Transcend Introduces JetDrive Lite Expansion Cards Up to 128GB for MacBook Air, Retina Macbook Pro

[unplugme71]

It doesn't matter what next generations bring, as long as it has an SD card slot. It is a very thin slot, so most likely it won't go away. Cameras use them.

Actually SD slots may be gone very soon. Remember PCMIA and ExpressCard slots. They were used to connect faster/additional storage and most commonly used for broadband connections. But now we have USB 3.x and TB for data connectivity and we have mobile hotspots from individual devices that offer WiFi or through our phones offering 4G/LTE speeds.

Camera companies are already including WiFi in their devices and maybe even switch to a faster cabled connection. So SD cards will soon be a thing of the past. That's why I stopped investing in SD cards 4 years ago. It's going to be like the floppy disk soon.

 

[crsh1976]

Does the 11" not have the requisite slot? I don't have mine in front of me.

The 11-inch model doesn't have a SD card slot.

 

[OneMike]

That's pretty cool. I now remember when nifty first thought of this as a kickstarter project. By the time it was released I forgot about it.

hmmm, this is pretty awesome.

 

[groovyd]

will be very interested once they reach 2 TB with this

 

[macpro88]

Based on the pics from Amazon, this does seem to sit more flush than the PNY counterpart, but still not completely flush as the Niffty, but this is probably the fastest of all the options available.

However, the prices on Amazon are about $10 more expensive than stated, what gives?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[jonnysods]

Thata a great price, might snag one!!

 

[DTphonehome]

Looks like Transcend beats them both on cost per GB. Especially the PNY. From your link, the PNY was double the cost.

Caveat: That was just from a cursory glance at each site, so I could have missed something.

Street price on the PNY is less than half the website price. Staples has the 128 GB for $99 currently.

 

[saturnotaku]

When I ultimately upgrade my existing machine, this will be one of the first purchases I make. Very cool.

 

[DTphonehome]

will be very interested once they reach 2 TB with this

By the time they get to 2 TB (or 1 TB for that matter), your Macbook will be long obsolete.

 

[gotluck]

Camera companies are already including WiFi in their devices and maybe even switch to a faster cabled connection. So SD cards will soon be a thing of the past. That's why I stopped investing in SD cards 4 years ago. It's going to be like the floppy disk soon.

Cameras will still need internal storage for the photos though. Are you saying they will be streamed to some other storage site and not be kept locally at all? I can hardly see them adding ssd, hdd, or some other kind of fixed flash memory to replace sd cards

 

[xeni]

Nice! That could make a big difference. Now all we need is for Apple to support splitting the iTunes library across devices. That is audio(music) on one device video on another.

Actually i think you can with an application called http://tunespan.com

 

[JustinePaula]

My laptop can take max 64GB, really...Not good storage options. 64GB is way too small to be of any use...$100 is a bit pricy, $1 per 1GB yes, this is almost $2 per 1GB

 

[LSUtigers03]

Street price on the PNY is less than half the website price. Staples has the 128 GB for $99 currently.

And $75 on Amazon

 

[Binarymix]

My laptop can take max 64GB, really...Not good storage options. 64GB is way too small to be of any use...$100 is a bit pricy, $1 per 1GB yes, this is almost $2 per 1GB

The 64 Gb is $60, the 128Gb $120.... That's less than $1/GB....

 

[definitive]

How is this different from:

Nifty Mini Drive

and

PNY Storedge?

because it's by transcend and on MAC RUMORS! AAAAAAAAH!


but let's be serious here for a moment - it's nothing more than a glorified flash memory card.

 

[wlossw]

Now what we need is iTunes etc. modified so that part of a library can be stored on an external card, or possibly two, and that the software stays well-behaved if that card isn't present. Also great for cheap portable Time Machine backup device.

I think there is an app called tunespan that will do this for you.

