While I don't really care one way or the other since I am one of the uses who just pops in a camera card every so often, I do find it odd that the choose to have it stick out. It visually looks like they could have had it go in deeper.
Have you ever used a camera with an SD slot or PC laptop? It would sit flush with the case, and you press it in to pop it out, as it's spring-loaded... At least Apple did make the effort to put an SD slot there, but the implementation seems clunky.
Quote:
I even used Time Machine to make backups to a CF card of my Documents folder while I was traveling so I'd have a backup if my hard drive failed. With the high capacity of SDHC cards, this would be viable target for Time Machine if all you were backing up was your User folder. But if the card is sticking out that far, you wouldn't want to leave it inserted long term.
Your arguments have strong merit.
I'm convinced, having the SD half hanging out is indeed a poorly thought out idea.
The flush mount/spring loaded method is indeed the way to go with SD on MacBooks. It's still manual and yet a lot less vulnerable or easily forgotten and broke off.
I like the idea of leaving the SD card inside as a auto-file backup method. Even more if the SDXC comes out and it's up to 2TB, or even 500GB would be fine.
Auto time-clone the whole boot drive directly to the SDXC card and forget all about this separate drive w/Time-Machine or Time Capsule nonsense.
Sh*t hits the fan and the hard drive don't boot one morning, just hold option and boot off the SDXC installed inside and repair, recover or reverse clone.
Less wear and tear on the SD port as well.
Perhaps this is why Apple didn't flush mount the SD card.
Well I do care. If you gonna buy a 32GB SD Card and install an alternative OS (Different version of OS X, Windows, Linux) you don't want the card sticking out as it will change the portability factor.
Why not do it like all others where if you push the card it pops out or ejects. Thats how all PCs and Phones that support SD or MicroSD do it.
It sticks out only 1/3rd of an inch, about 1/3rd the length of the card. No biggie. What is good about this is, it's just enough to grip and it doesn't need to be spring-loaded like in a camera - and thus eliminating a weak spot of moving parts.
It sticks out only 1/3rd of an inch, about 1/3rd the length of the card. No biggie. What is good about this is, it's just enough to grip and it doesn't need to be spring-loaded like in a camera - and thus eliminating a weak spot of moving parts.
Perhaps like it is on my camera, there is a slight recess in the case the size of a finger tip underneath the SD port. It's primarily used to push the SD card further in to get it to eject.
If per some chance the spring loaded mechanics fails, the SD card can still be gripped with a pair of tweezers, fingernail etc.
The SD is still flush with the case, preventing a accidental break off or losing of a rather expensive little card, not to mention all the files on it.
Yes, very unimaginative of Apple.
But I got a feeling someone will come up with alternative, perhaps a third party SD port addition that fits somewhere else internally?
Thanks to Apple for re-birth of FW800 in the 13". I want one.
Brought back memories of the endless rants from diehard zombies claiming "USB-2 can do everything" and that the benevolent decisions from on-high were always right.
As for the SD slot: Great, as most amateur & pro digicams use, or are soon to use, SDHC.
Competitors (of course all Win or Linux) use SD slots in notebooks that are fully recessed with a spring/latch setup. Thus the SD card can be left in the 'book without risk of tweaking something. (and as a boot device).
First the SD card slot isn't a problem if you think about the slot as a place for temporary file transfers to support other devices or backups. This I suspect is what Apple had in mind.
In any event this has to be one of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Dave
I think the optical drive is making its last stand. In fact not only would I like to see either a larger batter or more expansion where the optical drive used to occupy space but I'd love that space to be used for more sophisticated cooling so that a Quad-core chip will work.
Then if Apple wants to go Blu-ray then can make an external drive that works on multiple computers.
I have a San Disk USB card reader and half the SD card "hangs" out of it just like out of the side of the MBP. Personally, I would rather have this than have a mechanism that is spring loaded and could break, costing me money to fix it.
First the SD card slot isn't a problem if you think about the slot as a place for temporary file transfers to support other devices or backups. This I suspect is what Apple had in mind.
In any event this has to be one of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Dave
I was thinking if they got rid of the CD drive I could get another HD.
