Transcend Announces 1TB JetDrive Lite 330 Expansion Card for 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro

Transcend has announced a 1TB version of its JetDrive Lite 330 expansion cards for 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, providing users of Apple's latest Macs with an affordable way to increase internal storage capacity.

Transcend JDL330 2
Transcend says the JetDrive Lite 330 cards are built with high-quality NAND flash, offering read and write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 75MB/s, respectively.

Once the JetDrive Lite 330 is inserted into the card reader slot, where it sits flush with the side of the notebook, the additional storage can be used as a photo library or music library drive, for example, or the card could serve as an onboard Time Machine backup.

Transcend says the JetDrive Lite expansion cards come with a five-year limited warranty and are manufactured using advanced COB (chip-on-board) technology, making them resistant to water, dust, and shock. Other than 2021 MacBook Pro Models, the JetDrive Lite 330 also supports 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro (late 2012-early 2015 models).

The 1TB option adds to Transcend's existing JetDrive capacities, which start at $35.99 for the 128GB version and $250 for the 1TB capacity card on Amazon. Stay tuned to MacRumors as we'll have a review of the new 1TB card coming next week.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Top Rated Comments

BootsWalking Avatar
25 months ago
$250 for a 1TB SD card that only writes 75MB/s? What are they smoking? You can get a 1TB Samsung T7 external USB 3.2 that does nearly 1000 MB/s writes for less than half the cost. Yeah it won't sit flush in your Max like an SD card but they're tiny and unobtrusive nonetheless.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Schranke Avatar
25 months ago
Ohh we have come full circle and are now back to the time in 2012'ish where you could get a NIFTY Minidrive ('https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342319572/the-nifty-minidrive') for the exact same purpose. This would be fun if it wasn't due to apple removing all upgrade options in chasing a few mm
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nwcs Avatar
25 months ago
This is another reason why the MBP should have had a CF Express slot instead of SD. Not only would it be more forward looking but devices like this could operate at far faster speeds and reliability.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theluggage Avatar
25 months ago

I understand why it’s there but that doesn’t mean Apple should have gone that way. As digital cameras fade into the distance more and more of the ones that remain are using CFE
Well, just done a quick straw poll of Canon and Nikon DSLRs and SD is still looking like the most common format on cameras for sale today... plus you're ignoring all the other (non-DSLR) uses of SD that I mentioned.

In 2016, Apple made the big mistake of assuming that everybody was going to be using USB-C for everything... 5 years later they're backpedalling, re-introducing HDMI, MagSafe and SD on their laptops and still releasing new desktops with USB-A. They didn't make that U-turn because of a few people sounding off on MacRumours. Going with CFExpress over the ubiquitous SD, even in 2022, would be repeating that mistake.

Also, nobody really knows how many spare PCIe lanes Apple have on the M1 Pro - that could be a limitation, both of CFExpress and the faster SD variants they could have used.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EntropyQ3 Avatar
25 months ago

Ohh we have come full circle and are now back to the time in 2012'ish where you could get a NIFTY Minidrive ('https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342319572/the-nifty-minidrive') for the exact same purpose. This would be fun if it wasn't due to apple removing all upgrade options in chasing a few mm
The Mac Studio proves that removing consumer upgradeable storage is NOT to save anything in dimensions, it is to try force users to pay their exorbitant upgrade prices. Which of course many people can't afford/won't do, which means that they are pushed to solutions such as 75MB/s SD cards...
It's ********.
Even Apple shareholders must see that this is something that keeps switchers away from Macs, and creates a worse user experience all around when users are pushed to external hacks for storage - which, incidentally, creates no revenue for Apple at all. This situation is just thoroughly bad.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G5isAlive Avatar
25 months ago

Does the T7 still force you to install questionable software (likened to a root kit if I remember correctly) in order to access the full storage space and speed?
Yes to access its 'security' features... and even then I still have issues with an early version t7 working at all with my M1. Works fine with my intel chip.


$250 for a 1TB SD card that only writes 75MB/s? What are they smoking? You can get a 1TB Samsung T7 external USB 3.2 that does nearly 1000 MB/s writes for less than half the cost. Yeah it won't sit flush in your Max like an SD card but they're tiny and unobtrusive nonetheless.
Do you actually ever move your laptop? There is a world of difference in portability between something which is essentially internal to the computer to something that is external. The t7 are not that tiny and unobtrusive, they still have to be plugged and unplugged and stored away if you are actually using your laptop as a portable device. Grant you, not a product for everyone, but for some, it is a great way to add additional storage without sacrificing portability.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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