Apple fixed the slow storage speed that plagued M2 Macs on the M3 MacBook Air. Early testing indicates the entry-level M3 MacBook Air delivers significantly faster read/write speeds than its predecessor.
The slow SSD transfer speed only affected entry-level M2 Macs due to them using a single-chip NAND.
M3 MacBook Air with 256GB storage gets a big SSD speed boost
On M2 Macs with 256GB of storage, Apple used a single-chip solution instead of two storage chips. On 512GB and higher configurations, it used a multichip solution. This enabled SSDs on machines with 512GB or more storage to offer faster read/write speeds, since the chips could process the task in parallel.
This was a regression from M1 Macs, with tests showing a decline in performance between 30% and 50%. While this might not make a difference in daily use, the slower SSD speed would be evident when transferring large files and opening/running heavy apps.
Apple acknowledged using a higher-density 256GB storage chip on entry-level M2 Macs last July. However, it said this should not impact real-world performance.
As YouTuber MaxTech shows in his 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 teardown video, the new machine uses two 128GB storage chips. This ensures the SSD delivers better performance than the M2 model, with benchmarks indicating 33% faster write speeds and a whopping 82% faster read speeds.
Dual storage chips bring a big performance jump
Such a big performance jump should be easily noticeable when running processor-intensive apps. Add the dual external monitor support, and the M3 MacBook Air packs compelling changes over its predecessors.
While the YouTuber only tested the 13-inch MacBook Air, the same changes should apply to the 15-inch model. You can read our M2 versus M3 MacBook Air comparison to learn about other upgrades that make the new models better.
Most average users might not notice the faster SSD speeds on the entry-level M3 Airs. But if the slower speed bothered you on M2 Macs, you no longer need to upgrade to 512GB of storage for faster SSD speed on the new M3 Airs.
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