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Screenshot/YouTubeApple has improved its computers in a number of ways over the years.
They’re faster, thinner, and lighter than they’ve ever been before, but those advantages came at a price.
Unlike older Macs, which had upgradable or swappable parts, newer Macs are locked down.
That said, if you’re running out of storage on an Apple laptop (and don’t feel comfortable opening it up), you do have a great option: Transcend’s JetDrive Lite.
Available for the 13″ MacBook Air, 13″ Retina MacBook Pro, and 15″ Retina MacBook Pro, the JetDrive Lite fits in your MacBook’s SD Card slot. SD Card’s are a dime a dozen, and so are flash drives, but what sets this solution apart is its incredibly small size. At half the size of a normal SD Card, the JetDrive Lite doesn’t jut out of the side of your computer.
In fact, once inserted, you never have to think about it again; it won’t snag even if you use an incredibly tight-fitting sleeve or bag.
I’ve used one of these with my MacBook Pro for over two years now, and it’s been a real lifesaver. I use mine for media, and I’ve managed to fit my massive iTunes library onto it. The JetDrive is best used as a place for files that you need to have on you, but don’t need to work with often. That’s because accessing these files will be slower than accessing them on your computer’s hard drive.
For audio, photo, and text files, that won’t be a problem. It also won’t be a problem if you play videos, even if they’re HD. You can even keep some of your applications on there and run them at a reasonable speed. You’d only run into trouble if you were using the files stored on the JetDrive for a video- or audio-editing project, where they’d need to be accessed and manipulated in real time.
The major benefit of using a JetDrive is to get those smaller files that wouldn’t be an issue off of your main hard drive to create space for those that do. If you edit a lot of video, it’s better to keep those files on your drive and shuffle your text documents and photos onto this external drive. They’ll still be available locally (a big win over storing them exclusively in the cloud), but they won’t take up any important space.
I couldn’t imagine using my computer without a JetDrive. It helped me expand my MacBook’s local storage before any internal upgrade options existed.
If you’re looking for the easiest way to upgrade your MacBook, this is it.
These drives have been on the market for a few years and have fallen in price since I bought mine, so there’s never been a better time to pick one up.
Transcend JetDrive Lite 128GB, (13″ MacBook Air), $ 97.99, available at Amazon
Transcend JetDrive Lite 128GB, (13″ MacBook Pro), $ 97.99, available at Amazon
Transcend JetDrive Lite 128GB, (15″ MacBook Pro), $ 97.99, available at Amazon
