No Express card Slot on New Macbook Pro

[Steve Holmes]

Well news from WWDC seems to indicate the new 15" Macbook pro will only have a SD card slot, not a express card slot. But the new MBP will take up to 8 GB of ram which is nice. The 17" MBP will retain express card slot, and the new MB will have firewire 800 which is also good news.
Phil Schiller keynote live from WWDC 2009

[Bob Jackson]

Originally Posted by Steve Holmes

Well news from WWDC seems to indicate the new 15" Macbook pro will only have a SD card slot, not a express card slot. But the new MBP will take up to 8 GB of ram which is nice. The 17" MBP will retain express card slot, and the new MB will have firewire 800 which is also good news.
Phil Schiller keynote live from WWDC 2009

No expresscard slot..... I'm not impressed Apple. 17" MPB only has one.
Next they will remove the DVD player too.

[Alister Chapman]

I have a tiny Fujitsu netbook that has an express card slot, SD card slot, USB, full size VGA, Network and audio connectors. If they can squeeze that lot on a netbook why not a 13" or 15" MBP. What are they thinking. It's not just SxS users that will be annoyed but also the users of esata adapters etc.

[Craig Seeman]

The more complete picture:
MBP 17" Express Slot
MBP 15" SD Slot
MBP 13" SD Slot Firewire 800

For EX users with SxS cards, they may have to buy a 17" MBP. What a lug!
On the Other hand, for those using MxR or Hoodman with SDHC they can now use a 13" MBP with SD slot. That's attractive for those needing a smaller portable computer and not wanting to use USB.

Note the return of Firewire. This might be useful if EX in HDV mode could be used with 13" MBP as a portable live streaming HD system.

I really do think there's a need for an Express slot 15" model though. Apple claimed in the keynote that fewer than 1% are using the Express slot. Realistically EX and eSata card users probably don't make up much of a market to cater to.

The SD slot makes the use of SDHC cards in EX that much more compelling. Of course there's an awkward situation if your shooting SxS for Slow Motion and have to find a way to xfer that (or make sure your next Mac laptop is 17" MBP).

[Olof Ekbergh]

I guess Apple is in business to make as much money as possible. They are not the only ones.

I am happy I have 2 of the 15" and an older 17" w/Express slot. They should last a couple years.

Who knows what will be available then.

Now may be an opportunity to get reduced price on a discontinued unit.

I am sure there will be fw800 to Express and there already are usb to express adapters.

There will also have to be adapters to CF cards, a lot of people use those in still cams like the 5DmkII. I know there are always the slower USB adapters for this.

My Matrox MX02 will only work in an Express slot so I hope Apple will continue to keep the Express slot in the 17" MBP's.

[Craig Seeman]

Keep in mind how interesting it was when we thought Apple was going to make Firewire go away on 13" MacBook. They add it back and call it MacBookPro.

One can hope that in a few months they'll be Express Slot again on 15" MacBookPro.

I'm quite happy with my 15" MacBookPro early 2008 with Express slot and Firewire 400.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Here we go again! I'm not impressed Apple! (especially since I'm a an EX3 owner with SxS cards, albeit one that uses MxR, etc. daily too).

However, looking on the bright side.... my mid 2008 15-inch MBP 2.5Ghz 4GB RAM 200GB 7,200 rpm HD sounds only mildly impressive against the new MBP lineup.... until you add on the now HIGHLY desirable features such as it's MATT screen (I hate working with my reflection...), FW800 & 400, AND an Express Card 34 Slot!

I'd actually swap a new MBP for an older model like mine, if I had to - so I won't be spending any money on a new MBP anytime soon!

Suppose I'd better just covert one of those stupid iPhoney things and lower my sites to merely shooting and uploading "shakey videos" to YouTube.... and be done with professional HD video then! ;-)

[Craig Seeman]

Andy, FWIW, how many people use SxS (or P2 for that matter) compared to those recording to HD on SDHC? The MacBook Pros all have firewire at least, even the new 13" one. I'm sure Apple did their market research.

There is some irony that those who need Express to eSata or other Express card support now have the least portable of laptops (17") as their only option on Mac.

[Alister Chapman]

But why remove it. On a mass produced item it can only add a few dollars to the price? No, it's just typical of Apple in the last couple of years trying to force any serious users into buying the most expensive products.

Apple have been saying that you can't run FCP on a vanilla MacBook. Which is rubbish. Now my old white plastic MacBook, which has firewire etc is more like a MacBook Pro than it was when I got it. How crazy is that!

