Phil Schiller says the Macbook Pro doesn't need an SD card slot

[Guest]

Phil Schiller, senior VP of Apple's worldwide marketing, had an interview with the Independent regarding Apple's latest product the Macbook Pro.

The product has received criticism for the use of Thunderbolt ports as a replacement for...everything

 

He was asked why the SD Card slot, commonly used by photographers, was absent

Quote

The new Pros have no SD card slot for a camera memory card. Why not?

 

Because of a couple of things. One, it’s a bit of a cumbersome slot. You've got this thing sticking halfway out. Then there are very fine and fast USB card readers, and then you can use CompactFlash as well as SD. So we could never really resolve this – we picked SD because more consumer cameras have SD but you can only pick one. So, that was a bit of a trade-off. And then more and more cameras are starting to build wireless transfer into the camera. That’s proving very useful. So we think there’s a path forward where you can use a physical adaptor if you want, or do wireless transfer. - Phil Schiller

 

The Independent then questioned Schiller as to why they kept the headphone jack 

A port that was removed from their flagship phone yet remains present in their latest Macbook Pro iteration 

 

Quote

Is it inconsistent to keep the 3.5mm headphone jack as it’s no longer on the latest iPhone?

 

Not at all. These are pro machines. If it was just about headphones then it doesn’t need to be there, we believe that wireless is a great solution for headphones. But many users have setups with studio monitors, amps, and other pro audio gear that do not have wireless solutions and need the 3.5mm jack. - Phil Schiller

 

It seems kind of weird to see the company that took out the headphone jack to defend why they kept it on another device

It seems "inconsistent" as The Independent stated

Apple has taken many risks lately though I'm not quite sure they're all worth taking 

 

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/apple-macbook-pro-new-philip-schiller-interview-phil-iphone-ios-criticism-a7393156.html

[Mira Yurizaki]

So instead of having a "card sticking out" you can have an octopus of things sticking out. Brilliant!

 

Also why bother with the 3.5mm jack if an audiophile is probably going to hook up a USB DAC to the thing anyway?

[zMeul]

3 hours ago, DatSpeed said:

Quote

Because of a couple of things. One, it’s a bit of a cumbersome slot. You've got this thing sticking halfway out.

 

you mean like this, Apple? 

 

my 2013 HP Pavilion has a SD card reader and you what? it doesn't stick out

Spoiler

if you can't tell, there's a SD card in there

[SCHISCHKA]

yea some contradiction on the headphones, why wasn't that logic used for the iPhone; some people have really expensive audiophile headphones. pretty bad decision not to include SD card IMO because i couldn't imagine its very productive transferring 100GB of media over wireless

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

yea some contradiction on the headphones, why wasn't that logic used for the iPhone; some people have really expensive audiophile headphones. pretty bad decision not to include SD card IMO because i couldn't imagine its very productive transferring 100GB of media over wireless

Wireless camera transfer is shit, but you're also not going to want to transfer 100GB of media over a USB 2.0 bus (which is what most SD card slots are on).

 

So most professionals will be using a USB 3.0 card reader anyway (especially since most pro cameras don't even use SD). And the typical non-pro user doesn't even know what an SD card is. 

[Misanthrope]

Stupid peasants and their convenient small cards, learn to use one thunderbolt and a bag pack full of fucking dongles: so elegant.

[zMeul]

how much is a SD card reader on Apple Store? 50-60$ - that's why there isn't one on the MacBook PRO 2016

[Ninjaolsson]

I love my MacBook Pro, but it's only a really a prosumer computer. Apple does not deserve the right to call anything they make these days "pro".

[dragosudeki]

Quote

 But many users have setups with studio monitors, amps, and other pro audio gear that do not have wireless solutions and need the 3.5mm jack. - Phil Schiller

You didn't think about that on the phone, but thought about it on the laptop? Most people use the same headphones for their phone and laptops too. You'd be better off saying that Apple had a lack of confidence the second time around.

 

And yet, they didn't think of people that have photography equipment that still use SD cards? Also, doesn't wireless transfer take up time to do, and so an SD card would just be a faster method anyway?

 

Now, we can say that the game industry isn't the only one having problems with ports...

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, zMeul said:

how much is a SD card reader on Apple Store? 50-60$ - that's why there isn't one on the MacBook PRO 2016

By that logic they could have pushed macbook pro* users to buy thunderbolt adapters for their headsets, like they did with the phones

 

 

 

 

 

 

*By pro they of course mean not-pro-at-all but just richer customers that still don't need more cores or a better GPU on their 2k+ laptop, cause fuck it we gotta get paid my as well rob "pro" out of any meaning.

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 minutes ago, dragosudeki said:

Now, we can say that the game industry isn't the only one having problems with ports...

They had that growing pain last generation when Sony started removing ports on the PS3 and Nintendo for some reason doesn't have an Ethernet port on their consoles.

