While Apple’s new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks seem to have rung all the right bells with its user, Apple has confirmed that the computers are equipped with a midline SD card slot supporting the UHS-II standard, rather than the substantially faster USH-III, the company has confirmed.
The UHS-II standard allows for read and write speeds of up to 312MB/s, which is lower than the UHS-III standard’s read and write speeds of up to 624MB/s. Apple confirmed the SD card slot’s specs, which noted that opting for the UHS-II standard isn’t “as forward looking” as UHS-III.
The UHS-III standard supports the fastest SD card read and write speeds, and has been available on the market since 2017. Some professional users had hoped Apple would adopt the newer, faster standard for its new notebooks, which are the first in years to offer ports other than USB-C. The new notebooks come equipped with the aforementioned SD card slot, as well as an HDMI port for connecting to displays or TVs. Like the SD card slot, Apple’s HDMI port is midrange — limited to HDMI 2.0, instead of HDMI 2.1.
The new MacBook Pro models also offer three Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as a MagSafe-style charging port. Users can charge their new Macs with either the MagSafe 3 port or any of the three Thunderbolt ports.
In addition to the expanded port selection, the new MacBook Pro models also feature significantly upgraded M1 chips, mini-LED displays with ProMotion, and full-sized function keys instead of a Touch Bar.
The new MacBook Pro units will be available to order on Monday, October 25, and are slated to arrive via delivery and be available in-store on Tuesday, October 26. The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and @dcseifert