13-inch MacBook Pro teardown reveals "unimaginative" SD Card slot - Page 2

Like it or not, the less moving parts you have the less likely you are to have wear and tear and breakage. The issue with the SD card doesnt look like Apple didnt want to offer an spring eject to the card but that there is no room for the card to go in all the way. Its sticking out a lot more than I would expect it to if Apple just wanted to be a finger pull system. Remember, they are still working within the same space constraints as before. They have added an SD card and FW800 ports, while removing a small Kensington lock and line-in ports, while keeping them in the same linear space constraints as before. This also required new circuitry that is more involved than a line-in port and the Kensington lock had the latch switch. Maybe next revision that can engineer some more room though I hope they do that by chucking the optical drive. Man I hate that the thing.

Well, at least it will fit RS-MMC's perfectly

This must have been a design change that got approved when Steve Jobs was out of the office because he'd have literally physically kicked the engineers out of the room the second they slipped that card into the slot and left it sat there like a bare arse hanging from a window just waiting for a slapping...it reeks of Dell...

Screw the moaning about the card....

It has a sub-woofer!?!

So is the audio output any good on the Macbook Pros then?

edit: checked and it has the same sub-woofer as the white Macbook. The output on the white macbook is pretty weak, any better on the Unibodies?

Maybe one day they'll use a 1.8" SSD and free up some space that the hard drive is occupying now, and add some port space there (move the SD card and a USB port), and thus have space for ExpressCard again.

Also good for people who want some ports on the other side of the computer!

I had hopes of upgrading my 2 yr. old MBP but once I read that they moved this line to the internal battery I've decided I'm out of the market. I hate this new trend, why on earth they're forcing this down our throats I'll never know & I refuse to accept it. Apples move to Internal batteries, no netbook, no mid-size tower & slow internal hardware upgrades is getting a bit much. Like Nascar, the long time Apple supporters are starting to feel they're being ignored & left behind.

Apple brags about little design features like magnetic power adaptor connectors, retractible lid latches so the hooks don't get caught on anything (now replaced by magnetic latches), and display hinges slide display down and behind the bottom of the laptop so the display doesn't stick up as high and get hit by the guy sitting in front of you in coach when he lowers his seat back. They revel in telling us how their sleep indicator light has a slow, soft pulsing instead of a quick, boring flash.

So they have demonstrated that they are very conscious of the design aesthetic and space around your laptop. And they love to tell us about it. The SD slot design doesn't not live up to the standards Apple has established for itself. And Apple isn't so afraid of moving parts that it prevented them from putting the entire trackpad on a hinge and spring in order to make it one big button!

Spring loaded slots are in practically every camera out there, and I've never heard of one failing because the spring broke. I'd be more concerned about a broken SD card with half of it jammed inside of the slot and unable to get it out. If you think that the only use of the slot is to put a card in, download your photos, and take it out, we are neglecting a whole world of possibilities for use of the slot (boot drive, Time Machine backups, etc).

Would that SD slot design stop me from buying a MacBook Pro? No (but the lack of an ExpressCard slot might because that's what I really need...different topic). But isn't it great that Apple designs such great hardware that the only thing we have to complain about is this!!

yeah, I came here to ask about the subwoofer too. What's the deal with THAT? is it a typo?

I don't get the hoopla about the SD card. Most SD card readers, peripheral at least (I use a desktop), don't capture the whole card. Besides, how would you grab the card to pull it out? If it captured the entire thing, Apple would then have to place a physical ejector button on the side, and I can only assume that the Apple fanboys would freak out because their Macbook would sported an ugly side button. Pick your battles I guess, no?

2 TB on that little tiny card.

So that large external hard drive i just bought is now junk ?

I can now hold more data in the palm of my hand than every book ever writen ??

If hubble was alive today.

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I would like to see a replacable battery too, but I must say, the trade off for more time VS swappability is a reasonable move. in a former job as a Windows admin, I polled my 75 laptop usders to find how many used the $200 2nd batteries we bought them, the results were stunning, 1 sales engineer and an executive (who watches downloaded movies on trans continental flights) used the 2nd batteries, but both admitted it woulda been just as easy to plug in (I guess first class has plugs, I wouldn't know )

The batteries that I mention were rated for like 3 houirs, so they got from 90 to 120 MIN at best, the 7 hour apple battery may acctually get 3-4 HRS...so for over 90% of users, that is fine, and as Apple said regaurding the cardbus slot, they no longer give a fuck about the 5%.

and as to nascar, I dont care about it any more because the first 3/4 of the season dont matter, screw the "chase to the race for the chase for the winston er sprint er nextel cup).

We will print and frame this post for future laughs.apple loves you back.