[GoodBytes]

Actually, they are SD card reader that takes in an SD card slot in full, and is flush with the system. Press on it, and the card ejects from system. The WiiU has this, my old laptop had this, all quality microSD card readers has this.

 

As for the headphones plug. Professionals uses USB DAC and equipment, not headphones plug. I never saw any professional go with analogue plug solution via headphone plug, over digital signal, with it's own, way better DAC and amp setup.

[SCHISCHKA]

9 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

So most professionals will be using a USB 3.0 card reader anyway (especially since most pro cameras don't even use SD). And the typical non-pro user doesn't even know what an SD card is. 

I had to check if mine was usb 2 or 3. My MacBook air 2015 does use the USB 3 controller and reports its speed at the USB 3 spec. Interestingly the apple web site says the desktop macs use PCIe and the laptops use USB 2. Maybe just be the 2015 models have USB 3 and they didn't update their website. I wouldn't know if its got good speed coz i only used my SD card reader to dd raspberry pi images

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Actually, they are SD card reader that takes in an SD card slot in full, and is flush with the system. Press on it, and the card ejects from system. The WiiU has this, my old laptop had this, all quality microSD card readers has this.

 

As for the headphones plug. Professionals uses USB DAC and equipment, not headphones. I never saw any professional go with analogue via headphone, over digital signal, with it's own, way better DAC and amp setup.

They also use more than 2 cpu cores despite Apple's idea of naming a "pro" model that's not really pro and then the real (as in really expensive) pro models.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Also I'm pretty sure most audio professionals only use the MBP as a controller of sorts rather than a audio generator. That and most professional equipment takes XLR or 1/4" TRS connectors. Granted you could convert a 1/8" jack, but eh.

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

As for the headphones plug. Professionals uses USB DAC and equipment, not headphones. I never saw any professional go with analogue via headphone, over digital signal, with it's own, way better DAC and amp setup.

yeah you just failed hard there. Sound is analogue. The pro's you are refering to work with making music and such, they need/want as high audio quality as they can get and they have a DAC (digital to analog converter) and then they have a amp, so they can power their headphones or speakers.

[GoodBytes]

7 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

yeah you just failed hard there. Sound is analogue. The pro's you are refering to work with making music and such, they need/want as high audio quality as they can get and they have a DAC (digital to analog converter) and then they have a amp, so they can power their headphones or speakers.

k.. enjoy your Premium(TM)(R) $1 onboard DAC chip on your MacBook Pro then. Let the real people with real jobs, use proper high-quality equipment, to deliver the best rich sound by not having to convert a signal from analogue to digital back down to analogue, not to mention to pass through a shitty amp and DAC at 'the source'.

[Arri]

He's right about juggling between different media. Large portion of the market is switching to CF as prices have been steadily dropping and adoption rates have been going up. Then you have the big professionals who are using SSD storage on their cameras anyway.

 

I'm a big proponent of the convenience of the SD card slot but I figured with those transfer speeds over TB3, it's better off to use an adapter anyway.

[Vode]

49 minutes ago, DatSpeed said:

Phil Schiller, senior VP of Apple's worldwide marketing, had an interview with the Independent regarding Apple's latest product the Macbook Pro.

The product has received criticism for the use of Thunderbolt ports as a replacement for...everything

 

He was asked why the SD Card slot, commonly used by photographers, was absent

 

The Independent then questioned Schiller as to why they kept the headphone jack 

A port that was removed from their flagship phone yet remains present in their latest Macbook Pro iteration 

 

 

It seems kind of weird to see the company that took out the headphone jack to defend why they kept it on another device

It seems "inconsistent" as The Independent stated

Apple has taken many risks lately though I'm not quite sure they're all worth taking 

 

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/apple-macbook-pro-new-philip-schiller-interview-phil-iphone-ios-criticism-a7393156.html

Lol @ 3.5mm jack being the "Pro" solution for studio monitors.

 

Clueless bastard.

[Vode]

The missing port sound engineers would complain about in the new MBP is the USB-Type A. 

[Dackzy]

Just now, GoodBytes said:

k.. enjoy your Premium(TM)(R) $1 onboard DAC chip on your MacBook Pro then. Let the real people with real jobs, use proper high-quality equipment, to deliver the best rich sound by not having to convert a signal from analogue to digital back down to analogue, not to mention to pass through a shitty amp and DAC at 'the source'.

Why don't you stop talking about things you don't know anything about huh?

 

Audio is analogue, how are you suppesed to hear digital things? Hence a DAC, it makes the digital signal analogue. You have a audio files on your PC that is digital, how are you going to hear that without a DAC and amp? You can't. Speakers are analogue, headphones are analogue. They move air to create sound.

The analogue signal a DAC makes is not that powerful hence you need a amp to give it power.

