Bloomberg: Next MacBook Pro to Feature SD Card Reader

[smoking monkey]

I know many on here don't want USB A, but I certainly do. I have to use it too often.
I don't really care for the SD slot but I can see why many would want it. Using it as back up or storing misc data is a good idea as well.

 

[Houpla]

Now add upgradeable RAM and SSD (M.2) and I'll be convinced that we have been transferred to a better timeline.

(Seems that many people in this thread confuse 'port' with 'reader'. That's not the same, USB-C is not an alternative to SD card reader.)

 

[Stephen.R]

It continues to be a ridiculous inconvenience.

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

 

[Mindgap]

And now let’s bring the headphone jack back to the iPhone. Thank you!

 

[Royksöpp]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

Actually it's big inconvenience. In fairytale land there might be one port that can do everything, but in the real world that is not the case. There is now a new market that didn't exist 5 years ago and that is for hubs and adapters. The Mac was always touted as plug and play, not anymore. It's an unnecessary middleman. Photographers for example have to have a dongle with them at all times. They can't just take out an SD card and pop it into the computer. Wasn't the Mac supposed to be about minimal utility? Now you have to have another cable attached. And what, when your not using it do you just leave the dongle hanging there plugged in? It's just as unattractive as it is inconvenient. The best solution is for Apple to leave your Goldilocks port and mix it with legacy ports that are still widely used today. It's so simple and it looks like it may just come to be. You'll be waiting for a much better computer. I will gladly throw away those unsightly dongles if I didn't have to use them anymore. But don't worry, you can still use yours if you like!

 

[iSayuSay]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

It's a result of accumulative problems over the years before the invention of USB-C. I mean it's the one port to rule them all, but way way too late since many people has been too comfortable with USB-A dongles, accessories, sticks, and at some point a multiple memory cards with different ports and standards.

Today's tech problem wouldn't be exist if USB-C was invented 20 years ago to go with everything. Even Lightning port wouldn't be exist so all iPhones may live happily, having the same port as Android phones.

 

[baryon]

I feel like this is a huge "f you" to all those who bought their current Macs with touchbar, no magsafe and zero useable ports. We all thought "eh well it's Apple, they're decided to go all minimalist, that's what they do, there's nothing to do about it – it's our fault for clinging to silly things like ports and cards. The future is probably bluetooth or something, I dunno, Apple probably knows." And now they're basically saying "woops we f-ed up sorry here's your ports back"... "as for those who did buy our stupid computers with no ports well... too bad! shouldn't have bought them, losers! haha!"

Interestingly, the way I feel about this is not "damn I want to sell my current macbook pro that I just bought and get their new ones" but rather "I don't want to buy another Apple product again".

Just yesterday I was working on a film set where they gave me a MacBook Pro, a dongle, and 6 hard drives to save data onto. Needless to say, some hard drives had USB-A while others had USB-C. If you plug in the charger into one of the 2 USB-C ports, you only have one port left. You plug the dongle into that, so now you have zero USB-C ports left. The dongle has 2 USB-A ports. So if you want to copy data from a USB-C hard drive to a USB-A hard drive, well, there's no way to do it, even with a dongle. It was such a headache and just goes to show that even now when you buy a new hard drive it will likely come with a USB-A cable. At this rate maybe USB-A will be phased out in 10 years but until then we should have those ports on our computers.

 

[loadafreak]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

It’s not really an answer to your question but to me, it’s the inconvenience of having to carry around a dongle.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Future is definite USB4 / TB with Type-C connectors. Bringing back a single SD card slot won’t change. And I don’t agree with others that that USB-A or HDMI will make a return.

Do lecture halls and conference rooms provide projector connectivity with USB-C ports to make presentations?

 

[Stephen.R]

In fairytale land there might be one port that can do everything,

Please enlighten us what dedicated port you want, that USB-C can't provide via an adaptor?

There is now a new market that didn't exist 5 years ago and that is for hubs and adapters.

You're ****ing kidding me right? You think "hubs and adaptors" didn't exist before USB-C?

It’s not really an answer to your question but to me, it’s the inconvenience of having to carry around a dongle.

It certainly isn't an answer to the question, but it does reaffirm my opinion about those who want single-use ports.

 

[Stephen.R]

Photographers for example have to have a dongle with them at all times. They can't just take out an SD card and pop it into the computer.

As usual the devil is in the details. I find it hard to believe any serious photographer was using the built-in SD card slot on 2015 MacBook Pros, as it was limited to USB2 speeds. Even a regular USB3 external card reader would have been ridiculously quicker, and that was when they had just USB 3.0 5Gbps ports.

But sure, you know what, **** it.

I'll extend an olive branch. Put a legacy SD card reader in there, but keep it on the same USB2 bus. **** it even put in a USB type a port if you want, also on a USB2 bus. You get your port back for keyboards, mice, printers and cameras that were produced over a decade ago, and those of us with actual work to do, don't have to sacrifice any I/O bandwidth to a useless port.

 

[TimFL1]

I guess I‘m the literal only person on earth who loves what they did with the MBP 4x USB-C. Hope they don‘t add obsolete ports just to please the masses... USB4 is simply superior.

 

[smoking monkey]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

It's not one or the other. You can have your cake and eat it too! And I really want USB A Cake! haha.

