Asus may need to up its game when it comes to the SD card reader for its long-running Zenbook series. Though we appreciate that most Zenbook models have integrated SD card readers, the manufacturer appears to be satisfied with capping the transfer rates on all of its Zenbook card readers to just 80 MB/s. Even the Zenbook Pro 15 OLED, which currently retails for over $1400 USD, has a slow SD card reader capped at 80 MB/s compared to ~200 MB/s on the competing Dell XPS 15 or HP Spectre x360 14.
Users who rely on fast card readers when transferring pictures or images from their DSLR cameras will be waiting over two times longer if working on a Zenbook laptop than on a Dell or HP alternative. Moving 10 GB of files from a UHS-II SD card to desktop, for example, would take about 2 minutes on the Asus Zenbook Pro 15 OLED compared to just 50 seconds on an XPS or Spectre. For those who transfer a lot files frequently, the time saved will certainly add up.
Asus does indeed offer faster SD card readers but only for its gaming-centric Zephyrus series. Since the Zenbook is supposed to compete directly with the XPS or Spectre, we find its 80 MB/s transfer rate limit absurd after all these years. Here’s hoping that the next Zenbook will integrate faster SD card readers to better exploit the digital-editing prowess of the series.
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