Upgrade base 128GB w/128GB SD card?

[fabian43]

Considering the $200 price increase from 128 to 256, would it be wise to get the 128 and when I'm ready and prices for flash memory further reduce get a 128GB SDxc card and permanently leave it in the Air as added memory? Amazon has a Kingston 128gb card for $97. A year or two from now they'll be even cheaper. Sound strategy? Am I missing something here?

 

[Haseo]

This indeed may be a cost-effective strategy for added storage.

As for performance, I do quite believe the flash memory you get built-in from apple would be quite a bit faster as it utilizes PCI-Express which is quite speedy compared to the SD card. This is my assumption, however -- I'm not too sure on the speeds of the SD card slot.

 

[chabig]

SD Cards will be slow, slow, slow compared to the built-in SSD. My MacBook takes many minutes (10-15) to write 30GB of data to an SD Card, but only seconds to write to SSD.

 

[robvas]

SD Cards will be slow, slow, slow compared to the built-in SSD. My MacBook takes many minutes (10-15) to write 30GB of data to an SD Card, but only seconds to write to SSD.

For some reason the Retina SD card reader is way, way faster than the Air or regular Pro. 80 and 40MB/s!

The SD card would be good for an iTunes library.

 

[AXs]

Considering the $200 price increase from 128 to 256, would it be wise to get the 128 and when I'm ready and prices for flash memory further reduce get a 128GB SDxc card and permanently leave it in the Air as added memory? Amazon has a Kingston 128gb card for $97. A year or two from now they'll be even cheaper. Sound strategy? Am I missing something here?

Horrible Strategy.

For $100 on top of the $100 SD card, you'll get a device which is built-in to your laptop, which is Lightyears faster than what your SD card can handle. If i'm not mistaken, class 10 SD card is at about 70mb/s read speed? and Around 30mb write speed?

Your 128GB is at 700mb/s read speed... and about 350mb/s write speed.

Drop that extra $100, not only will you get a device that is 10 times faster, and built in (meaning it is secure, wont break and wont get lost/stolen)... If you get the 256 GB SSD - Your read and write speed are BOTH at around 700mb/s.

If you're going to get the 128GB and drop $100 on a 1TB 3.0 Passport drive... I'd say go for it.
But dropping $100 on a 128gb SD card... NO!
And no, I do not work for Apple, i work for the people!

 

[fabian43]

I decided to buy base 128gb and bought WD my passport 1TB on sale for $70 at BBY

 

[AXs]

I decided to buy base 128gb and bought WD my passport 1TB on sale for $70 at BBY

Congratulations on your buy!

I think you made a great purchase. 128gb is surely enough for OS and apps essential/software... and even for your main music collection.

and 1TB is going to be heaven for all media - mkvs, mp4s... so on.

 

[ZBoater]

Congratulations on your buy!

I think you made a great purchase. 128gb is surely enough for OS and apps essential/software... and even for your main music collection...

I hate to point out the obvious, but how big is this collection?

 

[fabian43]

i hate to point out the obvious, but how big is this collection?

30gb