Originally Posted by
John Anderson L.
…
Today I noticed two of my students with new MacBooks (one an MB Air and the other a MB Pro) and neither device had a port that would fit a USB/Flash Drive
One student said she could have bought an adaptor but it would have been expensive
So is the USB/Flash Drive dead as far as Apple is concerned??
No, the flash drive is not dead. What is dying - and essentially dead with Apple - is the standard USB-A port form factor which is used by most existing flash drives.
USB-A has been replaced over the past couple of years with USB-C mainly on laptops (but now also occurring with desktops), first only one or two ports on the laptops were switched to USB-C, but now you will find most laptops will have no USB-A ports at all.
Flash drives are now available with USB-C connectors, e.g:
https://www.westerndigital.com/produ...CZ460-032G-A46
However, better to buy one which has both USB-A and USB-C plugs so you don’t need to worry about adapters for now:
(As noted, the USB-C port can still work with older USB devices, you just need an adapter/dongle/hub/etc. to shift from the USB-A port to the USB-C port. But better to buy from a reliable brand & store - e.g. don’t go with random Amazon marketplace sellers.
Also, a final point on adapters:
USB-A device -> Adapter -> USB-C computer: mostly ok.
USB-C device -> Adapter -> USB-A computer: dangerous without a chipset inside which most won’t have,
best to avoid.)
Originally Posted by
LondonElite
Maybe I'm just a sucker for these things, but I generally prefer to go with the quality build stuff:
Other options depending on preferred form factor (both are 5Gbps speeds, 10Gbps likely requires a hub):
https://us.anker.com/collections/cables/products/a8165