Compared to last year's MacBook Air (Toshiba) you get a huge boost in sequential read/write performance. In regular use I doubt you'd notice a huge performance difference between the two, but if you want the fastest drive you want the Samsung. The Samsung drive has much better random and sequential performance, maxing out the 3Gbps interface when it comes to sequential reads. The SM prefix indicates a Samsung drive while the TS indicates Toshiba:īoth controllers are limited to 3Gbps operation (neither company has released a 6Gbps controller) but performance does vary pretty significantly between the two:Ģ011 MacBook Air SSD Performance Comparisonġ3-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) - Toshiba SSDġ1-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) - Samsung SSDġ1-inch MacBook Air (Late 2010) - Toshiba SSD You can tell what controller you have by looking at the model string in a System Report from your machine. My 13 had a Toshiba based drive while my 11 had a Samsung drive. While Toshiba and Samsung may not perform as well as the aforementioned controller makers, they've definitely had fewer issues. Toshiba and Samsung offer much better pricing and don't mind being silent members of the supply chain. Using a custom form factor, Apple partnered with Toshiba (and later Samsung) to build value SSDs for the MacBook Air line.Īlthough Apple has tested solutions from Intel, Marvell and SandForce, to date it hasn't opted to ship any of them to market. Last year's MacBook Air was the first Mac to ship without a mechanical hard drive or an option to install one.

Macbook pro early 2011 ssd