BaseQi Aluminum microSD Adapter for MacBook Pro Retina 13"

So I bought this for my Mid-2014 Retina MacBook Pro as I learned pretty quickly that 128GB of storage just wasn't enough for what I use my MacBook for. It's plenty enough to hold apps and music and even some games. But I like keeping movies and TV shows on my MacBook since I really love how the screen looks, and the battery lasts me all day long easily. I've seen plenty of adapters like this all over Amazon, but what caught my attention was the fact that this could be removed without having to use any tools. Some adapters are like this, but leave some plastic piece sticking out. (Thus ruining the idea of an expansion you put in and forget about) It truly sits in the slot without any part of it sticking out, and it doesn't get caught on anything. So far, it seems tight enough to where I don't have to worry about it falling out, and loose enough where I don't have to worry about causing any damage to my card reader. It could match the aluminum a little better, as it is slightly shinier and chrome like. I keep my iTunes Library on the 128GB SanDisk Ultra microSD card I bought to use with this. I haven't had a problem yet. All in all, the adapter works very well. I haven't had to re-mount it once after the MacBook sleeping and waking up several times per day. It is as fast as the card you put inside it, and I have not noticed any significant amount of battery drain since using this. ***** For those interested in the more technical aspects of this adapter, I am able to read and write to the microSD card inside it at speeds on average of 720Mb/s (approximately 90MB/s). The speed of the microSD card is the only limiting factor, the adapter is capable of handling any speed currently offered by microSD cards being sold. My battery life is something I tested thoroughly, as it doesn't help to have double the storage if I can only use it for half the amount of time. Before installing the adapter, I achieved 14 hours 32 minutes 15 seconds of iTunes movie playback from files stored on my internal SSD. After installing the adapter, transferring the iTunes library to the microSD card, and running the test again; I was pleased to find that my MacBook lasted 13 hours 48 minutes 51 seconds. I personally found the 44 minute reduction in playback time acceptable, especially considering the files were being played from the microSD card over a much slower interface. The power draw from using this adapter is 180mA measured using the system information tool in Mac OS X El Capitan while watching videos stored on the card.

I'm using this with a 13" Early 2015 Macbook Pro Retina and I paired it with a 128GB Sandisk Evo+ micro SD card. I was considering the Jetdrive Lite but for almost the same price I decided to get this and a separate micro SD card because this would allow me to get additional SD cards down the road and use them with this adapter - the Jetdrive Lite is all in one so you can't remove the memory card from the adapter. Granted, this adapter is designed to stay put and not continue to be inserted and removed but at least I have the option of using it with more than one micro SD and I wouldn't have that option with the Jetdrive. This works like a charm! Once I inserted the micro SD card into the adapter and then the adapter into the Macbook it worked exactly the way that it was supposed to and it is completely flush with the side of the Macbook. I have a growing music and ebook library that are taking up too much space on the internal 128GB drive (lesson learned here was that the next time I'll shell out the extra money and get the Macbook with a larger SSD because 128GB tends to be limiting as time goes on). I moved the music and ebook files to the micro SD card and configured iTunes and Calibre to look on the micro SD rather than the internal hard drive. Using this adapter and a speedy micro SD I've effectively doubled the available storage of my Macbook without the need to drag around an external hard drive. I'm very pleased with the results and wouldn't hesitate to buy this again. One piece of advice....don't skimp on the micro SD card....get one that has a high read/write speed. If you're patient you can usually find one either at Best Buy or Amazon on sale.....the Evo+ is usually $110 and I managed to find it for $49 (and of course the day after I ordered it Samsung released the Pro version with 128GB capacity). For under $75 I was able to free up a lot of space on the internal hard drive, have a lot of additional capacity on the micro SD, no longer have to carry my external hard drive in my bag and because this adapter is flush with the side of the Macbook it doesn't snag on the sleeve that I keep the laptop in. I'd highly recommend this to others.

First off, I should tell you that I ordered this for use in my Lenovo Yoga 2 13, not in a MacBook Pro Retina as intended by the manufacturer. I sure wish someone would manufacture these for the Yoga line, because they are a quality product. Having said that, this product did fit pretty well into my Lenovo 2-in-1. Other than being very slightly indented into the side of the laptop case (maybe 0.5 mm) and being silver in my 2-in-1's black case (not an issue for me), it's great. My 128GB SanDisk micro SD card fits in the adapter (just make sure you push it all the way into the adapter), the adapter fits into the laptop (it's tight, but you can do it if you're at all patient), and the card works just as it should. I can remove the adapter and card with my fingernail (if I haven't cut them in the last week) or with any other small, thin tool -- it's really not hard to do. So for those of you looking for a micro SD adapter for your Lenovo Yoga 2 13 or, I assume, your Yoga 2 Pro, this adapter will work just fine for you.

