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SD card slot missing on 11.6?
- Thread starter HardBall
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There's no SD slot on the 11.6" model. You can get a little USB adapter for SD cards. No big deal, for most users.
Thanks for the info, guys;
It seemed that the 11" is one that the SD card slot would provide the most utility. 64GB on a laptop is simply not enough for today's average user, and 128GB still still stretching it a bit, and that capacity will go up over the lifetime of the machine. While solid state is definitely the way to go, upgrade options later are rather limited. External drive would be a must for most users, and that partially defeat the purpose of such a light-weight system.
Think about the base model with 64GB SSD, if one would be able to bring along a small stack of 32GB SDHCs, it would greatly alleviate the problem. You can switch these in and out rather quickly, storing all of your data and media. An external reader is definitely less optimal for obvious reasons, if you are using SDHC as regular storage rather than just for camcorders.
Anyways, I was close to ordering one upon hearing the rumours of new MBAs coming with SSD + SD slot built in. Now I'm back to vascillating.
It seemed that the 11" is one that the SD card slot would provide the most utility. 64GB on a laptop is simply not enough for today's average user, and 128GB still still stretching it a bit, and that capacity will go up over the lifetime of the machine. While solid state is definitely the way to go, upgrade options later are rather limited. External drive would be a must for most users, and that partially defeat the purpose of such a light-weight system.
Think about the base model with 64GB SSD, if one would be able to bring along a small stack of 32GB SDHCs, it would greatly alleviate the problem. You can switch these in and out rather quickly, storing all of your data and media. An external reader is definitely less optimal for obvious reasons, if you are using SDHC as regular storage rather than just for camcorders.
Anyways, I was close to ordering one upon hearing the rumours of new MBAs coming with SSD + SD slot built in. Now I'm back to vascillating.
Totally agreed. If the 11 inch model has a SDXC slot I could probably go for 64GB version. The 13 inch model with SD slot doesn't even give us a option for 64GB. Now I have to spend $200 more for expensive 128GB drive version
$200 more for a higher resolution screen, SD card slot,more battery life, faster processor, double the L2 cache, and double the flash storage. Seems like a easy upgrade to me.
Why use an SD card for storage when you can get a USB key from Lacie or something which is 1) much cheaper for the same size, 2) much faster transfer rates, 3) much more robust.
Yeah but whatever, keep complaining and wanting the crappier product service if you want
Yeah but whatever, keep complaining and wanting the crappier product service if you want
Why use an SD card for storage when you can get a USB key from Lacie or something which is 1) much cheaper for the same size, 2) much faster transfer rates, 3) much more robust.
Yeah but whatever, keep complaining and wanting the crappier product service if you want
Digital cameras use SD cards.
Yes, they also have transfer cables, but some people can benefit from just having to take out a chip to transfer images while slipping another one in to resume using the camera without it being tethered to a notebook.See also: http://www.eye.fi/
Digital cameras use SD cards.
See also: http://www.eye.fi/
Not sure the photography group would even consider a screen size of 11....
But to quote what was written here. You can switch these in and out rather quickly, storing all of your data and media.
They are talking about using SD for storage. Which is hilarious given SD transfer speeds
Not sure the photography group would even consider a screen size of 11....
But to quote what was written here. You can switch these in and out rather quickly, storing all of your data and media.
They are talking about using SD for storage. Which is hilarious given SD transfer speeds
SDHC and most USB flash drives have comparable transfer speeds.
Even if there is a huge disparity, I think you misunderstood what I meant by that. I wasn't referring to transferring data between the SD card and the internal SSD back and forth, which given such a small internal drive would defeat the purpose anyways.
Think storing a few DVD quality films on an SDHC, and pop it in when you need to view the media directly from the SD card. This can be done for a large number of data/media formats.
Stole the words right out of my mouth-- er, keyboard...or fingertips?
No but seriously, OP, that's the ultimate solution to your problem.
Since, you know, SD card readers are priceless artifacts of myth, it's obviously unworkable.
USB adaptors can certainly be used, but carrying around a bunch of accessories along with such a light and portable machine is not ideal, and kind of defeats the purpose. I was thinking about being able to carry the laptop in a sleeve alone, with everything else pocketable; but that's not going to happen with most computer accessories.
Why use an SD card for storage when you can get a USB key from Lacie or something which is 1) much cheaper for the same size, 2) much faster transfer rates, 3) much more robust.
Yeah but whatever, keep complaining and wanting the crappier product service if you want
As I said in the other post, you may have misunderstood how I envisioned the external "storage" would work. USB sticks are portable, but 5-10 of them are not as portable as 5-10 mini/micro SD cards; plus they pretty much have to be unplugged when moving the laptop. It's much more convenient with SD cards, and fits the motif of mobile devices much better.
Same as my above post.
Anyways, I was looking for a netbook(ish) system to supplement my main laptop. The new MBA would have been a functionally perfect, albeit a bit pricey, option for me; except for the lack of SD card slot, which I'm in the habit of using all the time.
I think everyone was expecting one, since the rumors strongly indicated an SD slot built in; and all the existing Macs (except mac pro) have recently added the SD slot. It would have been perfect for the 11", which is also the model of any mac system that can benefit the most from it.
I had exactly the same idea as the OP and I am similarly disappointed. With 32GB SD cards being available for $50 right now (and in a year we can probably get 64GB for that) it would definitely make sense to keep things like the iTunes library, DVD rips and photos on separate SD cards. I do this with external hard drives all the time, what's the difference? Internally the SD slot is treated as a USB device which bottlenecks the speed to ~20MB/s. Natively SD cards can be _much_ faster but for this purpose it would not matter.
A slightly less elegant but still workable solution would be a bunch of the these https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Echo-32GB-Backup-DriveLEHZE32GASBNA/dp/B0031RG2A6 or similar Flash Drive drives. Nearly as small and they don't stick out so would not have to be removed whenever you transport the computer.
(©http://www.crunchgear.com)
A slightly less elegant but still workable solution would be a bunch of the these https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Echo-32GB-Backup-DriveLEHZE32GASBNA/dp/B0031RG2A6 or similar Flash Drive drives. Nearly as small and they don't stick out so would not have to be removed whenever you transport the computer.
Why not use one of these?
I've been using the 8GB version of this SD card with my camera for a couple years, and it completely solves the problem of needing to have an SD card adapter, as it a USB adapter built-in. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. If 8 (or 4?) GB max is fine, this is a great option.
I've been using the 8GB version of this SD card with my camera for a couple years, and it completely solves the problem of needing to have an SD card adapter, as it a USB adapter built-in. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. If 8 (or 4?) GB max is fine, this is a great option.
My thoughts too, it's a pity really, I too was looking forward to those stacks of sdhc hards but well, you can't have everything, and space is already tight as is in there.
Maybe it's for the best that we learn how to use the cloud more effectively, or a nas (or time machine) and that we don't overload our machines with files.
I for once have tons of files on my imac that should really be on an archive somewhere, I am such a hoarder when it comes to files.
Still, it is a pity no sd card slot on the small one. But at least we have one on the bigger one. Kudos to apple for that. Remember how many people where going, wtf do we need an sd card slot on the pros, I want the old slot where I could put flash card readers in - any reader I like, and all that rubbish. I am sure if they could have fitted it on the small one they would have done so. They really do want to see these models succeed, as Steve said, it's the future for macs, they believe in them, it's not just another hobby mac.