using a card reader is my preferred choice.

for me it places no demand on camera battery, my camera is always
available with a card in it (multiple cards), and there is no fiddling
with cables. I just cut and paste into my photo folders rather than
having one of the programs play with them. Just faster.

I doubt the cable connector is the issue with the new camera as I have
tethered a couple cameras with the small usb b connector to my laptop
because they used cards I had no reader for.