Apple's MacBook Air Might Get Upgraded 500MB/s Samsung SSD

Apple's ultra-portable wonder, the MacBook Air, might get even more powerful than it is now, as reports suggest the Cupertino, California company could possibly update the MBA to include Samsung's recently launched PM830 SSD devices capable of reaching transfer speeds up to 500MB/s.

Apple is currently using a custom developed version of the Samsung PM810 solid state drive in the MacBook Air, after starting to move away from Toshiba SSDs in April of this year.

According to the tests run on these drives, they are capable of reaching sequential read and write speeds of 260MB/s and 209MB/s, respectively, which are quite respectable figures for a machine this size.

However, as 9to5 Mac reports, the Infinite Loop company may now be considering switching to Samsung's next-generation solid state drive, the PM830.

Announced just recently, the PM830 would be a major upgrade over the current PM810 since Samsung states it can achieve sequential read speeds up to 500MB/s, while sequential writes are rated at 350MB/s.

At these speeds the SSD should be even faster than the drives used inside the MacBook Pro, while also providing the same reliability that has been characteristic for Samsung's SSDs in the last two or so years.

In order to achieve the improved transfer speeds that the PM830 is capable of, Samsung has two introduce two new changes compared to the previous PM810.

The first one of these is course the new SATA 6Gbps interface, while the latter is the introduction of 2x-nm Toggle NAND Flash support, which will also help drive prices down, similarly to what Intel has experienced when it switched to 25nm IMFT Flash.

Samsung has already started to ship PM830 solid state drives to its OEM customers, but the Korean company hasn't divulged the identity of these clients.