There’s a chance Apple might bring back the SD Card Port.
All that I’ve wanted as a photographer is an SD card port. More specifically, I’ve wanted one that doesn’t suck. The one on the iMac 2019 doesn’t play well with new SD cards. In fact, having an SD card port is mandatory for me to buy a computer. That’s why I still use the early 2015 MacBook Pro. Couple that with a great keyboard and good specs, of course! And the word on the street is that there’s a glimmer of hope for us photographers in a concept I’d like to call the Apple MacBook Pro Classic.
After reading an article on Input, I became very excited. Some cool things may come back to the MacBook Pro lineup. Of course, they’ll never admit they were wrong. Instead, they’ll say that they had courage. In this case, I think that having the courage to undo all the mishegas will be wonderful. MagSafe is apparently going to be making a come back. And if that’s the case, then I’m holding out hope.
Apple, admittedly, had a bit too much faith in the camera manufacturers. Yes, there’s the wireless transfer from a camera to a computer. But it takes forever. SD cards still dominate as the megapixel wars didn’t end. File sizes became larger, and the SD card capacities did too. Further, Apple never shared AirDrop protocols with camera companies. If that were done, things would be much different. No one should ever discount how fantastic using AirDrop is. If you’re a working journalist or creative, it makes life so much simpler. With all this said, the idea of the Macbook Pro Classic seems exactly like what we need.
Maybe that’s one reason why they got rid of the SD card port. But the truth is that we really need it. I hate having a million dongles. It’s one of the most frustrating parts of being a modern creative. The point of using Apple products is because they’re supposed to be simple. You’re not supposed to make things complicated. Everything is supposed to just work! That’s why we pay so much extra money. But if you take that away, no one wants your products anymore.
And for many a creative, taking away the SD card port really annoyed us. Reviews Editor Hillary Grigonis and I have spoken about this on phone calls with one another. When the MacBook Pro 16-inch dropped, I was irate about the lack of an SD card port.
For better or worse, Apple’s relationship with creatives is an abusive one. Many creatives have drifted away from Apple. Gear Editor Brett Day uses a custom PC for his daily work. But as much as creatives need Apple for their daily work, Apple needs them. Yes, I’d like to fully declare that. The current iteration of Apple lacks the innovation and cool factor they had years ago. The new M1 processors are surely helping. But Apple needs creatives to seem as cool as they are. It’s basically like the idea of gentrification. The much older Apple was like old NY. Folks didn’t really like it. But then they captured the hearts and souls of creatives. So the creatives helped to make Apple’s brand better. Walk into any cafe, and you’ll see a fleet of Macbooks. Then everyone else came.
Apple needs creatives. And if they don’t start giving creatives what they need, they’ll start flocking to other spaces. Razer, Lenovo, Microsoft, Asus, and others make desirable options for us.