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I have never owned a Mac anything but the addition of an SD card slot is making this seem very attractive to me. Conversely the latest Surface Pro eliminated i

I have never owned a Mac anything but the addition of an SD card slot is making this seem very attractive to me. Conversely the latest Surface Pro eliminated its little hidden microSD card reader, seems inexcusable for a device marketed as "Pro" and has really put a damper on my desire to upgrade.

Sharlin 5y ago
*restoration of the SD card slot.
justinator 5y ago
A USB micro SD card reader is essentially pennies.
- kokekolo 5y ago
  I thought the same when I upgraded from my 2013 13 inch (with SD slot) to 2020 M1. Turns out it's a lot less convenient. As a camera user, it's so simple to just pull the SD card out of the camera and plug it into the MacBook. But now I just plug the camera in with the cable, even though I have the usb SD reader.
- apostacy 5y ago
  What cost does an sdcard slot impose? What is the benefit of removing it? It is the size of a thumbnail, and most people won't even notice it if they aren't looking for it. I want to know who was cheering for it to be removed. And the few times I have needed it, it was so nice to have. Even if I only use it once in the lifetime of the product, it will be worth it. I haven't had to change a tire in years, but I think it is prudent to carry around a spare tire. Simply having access to a feature is itself a feature.
  - PostThisTooFast 5y ago
    Tell that to the morons cheerleading for headphone jacks to be removed. And headphone jacks were FAR more universally useful than a full-sized SD slot. Speaking of which, you gotta love how Apple calls out the headphone jack on its COMPUTERS, after having removed it from its best-selling music player: the iPhone.
  - justinator 5y ago
    An SD card reader is great, until you need a micro SD card reader and then, oh well. And advances will march on; ports on whatever I use will become outdated. Using an OG M1 Macbook Pro, it's not been a big problem. The dongle I have works great and has more useful ports than the Macbook it replaces.
    - strogonoff 5y ago
      I have a portable reader (SD/microSD) which I almost never need on the go, and a reader built into my dock (SD/microSD/CF). Another dust-and-small-object-collecting nook is actually a downside for me. Built-in SD reader in my old MBP stopped recognizing cards (unless you push it in pressing at just the right angle, there’re a few posts on Apple discussions about this issue) after a couple of years anyway. I’m wondering how much bigger the battery could be without all those extra ports—a top-spec M1 Max laptop would probably rival the current king, the 13" M1 MBP.
  - can16358p 5y ago
    SD card isn't the problem, having a dedicated port for everything is. I really loved the USB-C-only approach: Get whatever you need and plug. My camera has CF card, my drone has microSD card. So let's add them to the mix too. Also I never need the MagSafe port or never used HDMI port in my life. On the contrary, someone might need HDMI or SD slot everyday. My point is that they can't make everyone happy, and paying (not just by price but also the looks/simplicity) for ports that will never be used isn't the best thing to do. USB-C solved this exact problem and what they did on this version is a major step back IMO, including removing the Touch Bar which had great potential for improvement.
    - schwartzworld 5y ago
      > Also I never need the MagSafe port...in my life. You only need to need it once. I know more than one person who broke their laptop by kicking the cord pre-magsafe.
      - can16358p 5y ago
        I'd completely agree with you if MagSafe was the only solution, but my USB-C cord has been kicked accidentally multiple times in the last few years. Every time, it just snapped out perfectly either from the brick or my MacBook. Nothing got harmed, so USB-C already solves the only problem MagSafe is solving, so why have it?
        schwartzworld 5y ago
        You got lucky. It's not solving the problem. You just tripped at the right angle. It's a little like saying that you didn't get hurt when you had a car accident without a seat belt, therefore you have no need for seatbelts.
        can16358p 5y ago
        What if they improved it then? They could easily solve this at the cable level where part of the cable near both ends is magnetically snapping, while still providing USB and PD functionality. Having a dedicated port when they replaced it with a convenient port like USB-C which could also bring the safety of MagSafe, but instead bringing back a different port while the device can perfectly charge over USB-C ports too is a bit weird IMO.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  The dongle life is just so very shit. Is there anyone who prefers a dongle to a built in solution?
  - endless1234 5y ago
    If using the laptop mostly in a stationary place, but occasionally taking it to meetings (or just around the house), the dongle life is okay - means just one cable to plug in when I come back. Of course it would still be better to have a few extra ports on the device itself, there's no getting around that.
  - justinator 5y ago
    It's pretty similar though - instead of SD card into computer, it's SD card into reader into computer. Have to do this for micro SD cards in some way/shape/form anyways. This may be a, "everything is amazing and no one is happy" sort of situation. I think all my cameras connect wirelessly to my Mac and my iPhone anyways. I can copy/paste text/images/whatever across the two as well and that's just magic when it comes to casual content creation.
  - matwood 5y ago
    Not sure about prefer, but indifferent at this point. The few places I might have needed to connect to HDMI (like a conference room) have all permanently attached a usb-c connector at this point. Adding the sdcard back is ok, but is superfluous at my desk because I have a dock (single cable connect at my desk is very nice). I also already carry a small usb-c -> sdcard reader so I can bring photos directly into LR on my iPad Pro. MagSafe looks like a great return at first, but having used the M1 MBA for a year I've learned that I almost never plug into power in random places anymore. It's a bit like the plug on the bottom of mouse doesn't matter when you do it so infrequently. My MBA ends up almost exclusively charged from the dock on my desk, so the big advantage of MagSafe isn't there anymore. And for these other ports, we lost a usb-c port. Probably not that big of deal since I've been living with 2 for a year, but it is a tradeoff to consider.
- porknubbins 5y ago
  And a lot of them break or I lose them. Built in hw seems more robust.
crazysim 5y ago
Who wants to take bets on the next Surface Pro restoring the reader?

