Is my MacBook Pro built-in SD card reader USB 2.0 or 3.0?

[KevenM]

I am a photographer and I am wondering if I should buy a USB 3.0 SD card reader. Especially for large shoots like weddings, if the MacBook Pro built-in card reader is USB 2.0, a USB 3.0 card reader will make a huge difference in the amount of time it will take to transfer pictures to a hard drive. My laptop is a MacBook Pro, Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015.

Regards.

 

[ferrarr]

Yes, USB ports on 2015 MBP are USB 3.0.

 

[KevenM]

Yes, USB ports on 2015 MBP are USB 3.0.

Yes, the USB ports are USB 3.0, but is the built-in SD card reader USB 3.0 or 2.0?

 

[pm-r]

Does any of this info help??

What is the maximum speed that my computer can use when reading and writing to an SD card in the SD card slot?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204384

What is the maximum speed that my computer can use when reading and writing to an SD card in the SD card slot?

Mac notebooks use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot and have a maximum speed of up to 480 Mbit/s. Mac desktops use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot and can transfer data at a faster rate.
Check the packaging that came with your SD media to determine the maximum transfer rate used by that specific card.
Determine the maximum speed of your Mac using the System Profiler:
Choose About this Mac from the Apple () menu.
Click More Info.
Select USB from the hardware section (for Macs that use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot).
Select Internal Memory Card Reader and look for the Speed entry.
or
Select Card Reader from the Hardware section (for Macs that use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot).
Look for the Link Speed entry. Computers that use the PCIe bus express their speed as GT/s.


EDIT:
And:

The integrated SDXC card reader on the new MBP is USB 3.0 enabled. The Intel HM77 provides 4 USB 3.0 ports. 3 are external, the 4th is used by the reader. I got read speeds of 77MB/sec with a Sandisk Extreme 95MB/sec card. …

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/retina-mbp-sdxc-reader-info.1421329/

The SSD in the new Retina Macbook Pro averages speeds of 400-500MB/sec. The best SDXC cards only achieve read speeds of around 100MB/sec at most. Write speeds can be slower. However, a SDXC card on a USB 3.0 reader will usually have better overall performance than a conventional 2.5" internal hard drive. So yes, you could put pictures and music on the card and use it as a secondary storage media. I just wouldn't reccomend it if you're going to be doing a lot of writing to the card. Choose a quality card like a Sandisk Extreme or Lexar Professional. Most of these cards use SLC NAND (more write cycles) and have better wear leveling algorithms. …

- Patrick
======

 

[ferrarr]

SDXC card reader is not listed under USB in System Information, it is on it's own separate bus. The USB 3. is more likely faster than the SDXC cards, but that is only my opinion.

 

[ferrarr]

I was just looking in my System Information, that must be why but is separate from USB, it is using PCIe now.

 

[KevenM]

Yeah, I check System Report before posting. However, there isn't really any mention of USB 3.0 or anything. Unless it is 'Revision:'?

 

[KevenM]

The SSD in the new Retina Macbook Pro averages speeds of 400-500MB/sec. The best SDXC cards only achieve read speeds of around 100MB/sec at most. Write speeds can be slower. However, a SDXC card on a USB 3.0 reader will usually have better overall performance than a conventional 2.5" internal hard drive. So yes, you could put pictures and music on the card and use it as a secondary storage media. I just wouldn't reccomend it if you're going to be doing a lot of writing to the card. Choose a quality card like a Sandisk Extreme or Lexar Professional. Most of these cards use SLC NAND (more write cycles) and have better wear leveling algorithms. …

Thanks for that. However, I'm not 100% I get what is meant regarding this sentence:

However, a SDXC card on a USB 3.0 reader will usually have better overall performance than a conventional 2.5" internal hard drive.

 

[KevenM]

Also, I'm on 2012 iMacs at my photography school. Is there somewhere where I can see if integrated card reader (or USB bus) is USB 3.0 or 2.0?

Regards.

 

[chscag]

Your 2012 iMac has built in USB 3 ports. However, the SD card reader is separate and not listed along with USB in the "About This Mac" report that is generated. I suspect it may be part of the PCI bus but am not sure. It is definitely not USB connected which makes it difficult to determine how fast it is. Personally, I do not use SD or SDXC cards for any kind of storage other than photos.

 

[pm-r]

I don't know if this info helps:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6586848?start=0&tstart=0

I was just googling out of curiosity and more hits out there via:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...Mac+internal+SD+card+reader&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Also, there seem to be various variables involved but it would be nice to know of the potential from the Mothership and I don't think that would be revealing any trade or propriety secret.

BTW: FWIW, my 2011 27" iMac System Info under USB says:
Internal Memory Card Reader:
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

 

[chscag]

Thanks for the added info Patrick. Strangely enough, my 2013 27" iMac lists the internal card reader separately from USB and does not say anything about its speed. I'm wondering if Apple changed things from 2011 to 2013 regarding the card reader? I don't use it except for photos so it really doesn't concern me how fast it is.

 

[pm-r]

Hmmm…??? Interesting, as what I gathered from Apple's article, the speed should be listed for your iMac from what they say:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204384

Regardless, I'd say that's also a theoretical maximum and also depends on the speed of the SD card used.

Anyway, even the slowest speed is still way faster than trying to type in the info…




- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

That support article you linked to says this about the SD card slot on an iMac:

Mac notebooks use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot and have a maximum speed of up to 480 Mbit/s.

Mac desktops use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot and can transfer data at a faster rate.

I guess that's why no specific speed is given for my iMac.

 

[ferrarr]

It may depend on the card being used. Have you tried inserting a card then going in to System Information?

 

[KevenM]

Thanks for the added info Patrick. Strangely enough, my 2013 27" iMac lists the internal card reader separately from USB and does not say anything about its speed. I'm wondering if Apple changed things from 2011 to 2013 regarding the card reader? I don't use it except for photos so it really doesn't concern me how fast it is.

I'm in the same but opposite situation as you. I use the SD card slot only for photos, but I transfer shoots of 250-3000 RAW files, which means having to wait 30 minutes or so.

If I could change that to say 3 minutes with a 3.0 external card reader, that would be great. But if the built-in card reader and an external reader have the same speed, I'll just use the $40 on other equipment instead.

 

[KevenM]

It may depend on the card being used. Have you tried inserting a card then going in to System Information?

No, I'll have to try that when I am at the 2012 iMac.

 

[KevenM]

That support article you linked to says this about the SD card slot on an iMac:

Mac notebooks use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot and have a maximum speed of up to 480 Mbit/s.

Mac desktops use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot and can transfer data at a faster rate.

I guess that's why no specific speed is given for my iMac.

If that is the case, then 480 Mb/s exceeds SD card read and write speeds.

I'm still not convinced though. I think I will borrow a Lexar USB 3.0 Dual-Slot card reader from someone I know and test it out. Will get back to you with the results.

 

[pigoo3]

I'm still not convinced though. I think I will borrow a Lexar USB 3.0 Dual-Slot card reader from someone I know and test it out. Will get back to you with the results.

If throughput speed was this much of a concern…this could or should have been the plan from the beginning. Nothing beats actual hands on testing & data collection.

Please definitely post the results.

- Nick

 

[ferrarr]

I will say this, on my 2011 MBP, it was much faster using the SD card to install new OS X versions compared to USB 2.0.