Apple M1 Thunderbolt Ports’ Transfer Speeds Aren’t As Fast As Advertised
Recent testing indicates that the M1 Mac Thunderbolt ports’ transfer speeds aren’t as fast as advertised by Apple. The good news is that this doesn't affect the internal drive, which is typically the most used storage and, in some cases, the only storage some users access. However, the slower speeds could have a negative impact on professional video editors or anyone that relies on super-fast external storage for daily use.
External storage is often used to back up data if something goes wrong with the primary drive or the operating system becomes infected with a computer virus. In this case, a Mac computer's Time Machine backup doesn't need to be fast. What's more important is reliability. In some cases, very slow media is used when there's a need to store vast amounts of information. For example, some companies use magnetic tape drives to store petabytes of data safely offline at a relatively low cost. One petabyte is equal to a thousand terabytes which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars if stored on solid-state drives.
Related: What Ports Does The Mac Studio Have? Thunderbolt, SD Card Reader, And More
While backup storage doesn't have to be fast, some users require the highest transfer rates possible to keep up with demanding tasks such as editing video at 4K or 8K resolution. In some cases, the computer must simultaneously access multiple streams of this high-bandwidth content for transitions and picture-in-picture effects. That's when performance that doesn't meet claims can cause a problem. Recent testing by artist and Mac developer Howard Oakley of Eclectic Light Company revealed Thunderbolt port transfer speeds that were much slower than expected. While all M1 systems should support USB 3.1 Gen 2 at 10
Read more on screenrant.com
