Level 1

0 points

13" MBP SATA interface downgraded to 1.5 Gigabit

I just checked my system information and the sata connection is reporting 1.5 Gigabit as the speed. I discovered this when I benchmarked my Vertex 60GB SSD and noticed that the speeds were a lot slower than before (I used to have a 15" umbp). Did apple downgrade the sata connection? This is a huge disappointment and very surprising.

13" MBP 2.2GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 12, 2009 11:38 AM

150 replies

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,591 points

Jun 13, 2009 2:55 PM in response to le.john.33

Same is true for the 15's. And, when I compare against my 2008 15, it's 1.5 too. Maybe Nvidia's chipset can't handle it?

Jun 13, 2009 3:31 PM in response to Kyn Drake

The chipsets are the same since the newest 13" mbp is still using the 9400m onboard. i compared the model number with a previous umb and they were the same as well. the big question is why would apple restrict or downgrade something like the sata interface? keep in mind that the previous 13" umb did have sataII 3.0, so why wouldn't the new one?

Jun 13, 2009 8:16 PM in response to teb

teb ur result shows that ur SSD and ur MBP is not effected..are u able to take screen shots of ur SATA see if it is shows SATA 1.5 or showing SATA 3??
it is interesting to see some MBP 13" have ones with SATA 3 and some with SATA 1.5...but majority i heard is SATA 1.5

Jun 13, 2009 8:28 PM in response to teb

teb looking at ur xench i can say your SSD is not running at it full capacity

i mean look at ur xbench mark for the random read and random right....for the 256k blocks none of the scores can go above 110 mbs, mine OCZ vertex is capped at 110

Uncached Read 551.99 102.43 MB/sec [256K blocks]
...when u and i know our drive can achieve much higher than this~~~

teb

Level 1

43 points

Jun 13, 2009 10:11 PM in response to cabbitbunny

I think that was my point in my posts here and MacRumors. While the SSD gives me a boost over the standard drive, there is no way to tell how much performance I'm not getting unless we find another 13" MBP that is running at SATA II.

I've spoken to Apple and have an open case. Waiting to hear back on Monday.

Jun 13, 2009 10:22 PM in response to fuzzielitlpanda2

Happy to trade my 2 month old MB for a new MBP. 🙂

heisetax

Level 1

8 points

Jun 13, 2009 11:05 PM in response to AboveTheChaos

It appears that the SD card slot on the 15" Intel MacBook Pro just to be another item like using SATA I rather than what has been standard for some years now, SATA II. Rather than adding the Pro name to the 13" model, Apple should have taken the Pro name off of the 15" model.

Now maybe some people will understand why I say that Steve Jobs is just a "used car salesman." A good one but still one.

Jun 14, 2009 10:53 AM in response to timborama

Just a quick question.
Will this affect the original non-ssd drive's performance?

teb

Level 1

43 points

Jun 14, 2009 11:04 AM in response to Community User

No, they aren't fast enough to hit the limits.

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Jun 14, 2009 11:17 AM in response to teb

teb wrote:
No, they aren't fast enough to hit the limits.

It could affect performance from/to the data buffer. It's not likely to affect speed for large transfers.

koxjdtc

Level 1

8 points

Jun 14, 2009 12:29 PM in response to teb

thx i had the same question, too

I've no intention to upgrade to ssd

so that won't be a problem for me ~

justit

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2009 2:41 PM in response to le.john.33

I wonder if the apple store will soon release an SSD option upgrade with full SATA.... at a premium price ofcourse.

Jun 14, 2009 3:50 PM in response to le.john.33

I hope something can be done about this! And I hope we find out soon, I ordered an intel x25-m to go with my new macbook pro, and if it isn't 3 gigabit I'll send both straight back..!

Jun 14, 2009 4:44 PM in response to le.john.33

I'm very interested by the fact you've been able to actually test the vertex with your uMBP 13" because I have a Vertex 120 and I can't get past OSX installer... It's hanging in the middle of the installation. According to OCZ forums, there a compatibility issue with the drive and the new MBP.

teb

Level 1

43 points

Jun 14, 2009 4:49 PM in response to maxbaillargeon

I've seen other people having problems. I bought the X25M drive and simply used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the contents from the original drive to the new drive. Then I booted off the new drive to test. Finally, I swapped drives.

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13" MBP SATA interface downgraded to 1.5 Gigabit