I just can't believe the kind of whining I am reading right now. Posts like this should never see the light. What kind of complain is that "the card doesn't enter complete, the half is out, the engineers have no imagination...", give me a REALLY BIG FUCKING BREAK! Are you a 6 years old girl? be a man please! How can you complain on that, that shows a people with too much unhappyness in his life. You will never be satisfied if you continue in that direction. The damn thing doesn't have a spring for pushing back the card? THANK GOD THEY DID IT THAT WAY. The less pieces - the better. Just imagine if the fucking spring just breaks or stop working because of use fatige. What will you do then? Then probable you will have an useless SD Card reader because of a fucking spring!! I THINK ALL SD READERS SHOULD BE LIKE THESE MACBOOKS HAVE. THESE GUYS REALLY DO THINK PROPERLY. REALLY THANK YOU APPLE ENGINEERS!!!
I just can't believe the kind of whining I am reading right now. Posts like this should never see the light. What kind of complain is that "the card doesn't enter complete, the half is out, the engineers have no imagination...", give me a REALLY BIG FUCKING BREAK! Are you a 6 years old girl? be a man please! How can you complain on that, that shows a people with too much unhappyness in his life. You will never be satisfied if you continue in that direction. The damn thing doesn't have a spring for pushing back the card? THANK GOD THEY DID IT THAT WAY. The less pieces - the better. Just imagine if the fucking spring just breaks or stop working because of use fatige. What will you do then? Then probable you will have an useless SD Card reader because of a fucking spring!! I THINK ALL SD READERS SHOULD BE LIKE THESE MACBOOKS HAVE. THESE GUYS REALLY DO THINK PROPERLY. REALLY THANK YOU APPLE ENGINEERS!!!
I was thinking if they got rid of the CD drive I could get another HD.
Yea that is a tough call. I suppose in the future we might have 1.8" SSD affordable drives, which means there could be two AND enough battery for 8 hours, but in the short term I'm not sure which I'd prefer.
But then so do the "whiners." Personally I would love to see it flush, because I would leave it in there as a backup.
Actually, considering that fact, I think I would prefer removing the optical drive for storage. Esp. in a few years when ~128/256/512/whatever GB become affordable
I just can't believe the kind of whining I am reading right now. Posts like this should never see the light. What kind of complain is that "the card doesn't enter complete, the half is out, the engineers have no imagination...", give me a REALLY BIG FUCKING BREAK! Are you a 6 years old girl? be a man please! How can you complain on that, that shows a people with too much unhappyness in his life. You will never be satisfied if you continue in that direction. The damn thing doesn't have a spring for pushing back the card? THANK GOD THEY DID IT THAT WAY. The less pieces - the better. Just imagine if the fucking spring just breaks or stop working because of use fatige. What will you do then? Then probable you will have an useless SD Card reader because of a fucking spring!! I THINK ALL SD READERS SHOULD BE LIKE THESE MACBOOKS HAVE. THESE GUYS REALLY DO THINK PROPERLY. REALLY THANK YOU APPLE ENGINEERS!!!
Complete and Utter Crap!
Thank you Apple Engineers for an awful piece of design that might save us some hassle should something break?
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Are you honestly suggesting that Apple computers are so poorly made that having an SD card operate like everyone elses is not a wise thing?
Sorry but this is really is a stupid design fault, you fanboys can spin this all you want but you will never make it look good. It makes no sense whatsoever.
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Well firstly, they DID get rid of a mechanical latching mechinism, which was great.
And i think they could move to some sort of induction method of turning it on and off. The less moving parts the better!
33% larger capacity battery with less than 20% additional weight in the same space as before. I wonder if other notebook makers will follow suit, and I don?t just mean with their MBA clones, but with their higher-end performance notebooks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hmurchison
I think the optical drive is making its last stand. In fact not only would I like to see either a larger batter or more expansion where the optical drive used to occupy space but I'd love that space to be used for more sophisticated cooling so that a Quad-core chip will work.
Then if Apple wants to go Blu-ray then can make an external drive that works on multiple computers.
I?m glad this is catching on. It?s been a loooong time coming. Using a mobile quad core would be great and Apple could definitely make the SD card stick all the way in then. I?m looking at these images and thinking, ?Where the heck are people expecting it to go. There isn?t any room.? and ?That optical drive is so fricken huge and more frequently unused. It needs to go.?
I think Apple will eventually support HDCP in the OS, thus making BRDs capable, but will never personally sell them. If they do support HDCP I think they will wait until they have a secure hold on the future of digital downloads first.