Time for your nap dude. Milk and cookie's later.

People here are just chit chatting .

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Then misplace SD card? Why not just just have a proper slot.


Same as the name iPhone 3GS, he's gonna be pissed when he gets back.


Excellent post. Completely agree.

Even 7 years after buying my Ti PowerBook people still comment on how nice the PCMCIA slot is with the cover and push button. Nowadays a card reader lives in the slot and is completely flush so I can keep a SD/Memory Stick in there and not worry about bending it or losing it.

In the 25 or so years I have been a Mac user and fan , this seems to be a typical design vs. cost ( and probably availbility) decision Apple seems to make with initial /new model releases . This is a beautiful piece of equipment ! Typical of the Apple we all love and support . I am among those that this desigh decision will cost Apple a sale,But only inatially ! I have been waiting for a 13" mbp to replace a 12" pb. I think I'll avoid the first release of this model, wait until they install a flush mounting slot , lets face it for a true portable from the # 1 manufacturer and designer in the world , this really is another one curious , if not embarrassing desigh decision. We all know what will happen with the first bump, say when you're on a plane, using it and the sleeping person next to you jerks awake in theie sleep amd accidentially bumps it !
Yup ! I'll wait for the proper flush mount version , then get one with a large ssd , hopefully more than 4 gb of ram , the next generation CPU , maybe even a quad core , good superdrive as the only moving part and few other things that hopefully come with a more mature model. I'll be fine for now . Hell . . . maybe I'll even look at the Air seriously, then again . . .

$1200 but a half ass SD card slot. It's almost like Apple really didn't really want to include the slot and as a big f.u only allowed the card to go half way in. Sweet.

After my last post, I was on Apple's web site reading up more on the new MBPs, and lo-and-behold, they spend an entire paragraph on their magnetic lid latch and another paragraph and pop-up video bragging about the sleep indicator light!

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/design.html

There are only two sentences (on another page) about the SD slot.

Wait til the blu-ray drives arrive- tray style!

Seriously, why are people upset with this? It's obviously designed with photographers in mind for quick photo transport. As a photographer I am so glad to have this quick means of file exchange available plus the firewire for video transport. And the reason it doesn't stick out of a camera is that it's usually the main means of camera storage. So I really don't get the comparison at all.
Finally, would you walk around with a USB stick attached to your computer? NO. Same thing.

I understand that a spring-loaded SD card slot that keeps the card flush would be ideal, but have you people looked at the teardown pics? There's no room. Nada. Nathan. Zip.

I admit I was disappointed when I discovered this, but I'm happy there's FW800 & a SD card slot where there was none before. I'm also happy it's bootable, and OS X recognizes an inserted card pretty damn quickly too.

Looking at the tear down I think it could be pulled in a little, especially if you swap its position with the Ethernet port.

Have You Even Seen THE NEW machine ?? Have you even seen how it works ?
Have you seen the break down of the 13 in and how incredible it was to fit the SD card it in at all?

The real estate on the mac book air and the MBP 13" is fully packed with fantastic goodie's and wrapped around it is a fantastic uni body. Every single goodie and uni body DEMANDED A TRADE OFF from somewhere else.

An sd card reader with a usb or fire wire connection will help your fears of a 1/2 half out of the slot SD CARD, causing some damage or whatever.

To me , I feel all you sd card people who are so upset should not except the new SD MBP.Go buy a net book or dell. Apple only wants people who can recognize genius,not cry babies' who pick falsely a part the finest LAPTOP ever made.

The whole MBP line is the greenest computer ever made. In fact its greener than almost any thing sold in best buy right now. Only pencils are greener.



no mbp for you dude !!

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Bingo

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LOL. My thought exactly. 3G-S...like WTF! It's not even 3G-V for like Video

"half the card hangs out of the side of the computer."

Thank you, Apple !
It's much easier to eject the SD card from new MBP than from PC Notebook !
If you're using Dell, then you have all the chances for your card to be EATEN !

Both designs have advantages. At times it would be nice to be fully inserted. At times it would be nice for the card to be partially hanging hanging out.

Apple is forced to balance these two desires.

It sure is comical though to read from people who have not even considered that such a tradeoff was consciously evaluated. Apparently they think Apple just chose one way at random without ever considering the other.

Not that I'm saying the decision was right or wrong. Rather, that Apple concluded that it was more advantageous to have the card hanging part way out. Probably because it is easier to use and is less prone to mechanical failure. The tradeoff is that leaving a card inserted for longer periods of time means that it or the SD slot is more likely to be physically damaged.

I do not understand what they mean, can anyone explain?

But isn't that enough that you can't leave it in and put it in your laptop bag without worrying about it snapping off?