Sharlin 5y ago

*restoration of the SD card slot.

justinator 5y ago

A USB micro SD card reader is essentially pennies.

kokekolo 5y ago
I thought the same when I upgraded from my 2013 13 inch (with SD slot) to 2020 M1. Turns out it's a lot less convenient. As a camera user, it's so simple to just pull the SD card out of the camera and plug it into the MacBook. But now I just plug the camera in with the cable, even though I have the usb SD reader.
apostacy 5y ago
What cost does an sdcard slot impose? What is the benefit of removing it? It is the size of a thumbnail, and most people won't even notice it if they aren't looking for it. I want to know who was cheering for it to be removed. And the few times I have needed it, it was so nice to have. Even if I only use it once in the lifetime of the product, it will be worth it. I haven't had to change a tire in years, but I think it is prudent to carry around a spare tire. Simply having access to a feature is itself a feature.
- PostThisTooFast 5y ago
  Tell that to the morons cheerleading for headphone jacks to be removed. And headphone jacks were FAR more universally useful than a full-sized SD slot. Speaking of which, you gotta love how Apple calls out the headphone jack on its COMPUTERS, after having removed it from its best-selling music player: the iPhone.
- justinator 5y ago
  An SD card reader is great, until you need a micro SD card reader and then, oh well. And advances will march on; ports on whatever I use will become outdated. Using an OG M1 Macbook Pro, it's not been a big problem. The dongle I have works great and has more useful ports than the Macbook it replaces.
  - strogonoff 5y ago
    I have a portable reader (SD/microSD) which I almost never need on the go, and a reader built into my dock (SD/microSD/CF). Another dust-and-small-object-collecting nook is actually a downside for me. Built-in SD reader in my old MBP stopped recognizing cards (unless you push it in pressing at just the right angle, there’re a few posts on Apple discussions about this issue) after a couple of years anyway. I’m wondering how much bigger the battery could be without all those extra ports—a top-spec M1 Max laptop would probably rival the current king, the 13" M1 MBP.
- can16358p 5y ago
  SD card isn't the problem, having a dedicated port for everything is. I really loved the USB-C-only approach: Get whatever you need and plug. My camera has CF card, my drone has microSD card. So let's add them to the mix too. Also I never need the MagSafe port or never used HDMI port in my life. On the contrary, someone might need HDMI or SD slot everyday. My point is that they can't make everyone happy, and paying (not just by price but also the looks/simplicity) for ports that will never be used isn't the best thing to do. USB-C solved this exact problem and what they did on this version is a major step back IMO, including removing the Touch Bar which had great potential for improvement.
  - schwartzworld 5y ago
    > Also I never need the MagSafe port...in my life. You only need to need it once. I know more than one person who broke their laptop by kicking the cord pre-magsafe.
    - can16358p 5y ago
      I'd completely agree with you if MagSafe was the only solution, but my USB-C cord has been kicked accidentally multiple times in the last few years. Every time, it just snapped out perfectly either from the brick or my MacBook. Nothing got harmed, so USB-C already solves the only problem MagSafe is solving, so why have it?
      - schwartzworld 5y ago
        You got lucky. It's not solving the problem. You just tripped at the right angle. It's a little like saying that you didn't get hurt when you had a car accident without a seat belt, therefore you have no need for seatbelts.
        can16358p 5y ago
        What if they improved it then? They could easily solve this at the cable level where part of the cable near both ends is magnetically snapping, while still providing USB and PD functionality. Having a dedicated port when they replaced it with a convenient port like USB-C which could also bring the safety of MagSafe, but instead bringing back a different port while the device can perfectly charge over USB-C ports too is a bit weird IMO.
lostlogin 5y ago
The dongle life is just so very shit. Is there anyone who prefers a dongle to a built in solution?
- endless1234 5y ago
  If using the laptop mostly in a stationary place, but occasionally taking it to meetings (or just around the house), the dongle life is okay - means just one cable to plug in when I come back. Of course it would still be better to have a few extra ports on the device itself, there's no getting around that.
- justinator 5y ago
  It's pretty similar though - instead of SD card into computer, it's SD card into reader into computer. Have to do this for micro SD cards in some way/shape/form anyways. This may be a, "everything is amazing and no one is happy" sort of situation. I think all my cameras connect wirelessly to my Mac and my iPhone anyways. I can copy/paste text/images/whatever across the two as well and that's just magic when it comes to casual content creation.
- matwood 5y ago
  Not sure about prefer, but indifferent at this point. The few places I might have needed to connect to HDMI (like a conference room) have all permanently attached a usb-c connector at this point. Adding the sdcard back is ok, but is superfluous at my desk because I have a dock (single cable connect at my desk is very nice). I also already carry a small usb-c -> sdcard reader so I can bring photos directly into LR on my iPad Pro. MagSafe looks like a great return at first, but having used the M1 MBA for a year I've learned that I almost never plug into power in random places anymore. It's a bit like the plug on the bottom of mouse doesn't matter when you do it so infrequently. My MBA ends up almost exclusively charged from the dock on my desk, so the big advantage of MagSafe isn't there anymore. And for these other ports, we lost a usb-c port. Probably not that big of deal since I've been living with 2 for a year, but it is a tradeoff to consider.
porknubbins 5y ago
And a lot of them break or I lose them. Built in hw seems more robust.

crazysim 5y ago

Who wants to take bets on the next Surface Pro restoring the reader?