 

[philstubbington]

Last week, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo outlined his expectations for new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models later this year, including the return of the MagSafe charging connector, the removal of the Touch Bar, a new flat-edged design, and the return of more ports built into the notebooks for expanded connectivity.

A concept of a modern MacBook Pro with an SD card reader​

Kuo did not specify which ports might be making a comeback, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today reported that the next MacBook Pro models will feature an SD card reader for transferring photos shot with a digital camera and other files:The latest MacBook Pro models only have Thunderbolt ports, forcing photographers to use an adapter or dock to gain access to an SD card reader.

In his research note last week, Kuo mentioned that "most users may not need to purchase additional dongles" for the next MacBook Pro, so it is possible that an SD card reader will not be the only port that returns. As recently as 2015, the MacBook Pro was also equipped with an HDMI port and USB-A ports, but it would certainly be surprising to see the latter make a comeback given the tech industry's transition to USB-C.

Kuo expects the new MacBook Pro models to launch in the third quarter, which spans July through September. They would replace the higher-end 13-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models released in May 2020 and November 2019, respectively. The base model 13-inch MacBook Pro was already updated with Apple's custom M1 chip a few months ago.

Article Link: Bloomberg: Next MacBook Pro to Feature SD Card Reader

Some form of memory card reader would be sort of handy - but the standards seem to change so frequently I’ve now got a couple of USB adaptors to cover most bases (obsolete and current). As long as there’s some modern physical connection (USB whatever) and third party adaptors I’ll be happy. Reminds me a little of the box of adaptors I’ve still got for weird stuff like Nokia, blackberry, Palm PDA, etc which I should really throw out!

 

[philstubbington]

I guess I‘m the literal only person on earth who loves what they did with the MBP 4x USB-C. Hope they don‘t add obsolete ports just to please the masses... USB4 is simply superior.

Agreed. They should keep up with state of the art (and a state or two behind)

 

[Stephen.R]

The fact that users still have to resort to dongles or some kind of hideous hub sticking out of the side of the computer proves that USB-C never made it to the mainstream.

The entire point of using TB3/USB-C ports is that it doesn't matter if your device doesn't use the same port type, because it can adapt.


Try running a DisplayPort or USB-C or TB3 monitor from a HDMI port.

Try running a 10Gbps ethernet cable from a USB3.0 port.

Try charging a laptop over USB Type-A.

Now try doing all those things over one of the legacy ports you're having a circle jerk over.

 

[Stephen.R]

It's not one or the other. You can have your cake and eat it too! And I really want USB A Cake! haha.

Hence the olive branch offer.

You can have USB2 devices. Anything more than that is a waste of precious potential I/O bandwidth in a legacy port.

 

[philstubbington]

Doesn’t really help when you NEED to buy one of these though to get family photographs off a bunch of early digital cameras though.....

 

[Tozovac]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

It’s a big inconvenience, OFTEN.

100+ years ago, things like horse drawn carriages, oil quell pens, and gas-fired engines were state of the art.

Currently, electric cars, ball point pens, and electric vehicles are state of the art.

Somehow the vast majority still use gas-fired engines in many applications. Why is that.

Sometimes an “ancient” technology is still so darn convenient and widespread that it’s impossible to design it away for now, no matter how creative or minimalistic-driven a designer is.

When a laptop turns into a laptop and bag of a few dongle/adpaters/hubs, it fails its prime design goal - convenient portability. Yes a line has to be drawn, as a laptop can’t have so many ports it becomes a suitcase. But for now the location of that fine line that suggests the benefits of at least one USB-A port is so much more convenient than inconvenient to the masses for now, that it’s just not ready to be banished next to the oil quell pens. Amazing it’s so hard for some to see.

 

[Stephen.R]

Some form of memory card reader would be sort of handy - but the standards seem to change so frequently I’ve now got a couple of USB adaptors to cover most bases (obsolete and current). As long as there’s some modern physical connection (USB whatever) and third party adaptors I’ll be happy. Reminds me a little of the box of adaptors I’ve still got for weird stuff like Nokia, blackberry, Palm PDA, etc which I should really throw out!

This is the point a lot of people seem to somehow forget. Try using a ~2011 MBP today. The only port that's even remotely useful for any kind of modern data transfer is the TB1 ports, because they allow you to adapt to newer technologies.

 

[Isamilis]

Apple’s nostalgic period. Keyboard, magsafe, and now sd card slot.

 

[Mr.PT]

Introducing the new Macbook Pro.

View attachment 1717581

That surely seems a full engineered design, very “unJony” indeed...

 

[Robospungo]

Please point me to the hubs with 8 USB-C ports, then. Well, no, don't because then I'd just need 8 of those $6 adapters because, like many people here, every single blasted one of my USB devices comes with a USB-A cable and gains no advantage whatsoever from being attached to a USB-C port.

The industry shouldn’t be held back because you don’t want to upgrade your peripherals or use adapters. USB-A is an inferior port.

 

[HandITOVER]

SMH.

 

[Manzanito]

What's more inconvenient?

Having a port that can do anything, and needing a small, cheap adaptor for it?

Having a port that can do one thing, and not being able to adapt to what you need, no matter how much money you're willing to spend?


I'll wait.

What’s more convenient, having both types of ports or having only one?

If it eventually has usb A ports you can always vote with your wallet and not buy one, like many people did with the models with touchbar, butterfly keyboard and usb-c only. With the difference that usb A port actually restores functionality, instead of detracting it.