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Having published our report on why the 2013 MBA just may be the best ultra in the world earlier today, we couldn’t resist following up with this report on the new PNY storEDGE 64GB SD Card, a card designed to fit flush in newer model MacBooks. The card is available in capacities of 64 and 128GB and looking at the way it sits in a MBA, we just had to wonder why this hasn’t been thought of sooner.
Seen here beside our favorite media card, the Lexar Professional 256GB SDXC Card, one can see how the storEDGE fits almost completely flush in the MBA. Our comparison of the two cards is intentional, as the storEDGE was not created to go into a media device, whereas the Lexar SDXC card most definitely was. Here is a comparison with a typical form factor SD card that helps demonstrate how the storEDGE has been custom formed for the Mac:
Another indication that the storEDGE was intended as a permanent fixture in your Mac, and not for use in a media device, is its lack of validation with respect to media transfer speeds and its ability to record video. In fact, there are no performance specifications available on exterior packaging, or website, and this did raise our curiosity just a bit so we completed a bench or two.
Transfer speeds of over 90MB/s read and 60MB/s write were a bit unexpected and we might recommend the placement of transfer speeds on the exterior packaging or, very least, on the website.
Looking at video performance of Disk Speed Test, we can see that the storEDGE was meant as a storage medium and not for media. Regardless, confirm,ation of such high transfer speeds is excellent.
REPORT ANALYSIS
The PNY storEDGE is available in capacities of 64 and 128GB and available at prices of about $78 and $158. If you compared this to typical SD cards today, it might seem a bit expensive, however, PNY doesn’t even list this as an SD card; it is an expansion module. It is meant to provide a permanent capacity increase in your MacBook and this expansion module comes with a limited lifetime warranty which is rarely ever seen. BY this criteria, the PNY storEDGE fits the bill perfectly.
Check Out PNY storEDGE Pricing at Amazon.
Yes this definitely suits me, I have been running around with SD cards sticking out of my Macbook Air 13″ and MBP Retina for years now as my temp space. Great idea PNY. Or if apple were to make their SD card slot deeper, such that the SD card wouldnt stick out, that would kill off this product.
Thank you for that. Was about to buy one but after looking into how it fits in a 13″ Retina, I definitely won’t. Sorry you had to find out this way.
I just bought one but an returning it because it sticks out so much
Here’s another 128GB option… This one won’t stick out at all https://www.amazon.com/MiniDrive-MacB…ords=minidrive
On the Macbook Pro Retina it does unfortunately stick out still. I’m kind of bummed about this.
Is there any solution for this?
Yep. Saw is your friend 🙂
/s
whether or not you have to pull the card when inserting in a backpack or case doesn’t grip me in the least – more interested to know it read/write speeds are consistent across SDXC slots (MBPs, iMacs, etc.) Thanks!
(oops) ‘if’, not ‘it’ in 2nd clause
There’s seems to be some confusion on how much this card sticks out of the side on the unibody MacBooks: I have an 11″ MBA, a 13″ MBA and a 15″ MBPr, and the card fits each of these Macs exactly the same, a portion of the card (perhaps 3mm?) protrudes from the side of ALL my MacBooks. It’s no where near as much as a normal SD card. And, there’s a well-placed groove allowing you to easily remove the card without requiring any tools. This is a great solution for expanding storage, and more conveniently, moving larger data sets between Macs when no network is available. Highly recommended.
126GB does only 45GB write / 65GB read on MB Air 13 mid 2013.
Our sample would have tested this on the same system.
128GB does only 45GB read / 65GB write on MB Air 13 mid 2013.