Especially since this can be a bootable drive or backup drive, which you'd want to leave in all the time.


You could probably believe those posts better if you actually read them. There are users who could benefit from uses where they leave the card in all the time.


Seriously, don't people read the comments before posting? There are spring loaded releases where all you have to do is push the card itself and it pops out. They have been on cameras and other devices for years, and they work fine.


Because they could have designed it with everyone in mind, not just photographers?


I probably would in some situations if it could be flush with the computer instead of sticking out. And I don't consider it the same thing.

Translation: This does all I want it to do, who cares if it does what you want?

All in all I would have liked to see a spring loaded slot, but the one they chose isn't too bad, especially given the space considerations. I expect that eventually Apple will move to a spring loaded slot, just because it fits in with their designs aesthetics so much better.

Haven't tried one out yet, but from those pics it does seem really odd that they'd have the card hanging out like that.

Perhaps Apple knows something we don't? Is SD going to get a size-alteration in the next gen? More likely, is a card with the same connectors but different form factor going to come out that may work with this slot?

I find it hard to believe they'd make this glaring a mistake...

Jimzip

eSATA? The single worst plug I've seen on a cable for years. THey don't stay plugged in and when they do you can't unplug it. THe shear number of them I've had to repair because they snapped off in the port is crazy too.

Not saying you don't use the Express slot, but there aren't many express card slot peripherals out there are there? We don't sell a single one in the store I work for which has a larger selection of Mac Hardware than the AppleStore in town. not arguing there aren't any, I'm just not familiar with any. Much more use is going to be made of the SD card slot (which BTW I think is a brilliant Idea to not have it go all the way in so it is easy to remove)

This is why I think this is such a ridiculous change. I think a better choice to satisfy the folks who were whining about the lack of built-in SD support, Apple should've simply made that $20 EC card reader a BTO option. I think I actually paid only $15 for mine, and it generally lives in the slot about half the time. The other half of the time it's replaced with my EC/34 UMTS 3G card. A $200 device that has now just been obsoleted by a decision to provide a less flexible option to cater to non-pro users who are purchasing a pro computer.


They haven't done this, but you can...

Since they've chosen to eliminate the flexibility of the ExpressCard slot, I don't think replacing it with an eSATA port would be the right choice, as that wouldn't be something a whole lot of users would use (I think it's safe to say that a much larger percentage of people out there will use the SD slot).

As for ExpressCard devices, the format hasn't taken off the way PCMCIA did, probably because of the availability of high speed USB that was not around when PCMCIA was created. However, there are still a lot of interface devices: wireless networking (cellular 3G, for example), eSATA, card readers, etc. Most of them are found via mail order and are not stocked due to their limited popularity.

I still argue that leaving the ExpressCard slot allowed for far more flexibility, and in my case freed up a USB port when traveling with my 3G card (which I use frequently).

I dunno. Perhaps Apple wanted to save money, and tying a SD reader into the USB bus was cheaper than providing EC access to the system bus...

I know that you are gung-ho about the new SD-specification, but you are failing to understand one basic thing: just because it supports up to 2TB in size, does NOT mean that the card will actually have that capacity. It just means that as time goes on and capacities goes up, the spec will support those bigger cards as well. But the first SDXC-cards will have about the same capacity as normal SDHC-cards do.

No, we will NOT suddenly start having SD-cards with hundreds of gigabytes of capacity.

SDHC-spec supports cards up to 32GB. The spec was released in 2006, yet we are only now starting to see 32GB SD-cards. Just because they are coming up with a spec that scales to 2TB does NOT mean that such cards will actually be available in the immediate future.

There's a difference between specification supporting something, and the hardware being actually available.

Hmmm...Cellular 3G card in an Express 32 slot is like driving an Enzo to go get a gallon of milk isn't it? What if they just added another USB port?

Agreed, this has got to be one of the dumbest complaints ever. People think they can build it better, apply for a design & engineering position at Apple or quit your whining.

NO- who cares that it doesn't do what you want it to do. Go buy more storage at time of purchase and partition your hard drive if it means that much to you.

You should talk- didn't you read that section of my prior post? Why didn't you quote that?

Those devices use those cards as their primary source of storage- that's why they are locked into the device. You're making a totally insane comparison.

Can you believe it? Apple gives them something they never had before on a Mac and all they do is BITCH!

Really doesn't need an SD slot. For people with Cameras, just transfer via WiFi and it all shows up in iPhoto.

And for SD conectivity, just pick up a cheap USB/SD card adapter, and you can use it in any USB slot anywhere.

But I guess it's a convenience anyway, so fair enough. And Apple might have deeper intentions reagrding SanDisk, anyway.