The M2 flash memory of the MacBook Air is slower with the 256 GB configuration.

The flash memory in the base model of the new MacBook Air M2 is slower in benchmarks and in real-world use than the higher-capacity models with 512GB of storage and above.

• Teardown videos and Apple itself confirmed that the 256GB configurations of the new M2 MacBook Air and Pro are slower than higher capacity configurations.
• Need faster flash storage on your MacBook Air? You’ll then need to upgrade the base model to a 512GB model for an additional $200.
• The RAM and NAND flash chips are soldered to the motherboard, which means you can’t add more RAM or storage to these things after you sell them.

Why does MacBook Air M2 256GB have slower memory

Why on earth should the Air be based on slower flash memory? Some nasty move by greedy Apple to push us into buying more expensive configurations, right? This is most likely due to the ongoing supply chain and chip shortage issues.

YouTube channel Max Tech has confirmed that the base model Air has exactly the same storage configuration as the base 13-inch M2-powered MacBook Pro, which also suffers from slower storage. And surprisingly, both use the same NAND chip. All other storage configurations come with multiple NAND chips. And because multiple NAND chips work in parallel, flash read and write performance is superior in all configurations except for 256GB single NAND models.

Apple spokeswoman Michelle Del Rio told The Verge:

Thanks to the M2 performance boost, the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are incredibly fast, even when compared to Mac laptops with the powerful M1 chip. These new systems use new higher-density NAND memory that provides 256 GB of storage using a single chip. While tests of 256GB SSDs may show a difference compared to the previous generation, real-world performance of these M2-based systems is even better.

To summarize, the base 256GB MacBook Air M2 has a single NAND chip. Meanwhile, high-memory configurations (512GB and above) use two NAND chips to achieve almost twice the speed. Verge tested the flash memory performance of both the base 256GB MacBook Air M2 and the 512GB model using the Blackmagic Disk Speed ​​Test app. The results confirm that the base Air model has slower flash memory, with write speeds 15% to 30% slower than the 512GB model and read speeds 40% to 50% slower.

So which M2 MacBook Air configuration should you buy?

So what can you do about it? If you’ve already bought a new 256GB MacBook Air, nothing. If you are still thinking about buying, you have two options. First, you can add a 256GB MacBook Air M2 to your shopping cart at apple.com/store/ and use build-to-order options to upgrade your flash storage to 512GB for an additional $200.

Or, and this is what we recommend to everyone, you should buy the 256 GB configuration. That’s an extra $300, but you’ll also get an M2 chip with ten graphics cards instead of eight and Apple’s new 35W charger (the base model comes with an eight-core GPU and the old 30W single USB power adapter). -C port).