I can't believe many of the posts here. Put SD card in, download whatever, pull SD card out. Yay. Done. Spring-loaded magnetic induction whatever. Balls to that.
(Yes I'm to confused by all the posts to make a coherent one myself)
Thank you Apple Engineers for an awful piece of design that might save us some hassle should something break?
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Are you honestly suggesting that Apple computers are so poorly made that having an SD card operate like everyone elses is not a wise thing?
Sorry but this is really is a stupid design fault, you fanboys can spin this all you want but you will never make it look good. It makes no sense whatsoever.
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 doesn?t look like Apple didn?t want to offer an spring eject to the card but that there is no room for the card to go in all the way. It?s 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.
Comments
Have you ever used a camera with an SD slot or PC laptop? It would sit flush with the case, and you press it in to pop it out, as it's spring-loaded... At least Apple did make the effort to put an SD slot there, but the implementation seems clunky.
I even used Time Machine to make backups to a CF card of my Documents folder while I was traveling so I'd have a backup if my hard drive failed. With the high capacity of SDHC cards, this would be viable target for Time Machine if all you were backing up was your User folder. But if the card is sticking out that far, you wouldn't want to leave it inserted long term.
Your arguments have strong merit.
I'm convinced, having the SD half hanging out is indeed a poorly thought out idea.
The flush mount/spring loaded method is indeed the way to go with SD on MacBooks. It's still manual and yet a lot less vulnerable or easily forgotten and broke off.
I like the idea of leaving the SD card inside as a auto-file backup method. Even more if the SDXC comes out and it's up to 2TB, or even 500GB would be fine.
Auto time-clone the whole boot drive directly to the SDXC card and forget all about this separate drive w/Time-Machine or Time Capsule nonsense.
Sh*t hits the fan and the hard drive don't boot one morning, just hold option and boot off the SDXC installed inside and repair, recover or reverse clone.
Less wear and tear on the SD port as well.
Perhaps this is why Apple didn't flush mount the SD card.
Cuts into their sales.
Why not do it like all others where if you push the card it pops out or ejects. Thats how all PCs and Phones that support SD or MicroSD do it.
It sticks out only 1/3rd of an inch, about 1/3rd the length of the card. No biggie. What is good about this is, it's just enough to grip and it doesn't need to be spring-loaded like in a camera - and thus eliminating a weak spot of moving parts.
Perhaps like it is on my camera, there is a slight recess in the case the size of a finger tip underneath the SD port. It's primarily used to push the SD card further in to get it to eject.
If per some chance the spring loaded mechanics fails, the SD card can still be gripped with a pair of tweezers, fingernail etc.
The SD is still flush with the case, preventing a accidental break off or losing of a rather expensive little card, not to mention all the files on it.
Yes, very unimaginative of Apple.
But I got a feeling someone will come up with alternative, perhaps a third party SD port addition that fits somewhere else internally?
Brought back memories of the endless rants from diehard zombies claiming "USB-2 can do everything" and that the benevolent decisions from on-high were always right.
As for the SD slot: Great, as most amateur & pro digicams use, or are soon to use, SDHC.
Competitors (of course all Win or Linux) use SD slots in notebooks that are fully recessed with a spring/latch setup. Thus the SD card can be left in the 'book without risk of tweaking something. (and as a boot device).
In any event this has to be one of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Dave
of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Dave
I think the optical drive is making its last stand. In fact not only would I like to see either a larger batter or more expansion where the optical drive used to occupy space but I'd love that space to be used for more sophisticated cooling so that a Quad-core chip will work.
Then if Apple wants to go Blu-ray then can make an external drive that works on multiple computers.
First the SD card slot isn't a problem if you think about the slot as a place for temporary file transfers to support other devices or backups. This I suspect is what Apple had in mind.
In any event this has to be one of Apples best engineered machines from the standpoint of servicability. The feature set is more in tune with the target market too. From the design standpoint I dont think anybody else comes close.
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
Dave
I was thinking if they got rid of the CD drive I could get another HD.
How about only having it stick out 2mm and using finger nails to pull it out? No way to damage the card or have any extra bits to break.
I dont really care one way or the other. But for someone saying people will never be happy you need to calm the f down.
