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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. :)
Um, Have you ever heard of a usb drive? Thumstick drive? There can be about 100 times faster and much smaller than those obsolete cards.
 
Drone, GoPro, Osmo all run on SD and this will save me from having to carry a reader.
I'm super happy with this thing.
My go pro has a usbc for connecting to it. I can also wirelessly transfer videos over. I already have a dongle. That transfers videos just fine.
 
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These garbage views of yours are the reason we can’t have nice things.

🤣

The point I was trying to make is that the last generation MacBook Pro had 2 thunderbolt bus lanes. Now you have 3 thunderbolt bus lanes. If you care about thunderbolt, you are being well taken care of and Apple has made your life better with increased functionality in this new MacBook Pro. So why all the hate over adding other slots, even if you never use them?
 
My go pro has a usbc for connecting to it. I can also wirelessly transfer videos over. I already have a dongle. That transfers videos just fine.
So... don't buy the new MacBook Pro? Or do and don't use the SD card reader? I don't know what you're expecting to happen here, it's there whether you like it or not.
 
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Drone, GoPro, Osmo all run on SD and this will save me from having to carry a reader.
I'm super happy with this thing.
They all use micro SD. You still need an adapter, just like I do for a Raspberry Pi.

With a full sized SD slot there is one less port for something like this:
1635438415706.jpeg
 
You’re correct, they won’t hobble it with a cheap and slow $20 card, but they will pay 2x or 3x that got a high quality and fast SD Card.

Sorry, let me correct myself. A prosumer won’t spend $3000 for a camera and hobble it with a $50 SD card.
 
Sorry, let me correct myself. A prosumer won’t spend $3000 for a camera and hobble it with a $50 SD card.
I suppose if for some reason you think that cards have to cost $100-200 you could spend that much, but there is no reason to. SD cards are very well supported in many pro cameras, and there is a massive market of under 3k cameras which primarily use SD cards.
 
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Not for DSLR or video cameras.
Especially for DSLRs. And aren’t video cameras themselves obsolete in favor of DSLRs for video?

The camera and drone industry disagrees with you.
The camera industry has moved to XQD and CFExpress. Drones to micro SD. None of those fit in this slot.

They are not at all, and to even suggest so indicates you really don't know enough about it to participate in this conversation.
Good plan. Silence the voices of dissent.

I suppose if for some reason you think that cards have to cost $100-200 you could spend that much, but there is no reason to.

You sound like someone who has heard of cameras, but hasn’t used one in the last five years. SD cards are very well supported in most enthusiast and many pro cameras. And there is a massive market of under 3k cameras which primarily use SD cards.
The cost of the card isn’t the issue here, it’s the interface— which you would know if you’d used a camera in the last 5 years. I can easily capture 100s of GB in a few short hours of shooting. If I’m actually using the full frame rate of my camera, I’d like my buffer available as soon as possible.

I still have a 3.5” floppy to USB drive in a drawer somewhere. It’s next to my Iomega Zip and a CD-RW. And my SD card reader…
 
The hdmi and sd card port on these is totally unnecessary.
*for you.

WTF?! Everyone already bought connectors for these items over the last 5 years.
Source?

MagSafe was a mess. Yeah it was branded well but I didnt like it because my cables were always ruined and I had to spend a lot of money replacing it.
Exactly... you didn't like it because your cables were a mess. That's not our fault.

Good grief… 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ That was a step backwards and for very little gain. The size is perfect. Apple could’ve added more battery capacity.
I'm sure Apple would benefit a lot from your engineering expertise. Particularly the "couldn't added more battery capacity"; perhaps you ought to send them some technical diagrams with how you would have designed the batteries?
 
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Um, Have you ever heard of a usb drive? Thumstick drive? There can be about 100 times faster and much smaller than those obsolete cards.
Yep, both are bigger than the SD card and stick out more. I do use USB drives too, but not in the laptop all the time. Smaller, eh, no. None of my thumb drives are smaller than an SD card.

I put an SD card in and there it stays...
 
Especially for DSLRs. And aren’t video cameras themselves obsolete in favor of DSLRs for video?


The camera industry has moved to XQD and CFExpress. Drones to micro SD. None of those fit in this slot.


Good plan. Silence the voices of dissent.


