SD Card Slot

As the SD card standard continues to evolve, as it has rapidly done for the past few years, people with these new MacBook Pros will be carrying around a USB reader that allows them to read the new cards anyway. The built-in reader will be obsolete.

And those who need ExpressCard still won't have a slot.

I just don't get it.

Just a note: a single eSata drive (at 7200rpm anyway) is not any faster than with a Firewire 800 connection. You are limited by that SINGLE drive's capability of moving data. Short bursts maybe because of the cache, but not for typical sustained data transfer that video typically demands.

Hi,
Actually, this is incorrect. The Sonnet Tempo Pro can provide 75MB/sec. Write and 105MB/sec. Read performance with a single Seagate 1TB hard disk in the FirmTek SeriTek/2EN2 enclosure with the latest MacBook Pro. FireWire 800 write performance is limited to approximately 55MB/sec. writes and 75MB/sec. read.

When a dual disk RAID 0 is used with the Sonnet Tempo Pro ExpressCard and the FirmTek SeriTek/2EN2 enclosure the write performance climbs to 177MB/sec. and read performance is 199MB/sec. This is almost 3x the performance of FireWire 800 on its best day. You can view this performance data in the AMUG Sonnet Tempo Pro ExpressCard Review found here:

http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/sonnet/pro-expresscard/

If all you do with your external storage is backup the internal hard disk of the MacBook Pro then the performance will be limited to the slowest storage device which is the internal MacBook Pro hard disk. However, if you are manipulating large files on the SeriTek/2EN2 or copying from one HD to the other in the dual bay (SeriTek/2EN2) enclosure, performance is measurably faster and this eSATA configuration provides much more flexibility than any FireWire 800 device.

The loss of the ExpressCard slot in the June 2009 MacBook Pro 15" model will push users that want high performance storage options to purchase the 17" model or purchase an earlier refurbished 15" model that includes the ExpressCard slot.

Have fun!

I stand corrected: I was unaware of this particular Sonnet card (expensive, by the way), but if you need performance in a single drive system, this card and a suitable 7200rpm drive appear to best FW800 speeds. Clearly, Raid-0 striping improves things even more.

That said, if the data is fragmented at all (such as multi-stream audio used in say, ProTools, or you are reading multiple video streams, the seek time limit the potential read speeds, and likely make either FW800 or eSata perform well below specs for throughput.

I, too, miss Expresscard 34 in the new MPB, but at least we got firewire back.

Eddie

Greg: If you're talking about the CompactFlash card that a Canon EOS 300D uses, the answer is no, you can't read it in the MBP's SD card slot (or any other SD card slot). You'll need to use a USB CF card reader or a direct USB connection between your camera and the MBP to load pictures into the computer.

If you aren't talking about the EOS 300D, please tell us what camera you're really using.

CJLinst wrote:
As the SD card standard continues to evolve, as it has rapidly done for the past few years, people with these new MacBook Pros will be carrying around a USB reader that allows them to read the new cards anyway. The built-in reader will be obsolete.

And those who need ExpressCard still won't have a slot.

I just don't get it.

I heard one benefit of the built-in SD slot is that one can boot directly from it. It could be interesting with something like a specialized stripped-down installation of OSX or Linux.

Of course the price of a 32 GB SDHC card will have to go down first.

I heard one benefit of the built-in SD slot is that one can boot directly from it. It could be interesting with something like a specialized stripped-down installation of OSX or Linux.

Hi,
One simple question. Does this really matter? 🙂

I can already boot externally from a FireWirre HD and it provides much higher performance and supports large volumes. I can also boot from a JMicron based eSATA ExpressCard for even faster eSATA performance.

It is clear to me that the SD slot was put there simply to fill a hole where the ExpressCard use to go. I have a small USB device that reads 15 different memory card types. It was $10. Why would I want an SD slot - especially if it removed the possibility of high performance external eSATA connections? For that matter why didn't Apple just put two external eSATA ports on the MacBook Pro where the silly SD slot was placed?

