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Apple quietly updates MacBook Air with faster SSD

Teaser
The new SSD reportedly benchmarked at 260 MB/sec read speed and 210 MB/sec write speed, an improvement over the 210 MB/sec read and 175 MB/sec write of the previous SSD model.

While Apple has yet to refresh the MacBook Air for 2011, the current 2010 model introduced last year is still quite impressive in the thin-and-light category. Now, recent reports are revealing that some current models manufactured this year have been upgraded with a faster SSD.

According to reports from AnandTech, a number of newly manufactured MacBook Airs contain a different model SSD than what has been used before. This new SSD, identified as model SM128C, is reportedly almost 25% faster in read speed and 20% faster in write speed. Additionally, AnandTech confirms Native Command Queuing support for the SM128C, which could be responsible for the significant increase in performance that the new model brings. Although unconfirmed, the model naming scheme hints towards Samsung as the manufacturer, especially considering that the SM128C is performing at similar benchmark scores to the Samsung 470 Series of SSDs.

Up until this recent discovery, all 2010 MacBook Airs equipped with SSDs have been shipping with the Toshiba TS128C. With any luck, the sudden presence of the faster SM128C drives could be indicating that all newly produced 2010 models would eventually include the Samsung drive, and do away with the slower Toshiba drive all together.

See our review of the 13-inch 2010 MacBook Air here.

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Allen Ngo, 2011-04-17 (Update: 2012-05-26)