The cost of the card isn’t the issue here, it’s the interface— which you would know if you’d used a camera in the last 5 years. I can easily capture 100s of GB in a few short hours of shooting. If I’m actually using the full frame rate of my camera, I’d like my buffer available as soon as possible.

I still have a 3.5” floppy to USB drive in a drawer somewhere. It’s next to my Iomega Zip and a CD-RW. And my SD card reader…
Your views on cameras are outdated and unreliable if you are saying things like “DSLRs for video”. DSLRs have never been video focused with mirrorless cameras excelling. XQD and CF are in the minority when it comes to the total camera market with SD being the majority supported format.
 
Your views on cameras are outdated and unreliable if you are saying things like “DSLRs for video”. DSLRs have never been video focused with mirrorless cameras excelling. XQD and CF are in the minority when it comes to the total camera market with SD being the majority supported format.
Shall we settle on ILCs? Most people say DSLR when they simply mean ILC.

Majority supported just means legacy support. SD is no longer current.
 
Shall we settle on ILCs? Most people say DSLR when they simply mean ILC.

Majority supported just means legacy support. SD is no longer current.
And people who use DSLR as a placeholder term for cameras should have their views on cameras questioned because they are probably outdated. Legacy implies that the market has moved on to a new technology, but the majority of the camera market has not moved on so SD is current not legacy. SD will be legacy of five or so years, but not now.
 
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Apple's USB-C to HDMI+USB-A dongle is $69. Windows laptop OEMs like HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell, tend to include this type of dongle with their laptops. So in reality, it is not that expensive. It's just Apple milking their own customers.
And I've had problems with even that Apple HDMI dongle not always giving a stable connection to monitors. The connection would frequently "blip" when connected to HDMI monitors. Tried a replacement dongle, tried a replacement cables. just not stable.
 
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Oh hell no, what is this nonsense thread with clickbait title (and why only "M1 Max"?) about again...
Some (few) people, still not getting over Apple's decision to bring back some usability for the majority of Pro users? Followed by a personal discussion war between people, who needs this and who needs that?

  1. You had two thunderbolt bus lines before (even on the models with four ports). Now you get three. When daisy-chaining, you basically get six full TB ports in total, plus the HDMI, SDXC and Magsafe in addition. Why even complaining? Because of 'aesthetics'? Then don't buy these new Pro machines.
  2. The people who were seriously using 4 TB ports at once are in the minority. I call it the home thunderbolt workplace bubble. You had to buy cables and devices which fit into that new TB-only ecosystem, alright. But far more users, especially on the go (that's what a Notebook is for) rather have the convenience of standard ports being integrated for plug and play rather than worrying about silly dongles. You can forget or lose them, they are error-prone (especially the ones for video signal) and expensive. Chances to find an HDMI cable in the office or store are much higher than a specific dongle. SD cards are widely used in cameras, GoPros, but also audio/studio/DJ devices, including recently released hi-end gear (Pioneer, Denon, Roland). Finally, Magsafe is far more robust than a flimsy TB-port, offers a status LED and now became modular.
  3. Apple listened to the majority of Pro users plus reputable critics. Pretty much every reviewer agrees that 2016-2019 represents the worst MBP era of all time (butterfly, thermals, flexgate, dongles...) and the 2021 models offer the far better overall package, because Apple placed function over design again. There is also a reason why a high amount of people still held on their 2012-2015 retina models for a really long time.
  4. Last but not least, for the few ignorant people extrapolating from themselves to others ('if I don't need this, it is unnecessary for everyone'), have a friendly reminder:
PollPorts.png


You still have enough TB4 ports left. Additional ports are back. More people are happy than before. Cope.
 
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The hdmi and sd card port on these is totally unnecessary. WTF?! Everyone already bought connectors for these items over the last 5 years.

MagSafe was a mess. Yeah it was branded well but I didnt like it because my cables were always ruined and I had to spend a lot of money replacing it. Imo TB3/4 works great and haven’t had to replace it once.

Good grief… 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ That was a step backwards and for very little gain. The size is perfect. Apple could’ve added more battery capacity.

If you’re calling the ports unnecessary then you’re not who this computer was made for. Video and photo industry professionals have been begging them to bring them back for years. Can’t have it both ways. We win, recreational users lose. Move on.
 
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