Apple's 2019 256GB MacBook Air Includes Slower SSD Than 2018 Model

The 2019 MacBook Air, refreshed last week, appears to have a slower SSD than the 2018 ‌MacBook Air‌, according to testing by French site Consomac. Using testing with the Blackmagic Disk Speed benchmarking test, the site found that the read speeds of the new SSD are lower.

A test of the 2019 ‌MacBook Air‌ with 256GB of storage demonstrated write speeds of 1GB/s and read speeds of 1.3GB/s. An equivalent model released in 2018 featured write speeds of 920MB/s and read speeds of 2GB/s. While write speeds are on par with the older machine (and are even slightly better), read speeds have dropped 35 percent.

blackmagicdiskspeedtest
Consomac also saw write speeds of 500MB/s in the 128GB 2019 ‌MacBook Air‌ and read speeds of 1.3GB/s, but this is similar to the performance of the 128GB 2018 ‌MacBook Air‌ as that machine also featured large differences between read and write performance. Higher capacity SSDs were not tested, but may display the same slight decline in performance.

The 2019 ‌MacBook Air‌ features an updated True Tone display and a price drop, starting at $1,099 instead of $1,199. Students are able to get the new machine even cheaper, with the ‌MacBook Air‌ now priced at $999 with educational pricing.

It's possible Apple went with slower SSD performance in order to drop the ‌MacBook Air‌'s price to a more affordable level, and it's not a change that most ‌MacBook Air‌ users are likely to notice in day to day usage of the machine, especially those upgrading from a much older model.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
top stories 2025 07 12

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, iOS 26 Beta 3, and More

Saturday July 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
The iOS 26 public beta release is quickly approaching, while developers have recently gotten their hands on a third round of betas that has seen Apple continue to tweak features, design, and functionality. We're also continuing to hear rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup that is now just about right around the corner, while Apple's latest big-budget film appears to be taking off, so read on...

Top Rated Comments

BigBoy2018 Avatar
78 months ago
The read and write speeds of SSD's are overrated. What matters a lot more in real world use is the access times.

Pretty much ANY SSD has access speeds 100 times that of a spinning hard drive, and that's where the real payoff is.

Only if you're copying super large files might you start to see the benefit of crazy fast read/write speeds. And even then, only if you're copying that super large file from and equally fast drive (otherwise the source drive will be the bottleneck).
Score: 69 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R3k Avatar
78 months ago
All you guys who own MacBook Air server farms are going to be pissed.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SoN1NjA Avatar
78 months ago
Alright guys let’s pretend to act surprised

Those price cuts had to come from somewhere :rolleyes:
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Elyzien Avatar
78 months ago
Does not matter how slow the SSD is when the CPU drops power by 50% because it is always over heating. You know why it is called the MacBook "Air", cuz you have to blow air on it while it is in use.

I always have fans blowing on my Gold Air & I have to use a fan control software to increase the internal fan; Apple has the fan trigger point too low!
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexandr Avatar
78 months ago
improvement after improvement!
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Elyzien Avatar
78 months ago
The read and write speeds of SSD's are overrated. What matters a lot more in real world use is the access times.

Pretty much ANY SSD has an access speeds 100 times that of a spinning hard drive, and that's where the real payoff is.

Only if you're copying super large files might you start to see the benefit of crazy fast read/write speeds. And even then, only if you're copying that super large file from and equally fast drive (otherwise the source drive will be the bottleneck).
Nice to see logic and brains make a comment for once.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)