Do M1 Pro and Max MacBook Pro have 20Gbit/s USB3.2?

jilbert wrote:

Does anyone know if the Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 ports on the new M1 Pro and M1 Max 14" and 16" 2021 MacBook Pros support USB3.2 Gen2x2? They must support 10Gbit/s USB3.2 Gen2x1, but Gen2x2, which is 20Gbit/s, is optional to implement in the USB 4 standard, and I don't think has been supported by any previous model of Mac.

There are some good value 20Gbit/s USB3.2 SSD drives available, but I'll buy something else for expansion if they'll only run at 10Gbit/s.

Tech specs— https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/

Why? Because we want to know. Just that. For instance, Kingston XS2000 Portable SSD

https://www.kingston.com/unitedstates/us/ssd/xs2000-portable-usb-c-solid-state-drive

delivers around 1,000 MB/s on older Macs, yet it should deliver around 2,000 MB/s on computers supporting USB3.2 Gen2x2. There is a huge 2x difference. Search google and you will find real-world and other benchmarking confirming that. That is why we want to know if the new Macs support it.

Could someone with a Mac with M1 Pro or M1 Max chips test an external SSD with USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) = 2,000 MB/s and let us know the speed using applications like Aja System Test Lite (free at App Store)? That is the only way to be sure. Thanks.

Why do you need to know this? The speed will vary with different SSD’s, different size SSD, the amount of data stored in the SSD, and different kinds of data. Not all SSD’s have the same read/write speed. My internal late 2013 SSD transfers at about 390 Mb per sec(megabytes is 1/8 of that). But my 512 GB SSD on my new M1Pro has been clocked by others at 5200 mb per second.

If you don’t like the transfer speeds on a mac then buy a PC. Lots of people do and never know the difference.

Someone did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4o9OoH4afo&t=447s

Thanks, but not really. That is an interesting testing, but does not include testing with USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) = 2,000 MB/s, which is what we a looking for. So, the hunt continues.

Yeah, I just saw a USB 4 enclosure for $210 on Amazon. For what it is (an empty case) I don’t think it is worth it yet (hope prices drop soon)