 

phone has a DAC and amp, your TV has a DAC and amp, your laptop has a DAC and amp, your desktop has a DAC and amp.

 

So let me break this down so you understand this.

Audio file -> DAC -> amp -> Speaker/headphones

 

Also that response wasn't very mod like.

[RedRound2]

On 11/2/2016 at 11:47 AM, zMeul said:

how much is a SD card reader on Apple Store? 50-60$ - that's why there isn't one on the MacBook PRO 2016

This is probably the most deluded comment.Not for Apple prices, but the fact that pretty much any readers from amazon can do the job necessary

 

On 11/2/2016 at 11:50 AM, dragosudeki said:

You didn't think about that on the phone, but thought about it on the laptop? Most people use the same headphones for their phone and laptops too. You'd be better off saying that Apple had a lack of confidence the second time around.

 

You did notice that he was talking about a completely different scenario, right?

Quote

And yet, they didn't think of people that have photography equipment that still use SD cards? Also, doesn't wireless transfer take up time to do, and so an SD card would just be a faster method anyway?

2

Quote

pretty bad decision not to include SD card IMO because i couldn't imagine its very productive transferring 100GB of media over wireless

 

 

Wireless on camera suck, at least right now. But I'd rather have a USB 3 (maybe 3.1) Card Reader especially when the industry is moving away from SD Format like UFS (with the onset of 4K). Besides many cameras already other formats like CompactFlash, so it doesn't seem to benefit many people if they actually had an SD card slot

On 11/2/2016 at 11:46 AM, SCHISCHKA said:

yea some contradiction on the headphones, why wasn't that logic used for the iPhone; some people have really expensive audiophile headphones.

 

Again a different scenario. Most people use earplugs on iPhones while commuting while he's specifically talking about audio professionals

 

[GoodBytes]

12 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Why don't you stop talking about things you don't know anything about huh?

 

Audio is analogue, how are you suppesed to hear digital things? Hence a DAC, it makes the digital signal analogue. You have a audio files on your PC that is digital, how are you going to hear that without a DAC and amp? You can't. Speakers are analogue, headphones are analogue. They move air to create sound.

The analogue signal a DAC makes is not that powerful hence you need a amp to give it power.

Sooooo, you actually agree with me? Make your mind.. you agree or not?

 

Quote

phone has a DAC and amp, your TV has a DAC and amp, your laptop has a DAC and amp, your desktop has a DAC and amp.

 

So let me break this down so you understand this.

Audio file -> DAC -> amp -> Speaker/headphones

 

Yes... A shit DAC and a shit amp. That is why professionals uses separate DAC/Amp setup over using the onboard crap provided by manufacture... solutions that are also not restricted in power and space as well.

[Vode]

13 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

 to deliver the best rich sound by not having to convert a signal from analogue to digital back down to analogue, not to mention to pass through a shitty amp and DAC at 'the source'.

 

Well you only need to convert from digital to analogue for playback and vice verse for recording.

 

4 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Why don't you stop talking about things you don't know anything about huh?

 

Audio is analogue, how are you suppesed to hear digital things? Hence a DAC, it makes the digital signal analogue. You have a audio files on your PC that is digital, how are you going to hear that without a DAC and amp? You can't. Speakers are analogue, headphones are analogue. They move air to create sound.

The analogue signal a DAC makes is not that powerful hence you need a amp to give it power.

 

phone has a DAC and amp, your TV has a DAC and amp, your laptop has a DAC and amp, your desktop has a DAC and amp.

 

So let me break this down so you understand this.

Audio file -> DAC -> amp -> Speaker/headphones

 

Also that response wasn't very mod like.

While the post you replied to isn't correct and you didn't say anything wrong, you're missing the point:

 

For recording music the shitty integrated DAC and 3,5mm headphone jack aren't going to cut it for most people, certainly not for an audio professional.

 

You would use an external DAC connected via Firewire/USB or whatever.

 

Aside from DAC quality you need phantom power to even use a condenser mic just to name one example.

[Dackzy]

11 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Sooooo, you actually agree with me? Make your mind.. you agree or not?

 

 

I said the same thing m8. if you just take your time to read it.

 

"Sound is analogue. The pro's (not "macbook pro" people) you are refering to work with making music and such, they need/want as high audio quality as they can get and they have a DAC (digital to analog converter) and then they have a amp, so they can power their headphones or speakers. "

 

When a producer is sitting there doing his job, then he records the music while turning on some things, but if you think he is doing all of the mixing live then you are a fool. They have a digital file that they are using to mix from, they go over the same audio so many times to make it sound perfect, they use speakers and they use headphones. First they make it sound good with speakers, then they test with headphones to see how sounds with them, while listning after all the small flaws

 

to quote you

Quote

I never saw any professional go with analogue via headphone, over digital signal

you see the problem there is that headphones are analogue, so are speakers.

 

 

Also you are not very mod like, you are very rude.