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What can I put in my SD card slot in the new MBP?
- Thread starter Bnitez
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Read this folks. Basically, YES it supports SDHC, NO it doesn't support SDIO cards and NO it doesn't support exFat.
So not the greatest implementation of SD usage. Apple are dragging their feet once again.
Like I said, all it should take to support SDXC is a firmware bump. That and a license royalty to M$, since exFAT is there's... That is the only reason they say it doesn't support exFAT. OSX does not yet, and who knows when it will. I am guessing Apple is "dragging their feet" for the same reason M$ is when it comes to HFS+ support: license fees. Plain and simple. If it becomes popular enough and Apple caves, or if the user uses some 3rd party application to read exFAT, one would think that it might work...
The SDIO seems like the same problem. Just a matter of not being "recognized". They may actually require different wiring / chipsets, so this may be a legitimate problem...
Bingo. The biggest use for ExpressCard is for external data modems, but those are mostly USB now. ExpressCard is an antiquated standard given what people are doing with USB. Removing it allows Apple to lower the price, and they added an SD slot because that's more likely to be useful to people.
For example, one of the biggest uses of the MBP is as a portable photography workstation. These customers will like the improved screen, SD port and lower price, and it will probably be worth the loss of ExpressCard (since they probably never used it).
I would personally love the SD over the Express card, but hey that is me. I have no use for the Express card. Although there are users that do and they can purchase the 17".
Well at the keynote, Phil Schiller said that less than 1% of the users actually even used the ExpressCard slots so it was kind of waste to leave it on there. Instead they replaced it with something that a good chunk of people are going to be using. If you absolutely need Expresscard, your only option would be to spend a extra $500 and spring for the 17" MBP.
Agreed, but for an expensive product with an expected 5 year lifespan, I'd also expect better. Specifically, the now-ratified SDXC standard too.
And (as stated) a licensing fee. As such, it will be along shortly after Blu-Ray.
If you're right, then this is a double backflip EPIC FAIL on the part of Apple: having a 7 hour battery may very well literally not be enough juice to download a single 16GB card.
Read this folks. Basically, YES it supports SDHC, NO it doesn't support SDIO cards and NO it doesn't support exFat.
So not the greatest implementation of SD usage. Apple are dragging their feet once again.
More to the point, Apple had an EASY opportunity to be seen as a Leader (with a capital "L"), but once again squandered an opportunity to grab mindshare.
Maybe they'll redeem themselves with it showing up under Snow Leopard, but given that that's nearly Golden Master, they could have taken the "Risk" to mention the potential feature by simply distracting their blessed CYA Lawyers ("Look outside! An ambulance wreck!").
Unfortunately, bigger isn't better when one realizes that you also have to haul along that incremental extra weight 365 x 5 years. Its not about the money, but schlepping unnecessary stuff along. I've run into this problem with my work PC (Thinkpad) and I'll be "Downgrading" to a smaller laptop within the next 12-18 months...and my leg's Sciatic nerve will thank me for it.
-hh
I was wondering about something like this, or if you could use it as a swap partition.
I don't know if SD cards are fast enough though, haven't really looked at them recently.
This article on the Apple support site specifically states that you can do it. (it's the last point on the page. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3553
How well it works is another story.
Hmm well it does say you can use it as a startup disk which is pretty neat, might use it for some Linux goofing off. Of course though they say nothing about using it as a swap partition as Apple does not simply allow you to change that but just looking at the SD card speeds Apple quoted I don't think it would be a great idea, but then again I have no clue about this kind of stuff.
They removed the ExpressCard to share a motherboard between the 13" and 15" models, not to convenience people who use SD cards.
Except many "Pros" use DSLRs which use CF cards. And those CF cards need ExpressCard adapters that support UDMA or you'll be spending ages transferring images.
And that's what's holding them back?
At the prices the laptops cost apple can surely afford the couple bucks to license it per notebook, cheaper windows laptops don't have a problem licensing it.
Just like bluray, it's not the cost of licensing that's holding them back since it could easily be absorbed in the price of any apple machine, it's apple holding it back.
and to alphaod I doubt the 13" & 15" are sharing motherboards, since the 13" only has 1 audio jack and the 15" has the capability for descrete GPU.
Can I install Mac OS X on an SD storage device and use it as a startup volume?
Yes. Change the default partition table to GUID using Disk Utility, and format the card to use the Mac OS Extended file format to do so.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3553
Yes. Change the default partition table to GUID using Disk Utility, and format the card to use the Mac OS Extended file format to do so.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3553
I think putting the SD Card in the 15" was a very poor decision. You can get a much better SD card implementation through the ExpressCard Slot and it has many many other uses like eSATA, Compact Flash, MSDUO, 3G Wireless Modems and so on
What Apple should have done is ship an SD ExpressCard adapter that sat flash with the connector. But that would have been the smart thing to do and Apple has been in freefall from the Stupid tree for a while now.
This doesn't directly effect me as the 17" did not receive the SD and that is the only notebook I buy from Apple regularly every few years. But still I know lots of people that do have there eyes on the 15" and at-least 1 of those individuals is wishing they bought before the keynote!
What Apple should have done is ship an SD ExpressCard adapter that sat flash with the connector. But that would have been the smart thing to do and Apple has been in freefall from the Stupid tree for a while now.
This doesn't directly effect me as the 17" did not receive the SD and that is the only notebook I buy from Apple regularly every few years. But still I know lots of people that do have there eyes on the 15" and at-least 1 of those individuals is wishing they bought before the keynote!
I from my (very personal) point of view can confirm this. Actually I bought a MacBook Pro 17 (early 2009 model), i.e. with ExpressCard, but would be happier an SD card slot.
E.g. for quick transfer of photos from my digital camera - this means one USB cable less to carry in my luggage!
Cheers Raphael