 

[unplugme71]

Cameras will still need internal storage for the photos though. Are you saying they will be streamed to some other storage site and not be kept locally at all? I can hardly see them adding ssd, hdd, or some other kind of fixed flash memory to replace sd cards

I don't think personal cameras will be around much to worry about that. The cameras on smart phones are becoming much better and its also widely used. Heck, the iPhone uploads millions of photos a year to online social sites. No camera company (Canon/Nikon) has the same amount of usage anymore.

For professional photographers, it'll be wirelessly sent to their backpack with a storage device there or to a workstation setup if done at a venue.

I haven't used a P&S camera in over 6 years. My iPhone has been my camera since 2007.

 

[rdlink]

I have no expectations of them doing it- too profitable "as is"- but it's definitely a feature I'd personally love to see… a high utility benefit that could be useful in many scenarios.

And I, on the other hand have gone from buying a 64GB iPad the first two times I bought one, to a 32GB iPad Air, because cloud services have made the extra 32GB pretty much a waste of $100 for me.

 

[Tool022611]

LaCai has been making these for a while, barely sticks out of the side and only $79 for the 128gig.

 

[MrVinney96]

Apple, take notice. Don't charge an extra $100 for double the memory on your iPhones.

 

[pickaxe]

I'll be buying a 128GB card. Transcend is an awesome company - they're willing to sell Mac-centric hardware at great price points. It is extremely refereshing to see a company both willing to do the R&D to create (allegedly) good Mac-centric products while also not asking for fat profit margins.

Only thing that potential buyers should be aware of is this - when an SD card is mounted, the system will not enter "Standby Mode" (deep sleep) so you shouldn't be leaving it in overnight unless connected to a power source.

 

[2010mini]

LOL........ But as we all know, it's always harder to pull it out than it is to put it in.

Hey! Hey! This is a wholesome apple forum. Save that kind of talk for the bedroom!

 

[prowlmedia]

Actually SD slots may be gone very soon. Remember PCMIA and ExpressCard slots. They were used to connect faster/additional storage and most commonly used for broadband connections. But now we have USB 3.x and TB for data connectivity and we have mobile hotspots from individual devices that offer WiFi or through our phones offering 4G/LTE speeds.

Camera companies are already including WiFi in their devices and maybe even switch to a faster cabled connection. So SD cards will soon be a thing of the past. That's why I stopped investing in SD cards 4 years ago. It's going to be like the floppy disk soon.

Well no. What do you think they are going to use for storage on the camera? An builtin SSD? No photographer wants that. You need to be able to swap your storage instantly and not have to connect to a device to Download then DELETE it! Insane...

SD cards are only getting faster and will soon handle uncompressed 4K - shift that around over WiFi is not going to happen.

The Sandisk Extreme pro handles 250MB/s write and 280MB/s Read!

Wifi is a fine addition of course and great for on the spot transfers etc... but Video is major part of SD sales and some manufactures are thinking about using Quad SD Cards onboard for raids for even faster speeds and instant in camera backup

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

And I, on the other hand have gone from buying a 64GB iPad the first two times I bought one, to a 32GB iPad Air, because cloud services have made the extra 32GB pretty much a waste of $100 for me.

I'm sure AT&T, Verizon and others appreciate your support. I can never get the "stream everything from the cloud" sentiment ("it's the future" or not) when our connection to the cloud is through ever-tightening tiered data plans by the likes of AT&T or similar. Those who can be in free wifi zones most of the time probably get by just fine. Those streaming meaningful amounts of data over cellular networks are likely streaming extra dollars out of their wallets too.

Personally, I'd much rather sync it to bigger storage and stream sparingly than give the money to AT&T, etc so that I can have ready access to my own media. A solution like this would make it possible to load up a bunch of media for a long trip and rarely burn cellular data for my own media. For example, if I was taking a long vacation, I might load 1+ of these cards with movies to fill the time while traveling. If I went the other way- streaming my media- I'd quickly roll into higher tiers at more cost and it wouldn't take long for that cost to exceed what it costs for 1+ of these cards.

But I'm glad streaming works for you.

 

[JustinePaula]

$100 is mighty pricy here in Africa, if I am going to buy storage, it needs to be useful to be cost effective.

I agree, Tim knock if off with the $4 for 1MB of data storage...