The removal of the ExpressCard slot on the MacBook Pro 15" is quite sad. Especially since the new ExpressCard Standard 2.0 has just been released. Apple should be improving the technology on new models. The MacBook Pro 15" should not be watered down into a unibody MacBook.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/09/expresscard.standard.2/

The amazing part is that you can get an SD card reader to fit in the ultra express slot if you REALLY wanted a reader. I have one of these, purchased from Apple for those times I want to download my camera's images on the road... http://store.apple.com/us/product/TQ777LL/A?mco=NDc0NDI0MA

Specifications

Flash memory cards supported (without adapter): SD, MMC, MMCplus, MS, MS Pro, xD-Picture Card
Flash memory cards supported (with adapter): microSD, miniSD, MMCmobile, RS-MMC, MS Duo, MS Pro Duo

Now when I get a new Apple "pro" computer I lose the ability to use my ultra express 3g wireless card, also. I don't want to lug around a 17" computer. I'm a pilot and practically live on the road, so the 15" size is good.

Why couldn't Apple just provide an adaptor card like the one above if it was SO IMPORTANT to add an sd slot. Or at least make people aware of it so they can purchase it themselves....Unbelievable!

mbean wrote:

Actually, this is incorrect. The Sonnet Tempo Pro can provide 75MB/sec. Write and 105MB/sec. Read performance with a single Seagate 1TB hard disk in the FirmTek SeriTek/2EN2 enclosure with the latest MacBook Pro. FireWire 800 write performance is limited to approximately 55MB/sec. writes and 75MB/sec. read.

No need to spend a bunch of money on the Sonnet Tempo Pro (from my experience). I use an Addonics card which is based on the Sil3132 chipset and I get 120MB/sec sustained read and 102MB/sec sustained write using a single WD VelociRaptor (10k rpm) in an enclosure using an Oxford 924 chipset. I have had no issues working with ProTools Sessions with 100+ tracks on this drive. I get the same limited read/write performance with the same drive/enclosure over FW800.

Now I hope my Macbook Pro never lets me down, as I feel no possible upgrade path other than spending way to much on a Mac Pro (which is overkill for ProTools LE). I also feel sorry for all those people that spent $10k on a Sony EX-3 HD Camera system for the idea that it uses ExpressCard memory cards only to find that Apple has left them in the dark...This is a sad sad day for the true "Pro" users of Apple products. The SD card was added so they can market these systems to consumers that expect it in that market. I also assume they did it to save internal room for the new bigger battery.

Another important note here is that the 17-inch Macbook Pro was NOT refreshed this time around. Yes, its price was dropped, but it is otherwise the same as its last refresh. I see the 17-inch losing its ExpressCard slot in favor of the SD Card on the next refresh unless...we send some *"constructive criticism"* into Apple's direction. I would suggest to them that they bring back the ExpressCard slot on the smaller units and just include an ExpressCard-to-SD card slot adapter in the box, which will allow them to cater to both Consumer and Pro markets. http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Oh well, so unless Apple fixes this issue they will have some competition to worry about, as my next upgrade may have to be a Hackintosh to fit my needs as a "Pro".

Daniel W wrote:
I would assume that the slot is attached via USB - as the Expresscard port is (at least in my late '07 model MBP). At least it has/had it's own USB bus...

I just hope the reader supports SDHC - I haven't used a 2GB or below in years. I would assume it is considering that most cameras nowadays use it, but I don't know.

As for dropping the slot, I'm not happy, but then again, they also reduced the price a couple hundred dollars. I think most of their users would be happy with that trade. I suppose that since I merely have a SDHC reader in the slot already, I would fit into this category - unless it's not an SDHC....

