Home Reviews ,,,,, Small accessories that make the difference. When Apple embraced the USB-C way, with the first MacBook 12 of 2015, there were still few dedicated accessories. There were the first hubs, some of which malfunctioning, but the final accessories were missing, such as USB sticks, native connectors for other devices (for example: cameras, power banks, external drives and so on) and this had generated the “Dongle mania”, the idea that USB-C was a wrong, almost suicidal choice.
Here at Cyber Layman we have studied the case in depth and tried to understand how the story is, deepening the history of the USB-C, looking with perplexity at the numerous types of cables that are indistinguishable from each other, collecting even the most critical voices from the network and the offers. better, but always aware that the idea behind it remains clear: Usb-C (and Thunderbold 3) were designed by Apple to speed up transfers, simplify connections and reduce the size of adapters. It may not be the best solution on the planet, but it is better than it was before.
The increasingly streamlined form of portable Macs has introduced the problem of missing ports. Among these, the lack of a dedicated port for SD cards (on Macs there was never a port for micro SD cards, so these have always needed an adapter anyway). The writer comes from the use of an 11-inch MacBook Air and therefore has always been used to using an adapter for SD cards: a small black USB 2-based key. Moving on to the new MacBook 12, after using the aforementioned key a few times with the Apple USB-C to USB A female adapter, it became clear that another solution was possible. Better a proprietary adapter, which no longer has the bottleneck of Usb 2.
The choice went to this Usb-C adapter which acts as an SD card reader with two slots: one for SD card and the other for Micro SD. It is a TF Type C Card Reader. The device is suitable for Google Pixel with Usb-C for example, but of course it also works very well with all MacBooks, including the old 12 inches from 2015. The product is from Aukey, a low cost but quality brand of which we know. well the advantages (so much so that when possible we offer them promotional products via Amazon) and of which we have also told the story. The cost, at the time of our purchase, was € 8.99 with free shipping thanks to Amazon Prime.
We chose this product: an adapter with protruding USB-C without cap (better: one less thing to lose) compared to other types of adapter due to its extremely small and compact dimensions: only 7.8 x 7.4 x 1.6 cm with a weight of 59 grams according to our kitchen scale. We have roughly measured the transfer speed but it basically solves the problem for which it was designed: it aligns the speed to that of Usb-C type 3.1 version 2. The MacBook 12 has no Thuderbolt 3 connection which in any case would not be supported and now the bottleneck is no longer neither the computer's SSD, nor its interface, nor the speed of the adapter but it becomes the relative speed of the SD / TF card. These vary considerably both in capacity and in data reading / writing speed (here we are typically interested in reading) and therefore it becomes a useless exercise to measure it precisely: the card is saturated first than the adapter or the Mac and this is enough for us. to understand that it works properly.
In conclusion
Aukey's small adapter disappears into the MacBook case or jeans pocket. Rest peacefully together with the spare card of the compact camera, in short, it travels with us without problems, has a negligible cost and does not weigh down as a multi-function hub would do for the Mac Usb-C port. It is a fast and convenient alternative to use of wifi to transfer photos from the machine or direct connection via cable with the latter.
The flaws are paradoxically its small size (you can easily lose it), the lack of a cap to cover the connector (but the writer prefers it to be so) and a certain hardness in inserting SD cards. Note that while SDs are inserted with the contacts facing down, the TFs are inserted with the contacts facing up. The adapter is made of resistant plastic and has a well-made bodywork, respecting the quality to which Aukey has accustomed us.
The adapter can be bought from here
pro It costs little It works well It is very small and light but well made
against So small that you risk losing it The cards come in doing a little of strength
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