the micro SD card is really not much bigger than this card adapter but, the size reflects more on apple not leaving much space inside this series of retina Macbook pros. I couldn't get the adapter to fit the first time I tried or even the second time. I tried again and after observing that the adapter had a slight bend, I figured it was defective or was damaged during transit. I gave it another very careful go, only this time with careful nervous pushing aligned the adapter with the left and right sides of the Macbook as opposed to the top and bottom and it just barely got in. I don't know if mine was damaged but, you should be careful inserting this or any other adapter like it into your SD card reader slot. You can damage internals, especially if your slot has the spring-loaded clamp and release. I'm getting write transfer speeds of between about 50-60MBs (can't remember the read speeds) although this doesn't have much to do with the adapter but, more to do with the control chip for the SD card reader on the mid 2010s retina Macbooks. I've read it uses a USB 2.0 bus to connect to the motherboard but, this doesn't explain the transfer speed exceeding USB 2.0. so, it must be wrong. Of course, the transfer speed is also dependent on the card being used and I have a Samsung Evo select SDXC UH-1 (A1) card inside. The Micro SD card mounts with no problems while in MACOS Catalina as well as Windows 10 through Boot camp. I inserted it first while in Windows10 and it showed up as an external USB device. After renaming the volume iSDA-EVO... (D:) it turned into an HD icon just like how (C:) drive looks but, im not sure exactly what that means since it seems to perform normally. Reader registers the Micro SD as an SD while in MACOS. I haven't tried taking this thing out because it'd be trouble to remove and replace and also because I intended to use it for slow data storage of media and Doc items and to transfer and work with files both in MAC and Windows OSs. The card came already formated to exFat which can be read in Mac and PC and hold files larger than 4GB and capacities larger than 32GB. NTFS or APFS may provide faster read/write performance. This thing really seems well made as it matches the feel of the Macbook. The packaging was also nice and comparable to Samsung's card packaging which gave me immediate confidence in the product even before opening. adapters aren't complicated devices so this thing should last as long as the laptop does. I'm satisfied every time I look at it and would recommend it to anyone willing to pay its Mac tax price for the convenience and added storage utility. It is still a bit cheaper than the 64 or 128 GB JET drive from Transcend especially if you can use a Micro Card you own or multiple cards if that works for you. If you wanted to use this as a time machine or other system backup it may be advisable to use an A2 card from SanDisk as these are designed for running programs, unlike A1 cards but, I may still work.

I bought both one of these, the BaseQi iSDA 303A, along with the BaseQi UHSII-420A model. I got out a magnifying glass before opening them and they looked identical in shape and dimensions. I tried out the 303A first, and it fits just about perfectly... most important it's flush. You can feel that it's slightly uneven with your finger, but visually, it's as exact as you can expect. (I've had BaseQis in the past that fit worse when they were supposedly a perfect match for the model.) I do not have any microSDXC cards that are UHS-II, so I don't need the extra features/pins of the 420A BaseQi, so I'm very content with this cheaper model for the older Macbooks in my new computer. So that's one thing to be aware of if you want to use this older model with a newer computer that could in theory take advantage of UHS-II cards. I am using this in a MacBook Pro M3 14" model (with the regular M3 chip, not the M3 Pro or M3 Max chip--in case the internals are slightly different and the SD Card slot is slightly different).

I bought this item because I wanted to increase the amount of storage I had on my MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I initially looked at the Nifty MiniDrive. Due to the MiniDrive being out of stock for several months and many reviews noting the SD card would be ejected after closing the laptop, and needed to be replugged in, I began looking at other products. Several reviews noted that the BASEQI adapter didn't have this problem. The BASEQI adapter was also cheaper. I have now been using it continuously for more than 6 months. In that time, it has worked nearly flawlessly in storing files (I have been using it as a Time Machine backup for now). It has been unexpected ejected twice in that time, which I find liveable. It can be a little tricky to remove the adapter (just a fingernail isn't enough). I have had no issues with accessing the SD card, and Time Machine has reported no issues with hourly backups in 6 months. (I do get periodic "we have to delete old backups" messages, so I know the backups are happening.) The only downside is cosmetic: the adapter doesn't extend the entire length of the SD card slot on the right side on my early 2015 MBP with retina display (see picture). Realistically, however, I don't look at my SD card slot most of the time, so I don't notice the problem. In summary, I'm definitely glad I bought the BASEQI SD card adapter; it was cheaper than other alternatives and has been very reliable for over 6 months.

Although the MacBook Pro card reader is on the USB 3.0 bus, this adapter downgrades it to USB 2.0, with horrible read and write speeds. I've included the screenshots from 2 tests. The first with a Lexar A2 1Tb card on a Beikell USB 3.0 card reader, getting the expected 93/81 MB/s sequencial R/W. The second is with the same card inserted in the MBP SD card reader using this adapter -- the speed dropped to ridiculous 6/4 MB/s, which is unusable for all practical uses. If you think you can use it for Time Machine backups, think again -- how do you expect to recover gigabytes of data at 4 MB/s? I had hopes to use it as an extra memory, but it takes hours to transfer a video or multiple CDs to it, unless you load it on another reader and then transfer the card to this adapter, which negates the reason it would be useful. In summary: try another product, this one is not worth a dime.

This is that thing I thought wouldn’t exist but I looked it up anyway. A short sd adapter for your macbook. Good quality adapter. Sits flush the computer. I’ve seen a lot of cheap adapters for psp and stuff, so I know a normal, cheap, and high end adapter. It’s good quality and feels like it weighs in the hand, and it definitely works great which is the most important, but it’s a little bit hard sliding it in the slot and taking the sd out once it’s in is really difficult though. I guess I don’t recommend using it for removing the sd card often, but recommend overall.