of just under 300mb/s and writes at more or less 250mb/s. So in theory, a 1.5 S-ATA is more than what the OS can handle.
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces it was already discuss on this thread http://www.philmug.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=49681 moderators, please merge this two threads
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces people are jsut over reacting. if i can quote what another guy said. "Don’t you understand humans at all. Nobody wants to see a lowering of specs even if it makes no difference in normal use of the computer at all. They’re sure they just got shafted. They just know the specs show half the amount of speed and that’s enough to annoy the hell out of them. I guess they figure that their disk access is going to be half as slow or something, when it real life they probably won’t notice a difference at all. It’s all about theoretical maximum specs that make people happy in life. And now Apple has ruthlessly stolen one of their pleasures away."
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces Well no one in Philmug is over reacting
Re: New 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have slower SATA interfaces The slower SATA interface is unlikely to affect the bulk of users as even the fastest traditional hard drives are unable to saturate even the 1.5 Gbit interfaces. 1.) It appears nearly certain that the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros are all reporting a SATA interface running at 1.5Gb and not the faster 3.0Gb rate that has been in pretty common use for the last few years. These new models have the Secure Digital (SD) slot and also appear to have redesigned motherboards. 2.) Those who are using standard hard disk drives will probably see no difference in performance. If that is you, you can stop reading now. nuff said.
I dont know why people cover up for Apple...I mean, they withheld important specs information on their latest macbook / macbook pro launch, information that may affect the decisions of future buyers. True, those affected buyers may only comprise, say, 5% of potential buyers, but it is still unethical imho. SSDs are the future of storage, and if there is anything in the mb/p line that can affect either my decision to purchase an SSD option now, or in the near future, then it is my right as a consumer to be informed. The fact is, a NEW MBP with an SSD option purchased NOW is SLOWER than an MBP with SSD option purchased a few months ago. And Apple CONVENIENTLY WITHELD THAT INFORMATION whilst trumpeting the new SD-card slot and non-replaceable battery so as not to affect sales. Now EVEN IF i am a non SSD user and use a SATA drive, my upgrade path to SSD is now horribly crippled and apple didnt even bother to inform me. No matter how people may rationalize how "this wont affect the majority of users" or "its just theoretical maximum specs", it still affects a machine i will pay my hard-earned money for. If I pay premium (and i mean PREMIUM) peso for the latest, newest MBP, then the LEAST i can expect is it will be faster in every way over my old machine, and if not, then at least apple can inform me so. And no, i am not overreacting. Im just exercising my rights as a consumer to be properly informed regarding my purchase.
Good job in summing up current and future concerns. However, no word came out of Apple yet regarding this matter. I think it's best to wait for their response (hopefully) and see the real reason behind it. Anand just came up with an article: http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3582&p=2 ... and pointed out the most important issue: future-proofing nonetheless, no one's still certain what's the reason behind Apple's move.
I sure hope that this is correctable with a "firmware" update. I agree that all of us (with the exception of those who like to buy and sell their Macs frequently) would like our computer to last as long as possible. And SSDs is probably one of the 2 ONLY hardware upgrade we can do to our Macbook Pros to make it faster. Limiting that is like limiting the value of your computer. Talking about value, this issue may even affect the resale value of your MBP especially when SSD becomes more affordable - hopefully by next year.
I doubt very much if SSDs will reach the price/capacity value of standard or traditional hard disks by next year. The cheapest SSDs in the local market is a 30 gb model selling for 9K. That is at least 3 times the price of the cheapest 300 gb hard drive model. Although SSDs are a little bit faster, the difference really is a few milliseconds and it won't be much of a performance boost for notebooks or desktop machines. And then there's the superfast 10000 RPMs hard drives that is just as fast and still cheaper (e.g. Velociraptors). SSDs real value is in the area of durability, with mean time before failure (mtbf) higher than "de-platos", possibly making them ideal for mission critical servers.
