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Likelihood the 11" Air will ever get an SD card reader?

jent

jent

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 31, 2010
932
788
I love the 11.6" MacBook Air and think it's a great machine. I am jealous that the 13.3" model has an SD card reader and I was wondering if it is technically possible that the 11.6 incher could have one (I'm not asking if it's cost effective but if it is possible to fit the reader into the small chassis/body since it's so thin). If it is possible, what do you think the possibility that the next MBA update or a future 11.6" MBA model in the next few years would get an SD card reader?
 
eric/ said:
0%

No reason either. Just use the USB cable.
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The USB cable is an easy solution, but if I'm not mistaken, it makes it the only Apple notebook that doesn't have an SD card reader other than the 17" MacBook Pro.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4s: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

As said 0% there is no room!
 
The real answer is, no one knows. It could happen, it might not. Technology is always advancing, becoming smaller, faster, lighter, etc. It is possible, or it will be possible at some point in the near future. It could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.
 
jent said:
The USB cable is an easy solution, but if I'm not mistaken, it makes it the only Apple notebook that doesn't have an SD card reader other than the 17" MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

At least the 17" MBP has the express card slot which I find way more useful than a simple SD card reader. Normally, I just have a SD reader plugged in but every now and then, I can plug in my USB 3.0 card to get the benefits of USB 3.0 bottlenecked to 2.5Gb/s!
 
AlexH said:
The real answer is, no one knows. It could happen, it might not. Technology is always advancing, becoming smaller, faster, lighter, etc. It is possible, or it will be possible at some point in the near future. It could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think there is a definitive 0% answer here. Apple is pushing things to the cloud. They won't take what would be seen as a step backward from that.

Think about photo stream for example.
 
Makes sense

jent said:
The USB cable is an easy solution, but if I'm not mistaken, it makes it the only Apple notebook that doesn't have an SD card reader other than the 17" MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. USB Cable is good enough. There is no need for a card reader for extra cost.
 
I think the lack of SD card reader on the 11 inch is more to do with the fact that Apple want to distinguish between the 13" and the 11" so they can justify pricing. Personally I would like an SD card reader on the 11" in order to use it as extra permanent storage, with the likes of 32/64gb hcsd cards.
 
Nobody knows the answer to your question unfortunately, as much as some people might "think" they know.

I recommend seeking alternative solutions for the time being, like a decnt USB pen drive for keeping more permanent files at your disposal or USB cable if it's just transferring images from a camera for example.

I wouldn't be against the move for Apple to include an SD card slot on the 11" MBA but I can see why they may not. The Cloud doesn't replace it as far as i can see.
 
eric/ said:
Honestly I think there is a definitive 0% answer here. Apple is pushing things to the cloud. They won't take what would be seen as a step backward from that.

Think about photo stream for example.
Click to expand...
So, how do those photographs we take with a fancy DSLR get to the cloud? USB or SD card reader is how I would answer. The more connectivity I have, the more my content gets pushed up into the cloud.
 
0%. I personally think it's a lot smarter to not have a particular type of media slot, because physical media is always changing and advancing. Just think of all the other types that are out there: SD, SDHC, SDXC, Mini SD, Micro SD, the 15 thousand versions of Sony's Memory stick (I haven't kept up to date, so who knows), Compact Flash, etc.

From a usability standpoint (and design one), it makes much more sense to simply reply on a universal input (like USB), save physical space, and have adapters, that way the user can use any sort of media they want.

Now granted, SD is a fairly prevalent standard, but who knows for how much longer? I do understand the convenience of the slot though, that's for sure. I wouldn't mind an SD slot on my 11in, solely for increasing space lol
 
KylePowers said:
I wouldn't mind an SD slot on my 11in, solely for increasing space lol
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I was going to say the same thing about a fully recessed micro-SD.

As for SD, I have 0 use for SD. All my cameras use CF and I really don't want the bulk of an integral CF reader.
 
If you don't have a lot of space, a cable hanging off your laptop is far worse than a card sticking out a quarter inch.

I'd much rather have an internal SD reader (even if I lost one of my USB ports) than carry a USB->SD adapter with me everywhere.
 
bogatyr said:
If you don't have a lot of space, a cable hanging off your laptop is far worse than a card sticking out a quarter inch.

I'd much rather have an internal SD reader (even if I lost one of my USB ports) than carry a USB->SD adapter with me everywhere.
Click to expand...
I agree.
 
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