Apple has been using Toshiba’s SSDs for MacBook Air. However, the latest update is Apple has switched to a more powerful SSD now; which is from Samsung! According to AnandTech report Apple may have started using faster Samsung SSDs in its new MacBook Airs.
Samsung SSDs found in newer shipments of the Macbook Air bear model number SM128C whereas the late 2010 Macbook Air shipments have the Toshiba solid state drives which bear model number TS128C. Now, an average joe may be least bothered about minimal changes of suppliers of merely part numbers, however, it turns out the shift from Toshiba to Samsung was made for a reason, which, the source explains:
The interesting aspect is that the SM128C models provide quite a nice performance bump in at least one performance metric. Benchmarks posted by users show that the SM128C manages up to 260MB/s read and 210MB/s write speeds. In our tests (and corroborating what users have reported), the TS128C only offers speeds of up to 210MB/s read and 185MB/s write. The SM128C also supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ) while the TS128C does not. The performance figures match the figures of Samsung 470 Seriespretty well, which Samsung quotes as providing up to 250MB/s read and 220MB/s write. The Samsung 470 Series uses Samsung’s own controller with model number S3C29MAX01-Y340.
There is no absolute confirmation yet that Samsung manufactures the SM128C, but all indicators point that way. Regardless of manufacturer, the SM128C appears noticeably faster in sequential read/write performance.
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