ExpressCards are linked directly to the PCIe bus. You may have run into an issue with a cheap adapter using a USB bus inside of it before it converted it to whichever port it was. I have the same Macbook Pro as you, and I have confirmed in System Profiler that my Addonics eSATA card (Sil3132) is infact connected to PCI Bus 3. The speeds also speak for themselves. USB could never muster 120MB/sec sustained read and 102MB/sec sustained write. As far as the SD Card slot. Apple could have easily just included an ExpressCard to SD adapter in the box. I have a feeling the main reason they removed the ExpressCard is due to internal space...the new battery likely made it rather impossible to fit the ExpressCard slot.

Yes it is great to have firewire back. Not clear that the SD slot will be very useful unless you happen to have lots of SD cards!

"No need to spend a bunch of money on the Sonnet Tempo Pro (from my experience). I use an Addonics card which is based on the Sil3132 chipset and I get 120MB/sec sustained read and 102MB/sec sustained write using a single WD VelociRaptor (10k rpm) in an enclosure using an Oxford 924 chipset. I have had no issues working with ProTools Sessions with 100+ tracks on this drive. I get the same limited read/write performance with the same drive/enclosure over FW800. "

Just to clarify, are you saying you get the same performance on the VelociRaptor with ProTools with either eSata or FW800 with multiple tracks? GIven the number of track seeks occuring when processing lots of tracks, that's what I would expect. Lots of short blocks from all over the place on the drive.

If it's different than that, Hmmmmm.

Eddie O

Edward A. Oates wrote:
Just to clarify, are you saying you get the same performance on the VelociRaptor with ProTools with either eSata or FW800 with multiple tracks? GIven the number of track seeks occuring when processing lots of tracks, that's what I would expect. Lots of short blocks from all over the place on the drive.

That is not what I was actually getting at Edward, I am sorry for the confusion. I was stating that I get the same bottlecap that mbean ran into. FW800 speeds are much less than eSATA speeds. This is of course due to interface limitations. However with ProTools read speeds are much more important than write, and mostly random reads and seeks. In this scenario I've been able to this this drive successfully with a ProTools HD system (Windows) over FW400. That being said, eSATA performance is still king over any other interface I have used with the VelociRaptor. 120MB/sec sequential read is certainly not bad for a single drive that is not an SSD. But you are right as far as ProTools goes: The quick seeks on the VelociRaptor play a bigger role in the ProTools performance than the interface being used. I just do not like anything to put a cap on potential speed in my scenario.

"120MB/sec sequential read is certainly not bad for a single drive that is not an SSD. But you are right as far as ProTools goes: The quick seeks on the VelociRaptor play a bigger role in the ProTools performance than the interface being used. I just do not like anything to put a cap on potential speed in my scenario."

I think the performance attribute that contributes most to this drives ProTools performance is 2.5" platters and 4.7msec average seek time (vs about 8.5msec for the 3.5" drives that specifiy it). Rotational latency is also better at 10,000 rpm.

I used to have 10,000rpm SCSI drives on my old ProTools rig, but 9GB was pretty limiting 😉. Now I use 250GB (my old spare drives) and FW800 and achieve the tracks counts I need. I haven't need to round robin two drives, yet, though (I haven't had a need for more than 32 simult playback tracks yet, and record no more than 24 at a time for a live session).

Thanks for the clarification.

Eddie O

Kind of back to the original topic: with the new SDHC spec (up to 2TB and up to 300MB/s transfer speed), along with the SDIO spec, some one could BUILD devices close to the capability of Expresscard 34 (not quite, but close); I'm not familiar enough with either SDIO or Expresscard 34 interface and performance specs to know what the advantages (other than existence of implementations) one has over the other. Clearly, Expresscard 34 cards are physically larger and so take up more internal real-estate for the insertion mechanism, and that was probably the major Apple concern for the 13 and 15" mbp.

But it is realistic to believe that Apple is planning for future SDIO devices to be uesd in the slot, especially if it can be upgraded to SDHC at some point.

Eddie O

Of course the REAL reason for the SD slot is so Apple can watch their clout with professional audio and video producers plummet right through the floor. Removing the ExpressCard slot and replacing with a pedestrian SD slot is quite possibly the worst move in Apple's history. It destroys the point of having a "pro" line of laptops.