Put a 1TB SD card in the port and use it for a Time Machine backup!!
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M1 Max MBP has all these unnecessary ports….WTF?!
- Thread starter AdonisSMU
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Yes, if I had an SD card slot, I could keep videos on it to free up onboard SSD space. I could connect an external drive but that is clumsy flopping around on a portable device.
Great idea. Some people just like to complain.
Maybe a company can come up with a plastic protective cover that covers up all the ports outside of USB-C to bring the inconvenience back for them.
While I don’t care for the return of the SD Card slot, SD Cards are used on most trail cams, DSLRs, video cameras and an assortment of professional sound recorders. While I prefer an external reader, many different devices use an SD Card and some users will benefit from this card slot being included on the new MBP.
Unnecessary ports? Have you checked what port TV’s use? It is the standard.
I have several SD cards that I manage, and my 2013 15” MBP can do it natively, but my 2 DongleBooks Pro cannot do it without, you guessed it, dongles. So it is not an unnecessary port.
All the 4-ports of my DongleBook Pro’s are occupied by dongles just to have basic functionality that any normal laptop should have.
The 16” M1 Max is a huge improvement to this dongle situation.
I have several SD cards that I manage, and my 2013 15” MBP can do it natively, but my 2 DongleBooks Pro cannot do it without, you guessed it, dongles. So it is not an unnecessary port.
All the 4-ports of my DongleBook Pro’s are occupied by dongles just to have basic functionality that any normal laptop should have.
The 16” M1 Max is a huge improvement to this dongle situation.
Sorry, but anyone who presents regularly but doesn’t have the correct dongle with them (if they need one) is unprepared and just plain unprofessional.
That said. An integrated HDMI port could be nice I guess for some niche cases like someone in a non professional setting deciding last second they want to connect their laptop to a screen. To me though there really is no compelling benefit over just packing a tiny little multiple port dongle in my laptop bag. I guess ymmv. Given the choice, I’d rather have 4 usb-c ports over an HDMI port and sad card built into the computer.
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First of all, you wouldn't get 2. You would get 1. Maybe. There are only 3 Thunderbolt controllers. The SD and HDMI are handled differently. They would have to add a fourth controller.
Second, you now have a dedicated Thunderbolt controller per Thunderbolt port, meaning each of these 3 are 2x capable compared to the previous gen. So it is more like 6 of the old machine's Thunderbolt ports.
Third, how can you possibly make an argument that a 4th Thunderbolt is better than HDMI and SD? You already have 3. 3 on a laptop is more than enough potential. You can run a lot of high performance peripherals off just ONE of these ports. The SD and HDMI are there purely for convenience, and anyone who uses these machines in daily life knows what that means.
There is simply no reasonable argument that says a better solution for most people, or any people, is a FOURTH freaking Thunderbolt instead of TWO convenience ports.
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It is unprofessional to use a DongleBook Pro for work in this case as it is not the right tool for the job.
I think that is probably a bandwidth limitation. HDMI 2.1 can use up to 48Gbps, more than TB3 supports.
It's also possible that the TB3 bandwidth is shared across the 3 TB3/USB4 ports, the HDMI 2.0 and the SDXC port, and even worse, this *may* be across only 2 TB controllers as in the M1. I hope not, but I haven't seen this confirmed. That would mean the HDMI port potentially only has 20Gbps....just enough for HDMI 2.0 but no-where near enough for HDMI 2.1.
Laptops shouldn't have to look like this to conveniently connect things widely used across you know...the GLOBE?
Fair enough, but it's just another thing to go wrong isn't it? I've lost dongles, or lent them to people who then disappear, and had dongles that inexplicably don't work with certain cables or displays. Or sometimes you're asked to do an ad-hoc presentation that you didn't plan for (quite often happens) and didn't pack the dongle - so you have to always carry a bag of adaptors "just in case". It just adds stress.
I love all the ports! Thanks for bringing them back, Apple!!
can you recommend SD cards that won't stick out?Well, HDMI is good for plugging into the company projector or any old TV in the spur of the moment -- no carrying a dongle around.
The SD card reader is really nice for carrying enough stuff around to totally erase your Mac and reinstall everything without downloading anything, plus any document backups you might need. You will be able to buy one that fits flush to the case, so it doesn't stick out any and you just leave it there, no dongle, no carry around the card.
Magsafe is better than USB-c for power, constantly pugging in and unplugging a USB-c port will eventually wear something out.
