what's the general need for microSD?
My XPS-13 has one but I've never understood why its such a big deal. I almost never use it.
My XPS-13 has one but I've never understood why its such a big deal. I almost never use it.
Recently I've also used microSD with USB-microSD adapter instead of USB sticks (like for music in the car).. last time I wanted to buy USB memory stick it was the cheaper option, and the adapter isn't much bigger than a typical USB memory stick anyway.
I actually use my microSD slot on my xps quite often for camera related stuff.
And it's easy to adapt microSD cards to it for Raspberry Pis, drones, dash cams, phones, audio recorders, etc.
Used it before laptops had sd port, and now use it when they don't have it again. No issues with that.
In case of cameras there are sdcards that are wifi enabled, and also newer cameras should support wireless transfer - isn't that easier and faster instead of pulling out the card?
No, because transferring 1TB+ of data from your camera over the crappy built in wifi chip is a much worse user experience than just plugging in an SD card. Lots of cameras also require you to connect to the camera's hot-spot, which means while transferring that data you are not on wifi. If you're just sending a few jpegs over, fine, wifi is great, but for people to whom the "Pro" moniker actually matters, it's a big deal.
Dongles are fine for sure, but having a slot built in is better, and there's no real reason not to have one other than "aesthetics"
I didn't thought that pro cameras that support 1TB sd cards have crappy wifi chips, I stand corrected.
But usually sdcards are not the fastest storage mediums.
> there's no real reason not to have one other than "aesthetics"
There is a reason - they take up space inside the laptop that could be used for something else.
Not sure if that applies to macbook, but additional ports are not a free lunch.
Well, why have any ports at all? A single USB-C suffices; For everything else, there's a dongle.
No need to stop at ports either. If the SD Card reader can go through USB-C, so can webcam, audio, and the peripherals.
Surface and iPad have shown us that a portable device doesn't need a keyboard/touchpad, and those who want them can connect via bluetooth.
Of course, even having bluetooth built-in is superfluous when perfectly fine Bluetooth dongles are available.
Finally, there are great USB-C portable monitors out there. Why limit the users to something built-in, especially when not everyone has a need for it?
The same goes for the battery; given the abundance of USB-C power banks.
Once we get rid of all these unnecessary bells and whistles, we'll end up with peak MacBook: a shiny, metal square with a single USB-C port, an Apple logo on top, and all the dongles one can dream of (available separately).
I use a USB pendrive formatted with a case-sensitive partition to cache data for an app I use, because it's far better to spend 20$ on a pendrive than 200$ for a SSD upgrade.
Given the choice, I'd prefer to use a SD card for that than a USB pendrive, as the USB pendrive requires either a USB hub or a USB pen always sticking out of the chassis.
Much faster to pop the SD card than to connect via USB to transfer files. Much more convenient not at desk.
Wonder how many people just now shoot on their iPhone 12/13 at least for snaps.
Excited to leave that thing behind.