New Apple Portables To Drop FireWire Support?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Jason O'Grady of PowerPage.org claims (http://www.powerpage.org/archives/2005/12/the_apple_core_firewire_not_dead_but_its_on_life_support.html) that FireWire (IEEE 1394) will be completely missing from the rumored (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2005/11/20051130123242.shtml) Intel iBooks.

He also claims that the new Intel PowerBooks will lose FireWire 400 ports, and only retain a single FireWire 800 port to appease video professionals.

[fowler.]

that seriously sucks.

[pdpfilms]

I don't know of a single camera that uses FW800...

[Josh396]

I can't believe that.

[zap2]

:(

i dont use FW for anything other then my iPo but if i update then i wont use FW ever

[Staffroomer]

How will I connect my Canon camcorder to my iBook????:mad:

[TheMonarch]

Seems my PB may turn into a 'Limited Edition' portable with firewire 400 & 800... Get'em now, while you still can...

[NinjaMonkey]

That really sucks, how am I supposed to connect my video camera?

[cantthinkofone]

why wouldnt the ibooks have firewire :confused:

[Jschultz]

Just weird for me. I use my iPod to transfer stuff from the macs at school to my TiBook via firewire. Oh well. I guess if I got a shiny new video iPod, I'd might as well get a Macintel too.

We will miss you ol' FW.

[Nitrocide]

:eek:

Thats one of the great apple inventions. and its become an industry standard too!

>not getting one of these ibooks<

Hope it doesnt become sign of things to come with future macs. :confused:

[haiggy]

That is ASS! I love FireWire... Noooooo!

[EricNau]

It will never happen...
Most/all digital camcorders use Firewire 400.

[fowler.]

How will I connect my Canon camcorder to my iBook????:mad:

there are fw 400 > fw 800 connectors. obviously, it doesn't speed it up, but it allows you to utilize that port if you're not using any fw 800 devices.

[masterapple04]

Bull. Apple created FireWire, and it has been a part of their computers since at least '98. It's too useful to be buried.

[solvs]

Isn't PowerPage's reliability like... nonexsistant. Not being on the iPod is one thing, but on a computer? How will you edit video? Unlike the iPod, it would be easy to add to an Intel mb. Some even come with it already onboard. I call BS.

[grapes911]

Come on guys. Do you really believe this crap? No way will I believe this until I see it. Apple put too much time and effort into 1394 to just get rid of it. Plus, PCs are just starting to include it and Apple is going to drop it. No way.

[Stewie]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this yet. iSight.

What is to become of that? Will Apple convert it to USB or FW 800? Will all portables have built in iSight?

[rhix]

I don't believe it. There are too many firewire-only DV cams out there, and the iSight is firewire only. I paid an arm and a leg for that damn iSight, they better make it work with my next Mac!

[EricNau]

Bull. Apple created FireWire, and it has been a part of their computers since at least '98. It's too useful to be buried.
More like 1995

[rendezvouscp]

If they do this, then they'll probably include a F800 —> F400 converter with the PBs. I hope that they don't do this though, and I don't see why they'd really need to unless they're that limited on space.
-Chase

[QCassidy352]

why would they do this? :confused: A lot of peripherals still use FW... stupid.

[katie ta achoo]

I read this blog post a while ago... I really don't see it happening. IMO, it would kill the use of iLife on an iBook. A lot of consumer-level cameras can import over FW.

Home movies > sony handycam > iLink (that's their brand of FW, right?) > iMovie

Well.. I really hope it doesn't happen. If it does, you'll be prying my FW powerbook out of my cold, dead hands.
(OK, you'd do that now, but... YOU GET THE POINT!)

[rendezvouscp]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this yet. iSight.

What is to become of that? Will Apple convert it to USB or FW 800? Will all portables have built in iSight?

I'm guessing that they'll include an iSight into the PBs, but I don't know the dimensions of the chip inside the iMac to know if it's feasible or not. But, that still leaves the iBook hanging, unless they ship it in their laptops and displays.
-Chase

[killuminati]

I don't believe this for a second. So many people rely on firewire for so many things.

[CompUser]

Hogwash!

FW is faster than USB when using a hard drive.

Does this mean iLife '06 will have USB camera support in iMovie?