Sounds good to me!
That said, I like lots of ports, a couple USB-A's would have been nice too.
A DongleBook Pro doesn’t natively support HDMI while professional workstation laptops do support it natively without 3rd party solutions.
So if your job requires the usage of a HDMI port, the DongleBook Pro is a terrible choice and better get a normal workstation laptop that has these ports natively.
Good points. I guess in my experience it was never a big deal. Pre-covid, I traveled over 250,000 butt-in-seat air-miles per year visiting hundreds of client & firm offices in that time. In my bag was my single GaN charger + a cable + a single little multi-port adapter which never let me down and I managed to not use.
My adapter is no longer made, but it is similar to this and cost like $25: https://smile.amazon.com/uni-Ethern...c+adapter+hdmi+ethernet&qid=1635383361&sr=8-5
I'm cheap, and I'm a fanatic about minimalistic packing (traveling 1 day to 1 month with a single 26L backpack)...and I never found carrying this one adapter to be onerous or problematic in any way.
That said... don't want to knock anyone who likes the HDMI port, I just personally see no real benefit.
I said it another thread, and I'll say it here as well:
From a consumer standpoint you may be right on a couple of things here...
.. but you also have to understand that the MBP wasn't just made for the consumer.
Businesses could use that HDMI port, especially if needing to set up for meetings, demonstrations, product pitches, etc, without having to pull out various dongles to get things set up. Same for MagSafe, as it's an easy disconnect without potentially ruining the USB-C cord, let alone the port.
Besides, with USB-C being there, there could be the ability to simultaneously charge by MagSafe as well as by passthrough USB-C, giving you the ability to charge your Mac faster.
Sometimes one needs to look outside the scope of their own use to see what other potential uses everyone may have.
BL.
I specifically bought the M1 Pro 16" today because it has the SD card reader.. Just because you don't think it's necessary doesn't mean someone else won't find it very useful. I still have to get a something to plug a CF card into but this is a start. I'll never use the HDMI port.
I'm afraid the HDMI port will collect dust over time and affect the computer. Unnecessary worry? Hopefully someone can create a metal plug for the HDMI port that's flush
You realise there are more cameras than DSLRs, right? Drones, action cams, etc, not to mention the countless other devices that use SD cards—audio recorders, raspberry pi, etc. SD is far from dead.
Also, the A7 IV that only just launched has an SD card slot alongside its CFExpress. Why would that be there if no one used them?
There are several port covers out there if it's a concern on your end, but most I've seen are plastic/silicone and for good reason IMO.
I have one from Transcend designed for the pre-2016 MBP. If had a very thin projection to allow it to be extracted (about 2mm)
If you're getting enough dirt in your HDMI port that you worry it's going to affect the wider computer, you have bigger problems (mainly that you seem to live inside a vacuum cleaner bag).
Seriously though, MacBook Pros had HDMI slots for years, I don't think I've ever encountered or heard of any issues other than someone dropping their laptop while it was plugged in and snapping the end of the cord off in the laptop.
Well, HDMI is good for plugging into the company projector or any old TV in the spur of the moment -- no carrying a dongle around.
The SD card reader is really nice for carrying enough stuff around to totally erase your Mac and reinstall everything without downloading anything, plus any document backups you might need. You will be able to buy one that fits flush to the case, so it doesn't stick out any and you just leave it there, no dongle, no carry around the card.
Magsafe is better than USB-c for power, constantly pugging in and unplugging a USB-c port will eventually wear something out.
Sounds good to me!
That said, I like lots of ports, a couple USB-A's would have been nice too.
You can get those with Thunderbolt 4 Docks from either OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock or the D-Link Element Thunderbolt 4 Dock!
I haven't either.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to having the built-in HDMI slot, because that saves me on needing a dongle that will handle it. My current monitors are only supporting DVI-I and DVI-D (right now, I'm preferring function over eye candy), so I would either need a dongle that has DVI or HDMI on it then a separate HDMI to DVI adapter, or a dongle that has HDMI on it and still need that HDMI to DVI adapter. having it built in eliminates that need for me, where I'd only need something that would support multiple USB-A ports (I TM backup to an external USB drive). That lowers the price significantly for me.
If that dongle has ethernet, I may replace my 5-port dummy switch with an 8-port dummy switch which will allow me to TM backup also to my NAS as well as external USB. This is where the ports they've added opens a lot of windows for me.
BL.