Comments on: Why the SD Card Slot in the Macbook range won’t replace the DVD Drive any time soon.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:57:11 +0000

Great article, with some great points. However, I did want to point out one thing: it is not generally considered correct for the plural acronyms to be formed with apostrophes. I know a lot of people still do it, but a lot of people do a lot of incorrect things with apostrophes.

HTH!

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:43:08 +0000

SD cards are slow right now…at least the reasonably priced ones are.

I made a bootable SD card for my new MBP – and it is as slow as booting off the optical drive.

I’ve seen no evidence that the current SD slots support SDXC – I bet they’re limited to 32GB.

I wish Apple shipped better optical drives – they’ve pretty much put in the cheapest DVD burner you can buy.

By: thomasfitzgerald

thomasfitzgerald — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:31:50 +0000

“SD cards are expensive but reusable, easy to use, durable, very small. DVD are easily scartched, bulky and need a burning software etc.”

Which is fine for individuals backing up or moving data (mind you – why not use a usb key which will go into anything) – but for companies distributing software it’s a non starter at the moment.

By: Bax

Bax — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:28:17 +0000

SD cards are expensive but reusable, easy to use, durable, very small. DVD are easily scartched, bulky and need a burning software etc.
SD card would be easily compatible with laptops, smart phones and other gadgets like mp3 players,GPS..
New SDXC cards will be able to hold upto 2TB.
Higher price of SD card is definitely worth it…

By: Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:43:12 +0000

I rarely use my optical drive in my MacBook. I’d just as soon have an external one at home, keep the HDD, and add a small, _fast_ SSD for apps, and the OS including virtual memory so the HD might sleep more. The external could be included to drive the price up, or people could buy/make their own to get the speed they want.

By: James Bailey

James Bailey — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:36:58 +0000

I hope you are wrong. While I need a DVD drive, an external USB is fine. If I could get a 13″ Macbook that had a complete complement of ports but without a built-in DVD, that would make me happy.

I use the DVD drive to rip music from CD and movies from DVD. But I have never done that on the road or when running on battery power. Getting more battery life and/or a thinner Macbook would be worth removing the internal DVD to me. I will probably wait for several years to update my unibody 13″ MacBook until that happens.

How many people need a DVD drive on the road? Not many I suspect.

By: thomasfitzgerald

thomasfitzgerald — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:58:49 +0000

Yeah, that was a bit silly all right.

By: eric

eric — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:39:41 +0000

The big deal with the SD slot wasn’t the slot itself, it was the removal of the Expresscard slot. That’s a HUGE problem for a lot of people, and they need to bring that kind of expandability back – otherwise the ‘Pro’ moniker is looking like very shady branding indeed.