The Sony VAIO Z series apparently also uses Samsung SSDs. Any idea what model they are and how they compare to the P830 and/or the SSD in the new MacBook Pro?
It's the same situation as before with the 2011 MacBook Air: you can't know until you actually get it and boot it up (or physically open it, which'll be harder to do than simply booting it). Better to simply assume you would get the slower of the two... and if you don't, consider it a nice little surprise.
The MBPR is probably a lower volume SKU than the Air... If there is a tangible difference in performance between the two SSD it wouldn't be hard for them to reserve the Samsung exclusively for the MBPR and mix and match on the Air depending on supply.
as Anand put it, you can, you just check the vendor prefix in the SATA chipset, eg. on Anand it says: SM512E SSD - SM stands for Samsung, so if its Toshiba, it would be likely TS. :)
The great performance of the PM830 comes with the 1 drawback of a significantly higher power consumption. But that matters less now with the new 95Wh battery.
What still matters however is Apple's $2/GB+ configuration price for SSD upgrades. Most of us here only afford to justify the price of the base 2.3GHz model. That 256GB will need to be upgraded at some point for a higher capacity drive.
Its never going to be enough on ebay the 512 and 750GB Retina drives as hand-me downs. That market simply won't exist. We require a small PCB adaptor to wedge between Apple's proprietary connector and a standard mSata drive. For example Micron C400 and many others. The adaptor will be required to work at the 6Gb/s Sata 3 speeds.
OK i get it the retina is much better and with new design speakers etc. From the above mentioned benchmarks i get that I cant upgrade on my own now to a better SSD drive.
1. has the SSD 256GB version the same specs as the 512GB? 2. if i get the non retina mid 2012 MBP and I save some money to upgrade to a vertex 4 or to Intel's 520 wouldn't it be much faster?
It's not good enough to explain the terrible random performance as "likely optimized firmware for client workloads". If that claim is going to be made, we need to see a client workload benchmark showing that the MBPR SSD is indeed better in that scenario.
Also, since OS X provides whole-disk encryption via FileVault 2, we need benchmarks showing how the MBPR SSD performs with FV2 enabled. FV2 probably is one of the reasons why Apple went with a controller that works well with incompressible data. FV2 benchmarks have been done before, but it would be good to see if things have changed much with this device and Apple's firmware.
I would also like to see how file vault 2 performs in the new macbook pro retina. Unfortunately Anand has already published the full review and completely ignored this issue.
I was a little disappointed that the review missed important points like this! Anand stood out in the past for his in-depth high quality reviews but it seems reviews are more superficial now.
Good to see great performance results from the 512GB storage option of the new Retina models.
I want to order a new Retina with 768GB storage, wondering if i should wait for bench mark tests on the 768GB, or just assume it'll be the same as the 512GB ?
It'd be nice to be able to upgrade this thing at will, as I'm planning on getting it, and would rather upgrade at the regular price, rather than the premium price.
It's a pain that most everything on the rMBP is stuck just the way it is when you order it, for the life of the machine, but the Flash Storage Drive (SSD, if you will) is removable and upgradeable. It's just very hard to find an original Apple-supplied Samsung drive, but they are finally becoming available. http://www.ebay.com/itm/200858649301. Like the author says, there's no performance reason to swap in a third party SSD -- maybe that's a reason to stick with the Apple-supplied SSD model for later (non-BTO) upgrades.
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sonelone - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
When will the full review be done?shawkie - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
The Sony VAIO Z series apparently also uses Samsung SSDs. Any idea what model they are and how they compare to the P830 and/or the SSD in the new MacBook Pro?sixsh0t - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
I'm confused -- are they shipping Samsung AND Toshiba SSDs in the Retina Display MBP?If there's a performance difference between the two drives, how will you know which one you're getting if you order?
Can't wait for the full review -- especially of the Kepler card.
KitsuneKnight - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
It's the same situation as before with the 2011 MacBook Air: you can't know until you actually get it and boot it up (or physically open it, which'll be harder to do than simply booting it). Better to simply assume you would get the slower of the two... and if you don't, consider it a nice little surprise.noeldillabough - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
Unfortunately I checked my Air and its the Toshiba version…*sob*If and when I order a retina MBP how can I be sure it has the Samsung drive?
Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - link
You can't. However, so far I haven't seen any Toshiba SSDs in MBPR. Might be that it's Samsung only, though it's too early to say for sure.Impulses - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
The MBPR is probably a lower volume SKU than the Air... If there is a tangible difference in performance between the two SSD it wouldn't be hard for them to reserve the Samsung exclusively for the MBPR and mix and match on the Air depending on supply.zilab - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
as Anand put it, you can, you just check the vendor prefix in the SATA chipset, eg. on Anand it says: SM512E SSD - SM stands for Samsung, so if its Toshiba, it would be likely TS. :)andy o - Friday, June 15, 2012 - link
You can't until you have it, though.Seemone - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
"The dimensions of the SSD's PCB are physically different than the gumstick form factor used in the MacBook Pro"I think you mean "MacBook Air"
macuser2134 - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
The great performance of the PM830 comes with the 1 drawback of a significantly higher power consumption. But that matters less now with the new 95Wh battery.What still matters however is Apple's $2/GB+ configuration price for SSD upgrades. Most of us here only afford to justify the price of the base 2.3GHz model. That 256GB will need to be upgraded at some point for a higher capacity drive.
Its never going to be enough on ebay the 512 and 750GB Retina drives as hand-me downs. That market simply won't exist. We require a small PCB adaptor to wedge between Apple's proprietary connector and a standard mSata drive. For example Micron C400 and many others. The adaptor will be required to work at the 6Gb/s Sata 3 speeds.
georgi0 - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
OK i get it the retina is much better and with new design speakers etc. From the above mentioned benchmarks i get that I cant upgrade on my own now to a better SSD drive.1. has the SSD 256GB version the same specs as the 512GB?
2. if i get the non retina mid 2012 MBP and I save some money to upgrade to a vertex 4 or to Intel's 520 wouldn't it be much faster?
please comment and help me decide here..
tnx
dache74 - Thursday, June 14, 2012 - link
Do we know what SSDs Apple uses for BTO non-retina MBPs? Wondering if those are now also upgraded to 6 Gbps?inaboxx - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
Any idea on how the 768Gb model from BTO configuration compares to the 512 reviewed here? Is it a Samsung as well?sharpjs - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - link
It's not good enough to explain the terrible random performance as "likely optimized firmware for client workloads". If that claim is going to be made, we need to see a client workload benchmark showing that the MBPR SSD is indeed better in that scenario.Also, since OS X provides whole-disk encryption via FileVault 2, we need benchmarks showing how the MBPR SSD performs with FV2 enabled. FV2 probably is one of the reasons why Apple went with a controller that works well with incompressible data. FV2 benchmarks have been done before, but it would be good to see if things have changed much with this device and Apple's firmware.
cheesecake500 - Sunday, June 24, 2012 - link
I would also like to see how file vault 2 performs in the new macbook pro retina. Unfortunately Anand has already published the full review and completely ignored this issue.I was a little disappointed that the review missed important points like this! Anand stood out in the past for his in-depth high quality reviews but it seems reviews are more superficial now.
ramb0 - Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - link
Good to see great performance results from the 512GB storage option of the new Retina models.I want to order a new Retina with 768GB storage, wondering if i should wait for bench mark tests on the 768GB, or just assume it'll be the same as the 512GB ?
aolbites - Friday, August 10, 2012 - link
Is it just me or does that connector look like a Mini PCI Express connector as shown here. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8...It'd be nice to be able to upgrade this thing at will, as I'm planning on getting it, and would rather upgrade at the regular price, rather than the premium price.
danwolkenfeld - Tuesday, December 4, 2012 - link
It's a pain that most everything on the rMBP is stuck just the way it is when you order it, for the life of the machine, but the Flash Storage Drive (SSD, if you will) is removable and upgradeable. It's just very hard to find an original Apple-supplied Samsung drive, but they are finally becoming available. http://www.ebay.com/itm/200858649301. Like the author says, there's no performance reason to swap in a third party SSD -- maybe that's a reason to stick with the Apple-supplied SSD model for later (non-BTO) upgrades.