[Craig Seeman]

The most recent MacBooks and MacMinis, with the new NVidia integrated graphics chips can not only run FCP but I hear with enough ram they can handle Apple Motion as well.

Personally I don't see the logic behind removing Express slot from most of the "Pro" line.

I don't doubt that Apple looked at Express vs SD and found more value for more people with SD slot. Given Apple, I don't think Express was removed due to cost at all any more than removing floppy disk drives was due to cost. I think they try to anticipate the market and sometimes they make mistakes. Note the return of firewire to 13" MacBook (now Pro).

Ironicaly back when I bought my 15" with Express I was wishing for 13" with Express. I want SMALLER not BIGGER for portability.

[Barry J. Anwender]

I also lament the fact the PCExpress interface provides the options for Matrox, etc. as well as extra USB, Firewire and eSATA ports. It seems that Apples move is ill conceived until one considers that Snow Leopard is now just a couple months away.

Snow Leopard will bring with it a major overhaul on all of Apple's Pro applications which has great value for us Pro Video folks and specifically for HD projects. From what has already leaked, Snow Leopard is bringing forth a whole array of new technologies that benefit Apple's Pro apps. Once FCS 3.0 is released and we have some experience with it, I'm confident Apple's Laptop strategy and differentiation will make more sense.

As already mentioned, there is always the possibility that Apple will re-introduce the ExpressCard interface in forthcoming laptop product cycles. However, time will tell as Apple advances it's OS technologies and Pro apps. Cheers!

[Andy Mees]

Yes we can all nod sagely and predict that Apple are no fools and have their reasons but I dare say the recent FW debacle also followed lots of careful analysis of numbers which showed that a large percentage of their buyers didn't need or use it, and that everyone of those same users went out and bought a dirt cheap usb media card reader. Great, fabulous, wonderful ...

I think they've totally missed the boat on this one ... why weaken their position as a laptop market leader, especially at the high end? ... why not capitalise on their long standing ExpressCard/34 support by offering Apple branded ExpressCard adaptors through their AppleStore sales channel (sure, not everyone would buy an Apple branded card but I bet many would and it would cost them next to nothing to do it ... especially so if they feel that direct SD support is such a big sales incentive)

Personally I'm a big fan of the 17" and don't have any need for a Pro 13" or 15" lappie but what worries me is that (iirc) recent past history shows that the 15" usually leads the feature set curve with the 17" following suit some time later, which doesn't bode too well then for the 17" (although as noted the FW turnaround is also a recent event and seems to suggest that Apple can and does respond to user feedback if its outspoken and universal enough)

Polls are all well and good:
Philip Bloom Blog Archive Apple, why? 15 inch MBP loses it’s express card slot and gains…an SD card slot?!
But a deluge of direct feedback can't hurt either:
Apple - MacBook Pro - Feedback

Best
Andy

[Craig Seeman]

So Snow Leopard and FCS3 will somehow enable laptops to have HD-SDI in without having to use Matrox MXO2?

While the 17" might be a great portable "setup" workstation for FCS it's not "portable" in the same sense a 15" (or even a 13") laptop is for many "field" situation. I even think 15" is a bit awkward. I want SMALL/PORTABLE/PROFESSIONAL.

Originally Posted by Barry J. Anwender

I also lament the fact the PCExpress interface provides the options for Matrox, etc. as well as extra USB, Firewire and eSATA ports. It seems that Apples move is ill conceived until one considers that Snow Leopard is now just a couple months away.

. . . From what has already leaked, Snow Leopard is bringing forth a whole array of new technologies that benefit Apple's Pro apps.

. . . As already mentioned, there is always the possibility that Apple will re-introduce the ExpressCard interface in forthcoming laptop product cycles. . .

[Don Miller]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

But why remove it. On a mass produced item it can only add a few dollars to the price? No, it's just typical of Apple in the last couple of years trying to force any serious users into buying the most expensive products.

I agree. It seems sometimes that apple goes out of its way to disrespect some of its biggest long time proponents. Digital media makers are the ones using the tech the hardest and pushing the boundaries. Yet apple continues to cripple the tools we need for a portable system.

Maybe we need to start calling ourselves "Video Thought Leaders" so that the apple marketing people get it.

[Barry J. Anwender]

The irony of it all ... ExpressCard 2.0 standard has been approved and announced today. A significant improvement and backward compatibility.

ExpressCard 2.0 standard finally finalized, faster than ever