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

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  • Reply 61 of 97
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joseph_xxl View Post


    $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.



    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 !!



    9
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  • Reply 62 of 97
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


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



    Bingo



    9
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  • Reply 63 of 97
    s.metcalfs.metcalf Posts: 1,019member
    LOL. My thought exactly. 3G-S...like WTF! It's not even 3G-V for like Video



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mrtotes View Post


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



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  • Reply 64 of 97
    "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 !
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  • Reply 65 of 97
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    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.
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  • Reply 66 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    It's also noted that the mid wall dividing the MacBook Pro is now attached to the top case, unlike in previous models where it was was held in by four Phillips screws. iFixit believes this may be a move on Apple's part to help out its do-it-yourself customers.



    I do not understand what they mean, can anyone explain?
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  • Reply 67 of 97
    minderbinderminderbinder Posts: 1,703member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 8CoreWhore View Post


    It sticks out only 1/3rd of an inch, about 1/3rd the length of the card.



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    I can't believe many of the posts here. Put SD card in, download whatever, pull SD card out.



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iReality85 View Post


    Besides, how would you grab the card to pull it out?



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Seriously, why are people upset with this? It's obviously designed with photographers in mind for quick photo transport.



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



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Finally, would you walk around with a USB stick attached to your computer? NO. Same thing.



    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.
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  • Reply 68 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Seriously, why are people upset with this? It's obviously designed with photographers in mind for quick photo transport. As a photographer....



    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.
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  • Reply 69 of 97
    jimzipjimzip Posts: 446member
    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
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  • Reply 70 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jeffharris View Post


    Apple pulls the ExpressCard/34 slot and replaces it with a crippled SD card slot!?!?!?!?!!?!?!



    It wouldn't be so painful a deletion had you been able to leave the SD card in the slot when you put the thing to sleep and back into your bag to travel.



    I can leave the ExpressCard/34 SD card reader INSIDE my MacBook Pro and still stick the thing into my pack and travel. I could certainly live with a $10 SD card reader for a supposedly PROFESSIONAL Macintosh!



    How about an eSATA slot instead? Now, THAT's PROFESSIONAL!



    MANY times I wonder about Apple's designers! Or their handlers...

    They go 98% of the way and screw up logical details!





    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)
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  • Reply 71 of 97
    djames42djames42 Posts: 298member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    All you need is an ExpressCard slot and a $20 adaptor and you'd be able to use any memory card commonly used except CF (too wide to fit with ExpressCard slot Apple used, it would fit if they had used the larger format). And it would even sit flush with the laptop so you could just keep it there.



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by halhiker View Post


    I was thinking if they got rid of the CD drive I could get another HD.



    They haven't done this, but you can...
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  • Reply 72 of 97
    djames42djames42 Posts: 298member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by roehlstation View Post


    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)



    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...
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  • Reply 73 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTripper View Post


    [

    The new SDXC has capacity up to 2TB (repeat 2TB) per card and much faster speeds. Don't know if the new Mac SD slot can handle it or not or the exFAT format if it's required or not.



    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.
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  • Reply 74 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djames42 View Post


    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...



    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?
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  • Reply 75 of 97
    hezekiahbhezekiahb Posts: 448member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by godrifle View Post


    Who cares if the SD card hangs out. I actually *think* I prefer that for speed of use. I'm just glad it's there. Oh, and did it crack anyone else up that only Apple could garner so much positive attention for finally including technology that's been standardized in the rest of the notebook world for years?



    Is it bootable? *That* would be killer!



    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.
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  • Reply 76 of 97
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dirtyHippy View Post


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



    .



    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.
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  • Reply 77 of 97
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder View Post


    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.



    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.
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  • Reply 78 of 97
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hezekiahb View Post


    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.



    Can you believe it? Apple gives them something they never had before on a Mac and all they do is BITCH!
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  • Reply 79 of 97
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,759member
    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.
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  • Reply 80 of 97
    lvidallvidal Posts: 158member
    Just tell me you "design geniuses" how do you use your USB drive EVERY SINGLE DAY without breaking it?? this complaint is the senseless one I've known in all Apple fans history. I really hope Apple never redesigns it.
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