Transcend JetDrive 820 PCI-E SSD line announced for 2013 and newer MacBook Pro, MacBook Ai...

Jump to First Reply
AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Flash and memory company Transcend has announced the JetDrive 820 PCI Express PCIe Generation 3.0 solid-state drive for certain Mac models -- but in some cases it will be slower than the stock drive in the machine.




Transcend's JetDrive 820, announced on Tuesday, utilizes the PCIe Gen 3.0 x2 interface to deliver read and write speeds of up to 950MB/s according to the manufacturer. The drive will come, with 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities shipping soon.

Compatibility is limited to the the mid 2013 through mid 2015 MacBook Pro, the 2014 Mac mini, the mid 2013 and later MacBook Air, and the 2013 Mac Pro.

The JetDrive 820 will be faster than the 2014 Mac mini's drive, if one is installed at all. Additionally, the 2014 MacBook Air, or 2013 MacBook Pro will see a small speed boost with the third-party drive.

The 2015 13-inch MacBook Air has write speeds of 630MB/sec, with read speeds of 1.3GB/sec. Transcend's drive hits 700MB/sec read and write according to the company's own benchmarks.

The 2013 Mac Pro also has 1.3GB/sec read speeds, but write speeds in excess of 900MB/sec with the factory drive. The Transcend 820 said to be around 650MB/sec.

The 2015 MacBook Pro has write speeds of 1.2GB/sec, with over 2GB/sec read speed. The 2014 model has write speeds of 900MB/s, with read speeds of around 1.2GB/s.




Pricing and availability are not yet known. All of the tools necessary for installation will be included.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    They should call when they have 4TB SSD's.   One of the big negatives with respect to SSD's is that they set the industry back at least a decade as far as internal storage capacities in laptops go.    Sadly part of that is due to chasing smallness and thinnest at the expense of capacity.
    rotateleftbyteAvieshek
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 12
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,070member
    I'm glad that this is ending the single third-party source of SSDs for these models. OWC needs a little competition.
    wonkothesaneajl
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 12
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    linkman said:
    I'm glad that this is ending the single third-party source of SSDs for these models. OWC needs a little competition.
    It probably would help if Apple documented the port and focused on engineering standards for hardware such as SSD's.  I'm really hoping Apple has learned its lesson with respect to proprietary hardware when there is no advantage to going with such hardware.
    GeorgeBMac
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 12
    appexappex Posts: 687member
    How does it compare to Samsung, which is the gold standard, in sequential and random (IOPS) read and write speeds?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 12
    StrangeDaysstrangedays Posts: 13,215member
    wizard69 said:
    linkman said:
    I'm glad that this is ending the single third-party source of SSDs for these models. OWC needs a little competition.
    It probably would help if Apple documented the port and focused on engineering standards for hardware such as SSD's.  I'm really hoping Apple has learned its lesson with respect to proprietary hardware when there is no advantage to going with such hardware.
    Fairly certain Apple has never pursued proprietary hardware when there was no advantage in doing so. I'm also fairly certain what you consider an advantage and what Apple considers an advantage are different things.

    Case in point, I love how light my mobile computers have gotten in recent years. I don't need a shit-ton of local storage on my notebook, because that's what my desktop is for. My notebook is for computing on the go, and I'm thankful it's lighter and easier to carry in my satchel.
    anomechiaGeorgeBMac
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,186administrator
    appex said:
    How does it compare to Samsung, which is the gold standard, in sequential and random (IOPS) read and write speeds?
    Samsung is not the gold standard. There is no "gold standard" in SSDs -- and Samsung doesn't make replacement drives for the 2013-2015.

    Why is it not the gold standard for SSDs in general? Look up 840 evo and 850 evo failures.

    Regardless, we don't have that data as Transcend hasn't published it yet, nor is the drive shipping.
    chiaGeorgeBMac
     0Likes 0Dislikes 2Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 12
    andyknasandyknas Posts: 5member
    linkman said:
    I'm glad that this is ending the single third-party source of SSDs for these models. OWC needs a little competition.
    I wonder if these support SMART, I couldn't find mention on the Transcend website. OWC does not.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 12
    smiffy31smiffy31 Posts: 202member
    wizard69 said:
    linkman said:
    I'm glad that this is ending the single third-party source of SSDs for these models. OWC needs a little competition.
    It probably would help if Apple documented the port and focused on engineering standards for hardware such as SSD's.  I'm really hoping Apple has learned its lesson with respect to proprietary hardware when there is no advantage to going with such hardware.
    The problem is, these 'standard' SSDs do not get anywhere near 2GB/s transfer speeds, and what exactly is not standard about PCI-e drives ?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 12
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,834member
    What do they mean mid 2013-2015 MacBook Pro? There was an early 2013 and late 2013, no mid 2013, do they mean mid 2012 since they use the same shell?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 12
    andyknasandyknas Posts: 5member
    Transcend reports that these drives do support SMART. OWC drives do not.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Applemaccerapplemaccer Posts: 1member
    When will these ship to the US?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,186administrator
    What do they mean mid 2013-2015 MacBook Pro? There was an early 2013 and late 2013, no mid 2013, do they mean mid 2012 since they use the same shell?
    The 2012 RMBP uses a different interface -- it's not PCI-E storage. These drives won't work on them.

    edited September 2017
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.