The base model of Apple’s latest Mac mini with 256GB of storage might be an attractive purchase at just $599, but there is one major compromise that the company did not mention, and why would it? That major drawback was a single NAND memory chip comprised of 256GB of internal memory, resulting in slower read and write speeds. Instead, one YouTuber shows why it would be prudent for customers to pick up the M2 Pro version with 512GB of storage instead.
512GB storage version of the M2 Pro Mac mini has two NAND flash memory chips, with read and write speeds going up to a whopping 3GB/s
With YouTuber Luke Miani getting his hands on the more powerful M2 Pro Mac mini, the first thing he did was give it the teardown treatment. After getting access to the innards, the content creator finds out that the model that he has, which features 512GB of storage, sports two NAND flash memory chips instead of one on the 256GB model. This change might appear small to regular consumers, but it is actually a huge deal.
Having two NAND chips soldered to the logic board will significantly increase read and write speeds, with Luke saying that the chips are located on both sides of the motherboard in order to make use of the compact space. The benchmark the YouTuber ran reveals that read and write speeds reached 3GB/s, whereas, on the 256GB model, the results were basically half that.
It is unclear why Apple is taking this approach, though our first guess would be that the company is attempting to preserve component costs by employing a single NAND flash for the 256GB model. Apple followed this hardware change with last year’s M2 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Air, and you can guess that the decision was not appreciated by many.
In any case, if you care about high read and write speeds, which will no doubt make your M2 Pro Mac mini faster and more responsive, we recommend getting the 512GB storage version. The M2 Mac mini on Amazon with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU costs $799, while the one with the M2 Pro SoC costs $1,299.
News Source: Luke Miani