I just can't believe the kind of whining I am reading right now. Posts like this should never see the light. What kind of complain is that "the card doesn't enter complete, the half is out, the engineers have no imagination...", give me a REALLY BIG FUCKING BREAK! Are you a 6 years old girl? be a man please! How can you complain on that, that shows a people with too much unhappyness in his life. You will never be satisfied if you continue in that direction. The damn thing doesn't have a spring for pushing back the card? THANK GOD THEY DID IT THAT WAY. The less pieces - the better. Just imagine if the fucking spring just breaks or stop working because of use fatige. What will you do then? Then probable you will have an useless SD Card reader because of a fucking spring!! I THINK ALL SD READERS SHOULD BE LIKE THESE MACBOOKS HAVE. THESE GUYS REALLY DO THINK PROPERLY. REALLY THANK YOU APPLE ENGINEERS!!!
haha. i like this post.
I was thinking if they got rid of the CD drive I could get another HD.
Yea that is a tough call. I suppose in the future we might have 1.8" SSD affordable drives, which means there could be two AND enough battery for 8 hours, but in the short term I'm not sure which I'd prefer.
haha. i like this post.
the man DOES have a point.
But then so do the "whiners." Personally I would love to see it flush, because I would leave it in there as a backup.
Actually, considering that fact, I think I would prefer removing the optical drive for storage. Esp. in a few years when ~128/256/512/whatever GB become affordable
I just can't believe the kind of whining I am reading right now. Posts like this should never see the light. What kind of complain is that "the card doesn't enter complete, the half is out, the engineers have no imagination...", give me a REALLY BIG FUCKING BREAK! Are you a 6 years old girl? be a man please! How can you complain on that, that shows a people with too much unhappyness in his life. You will never be satisfied if you continue in that direction. The damn thing doesn't have a spring for pushing back the card? THANK GOD THEY DID IT THAT WAY. The less pieces - the better. Just imagine if the fucking spring just breaks or stop working because of use fatige. What will you do then? Then probable you will have an useless SD Card reader because of a fucking spring!! I THINK ALL SD READERS SHOULD BE LIKE THESE MACBOOKS HAVE. THESE GUYS REALLY DO THINK PROPERLY. REALLY THANK YOU APPLE ENGINEERS!!!
Complete and Utter Crap!
Thank you Apple Engineers for an awful piece of design that might save us some hassle should something break?
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Are you honestly suggesting that Apple computers are so poorly made that having an SD card operate like everyone elses is not a wise thing?
Sorry but this is really is a stupid design fault, you fanboys can spin this all you want but you will never make it look good. It makes no sense whatsoever.
Complete and Utter Crap!
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Well firstly, they DID get rid of a mechanical latching mechinism, which was great.
And i think they could move to some sort of induction method of turning it on and off. The less moving parts the better!
Now think about this, if Apple deletes the CD drive just imagine how big that battery could be.
I think the optical drive is making its last stand. In fact not only would I like to see either a larger batter or more expansion where the optical drive used to occupy space but I'd love that space to be used for more sophisticated cooling so that a Quad-core chip will work.
Then if Apple wants to go Blu-ray then can make an external drive that works on multiple computers.
I?m glad this is catching on. It?s been a loooong time coming. Using a mobile quad core would be great and Apple could definitely make the SD card stick all the way in then. I?m looking at these images and thinking, ?Where the heck are people expecting it to go. There isn?t any room.? and ?That optical drive is so fricken huge and more frequently unused. It needs to go.?
I think Apple will eventually support HDCP in the OS, thus making BRDs capable, but will never personally sell them. If they do support HDCP I think they will wait until they have a secure hold on the future of digital downloads first.
(Yes I'm to confused by all the posts to make a coherent one myself)
Complete and Utter Crap!
Thank you Apple Engineers for an awful piece of design that might save us some hassle should something break?
In that case why not just dispense with the on/off button and run 24/7? That way we are protected in case the on/off button breaks and we cannot start our laptop up.
Why bother having a lid catch, we don't want to risk that breaking and us not being able to open the lid either.
Are you honestly suggesting that Apple computers are so poorly made that having an SD card operate like everyone elses is not a wise thing?
Sorry but this is really is a stupid design fault, you fanboys can spin this all you want but you will never make it look good. It makes no sense whatsoever.
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 doesn?t look like Apple didn?t want to offer an spring eject to the card but that there is no room for the card to go in all the way. It?s 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.