[ChrisFromCanada]

As stated earlier by EricNau This man is absolutely out of his mind! You need Firewire to import DV footage from a digital video camera. Unless we are going to put an end to iMovie forget about it!

[h'biki]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

He also claims that the new Intel PowerBooks will lose FireWire 400 ports, and only retain a single FireWire 800 port to appease video professionals.

... total bs.

Powerbook owners are the biggest users of Firewire (for external drives and target disk mode mostly) and such a move would just alienate most of their user base.

[Josh396]

why wouldnt the ibooks have firewire :confused:
I guess the argument could be made to cut costs, but it really can't cost Apple that much do that. The only reason I could maybe see this happening is a faster USB is in the near future.

[masterapple04]

More like 1995

I was 8 years old in 1995, and can only remember FireWire since the first iMac. Thanks for the info. :cool:

[dansgil]

No, No, No, No, No! I refuse to believe this!

I've never seen a camcorder that uses FW800. Apple will not drop Firewire! Never!:mad:

[Jedi128]

I say its bull..... It just doesn't make sense for Apple to abandon a technology it has supported and promoted for so long. They dropped it on the iPod but that certainly doesn't mean they will on their comps...

[Apple]

I HIGHLY doubt the credibility of that site. I mean apple pretty much preaches the use of firewire through their isights and ipods, and I highly doubt that they would give all of their previous loyal customers the shaft

[Hemingray]

Lame lame LAME! That had better not be the case... I still have a 1st Gen. iPod working quite happily. :mad:

[ksz]

This just seems brain-dead.

As everyone has said, no FireWire means no support for digital video, no video import into iMovie.

Just about all Windows laptops have FireWire 400.

It's not the time to be killing off FW400.

[solvs]

I was 8 years old in 1995, and can only remember FireWire since the first iMac.
The first iMac didn't have fw. The second didn't either. It came late in the "DV" version. You can connect fw400 to 800 though, as mentioned above, via an adapter.

Oh, and this story is still BS.

[TheMasin9]

i highly doubt this will happen, there are too many consumer devices out there with firewire, it has become an industry standard in so many things, hard drives, cameras, computer-computer, apple would be very unintelligent to drop one of the technologies they fostered and patented.

[ilikeiBook]

This doesn't sound like something that apple would do. All of their other models have firewire and nearly all video camera (including iSight) use it. I highly doubt that they'd remove it.

[neutrino23]

My video camera is FW only.
My Eyesight 500 is FW only.
My external HDs are FW only (three of them).
I could more easily do without USB than I could without FW.

This is really lame.

One thing I can think of is that maybe Apple is dropping FW400. Maybe there will be two FW800 ports/buses. FW800 connects to FW400 devices simply by using a cable with the appropriate connector on each end. That would be OK by me.

Is there a place to send feedback to Apple about PB designs?

edit: Following the contact us link on Apple's site leads to a page where you can send feedback to the PB hardware team.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/powerbook.html

[JoeG4]

Unless they phased out firewire 400 in exchange for firewire 800 ports on ALL the Macs (which would be cool with me provided they shipped FW400 adaptors), I'm totally against this.

No form of cost cutting would be worth it, none. That move is so ... ugh.. stupid!

I thought it was bad enough they dropped it from the iPod, but I hope this isn't true :)

[thejadedmonkey]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! That would be horrible!!! I was looking forward to finally getting an iBook and being able to use it to edit digi-video. Hell, OS X is only good for digital video. Other than that, there's not much going for OS X other than the apps themselves if you have an XP comp with proper driers.

[maya]

USB 2.0 will allow the case for the iBook and PowerBook to be thinner and lighter also it will reduce cost as it will be integrated on the Intel Mobo.

That being said there is a good chance that FireWireless and USB Wireless is the next thing to be implemented. Can you imagine not having any wires to sync data and have it super fast.

There will be some wired system in place to charge the iPod or whatever 3rd party add-on you have, however can you imagine how thin these notebooks will be. :eek:

I am looking forward to it, as it will also boost battery life, only keep the essentials on the road. I use to favour FireWire, however if it comes in a wireless edition I am all over it. ;) :)

[grapes911]

I could more easily do without USB than I could without FW.
Good luck using a mouse and keyboard then. :D
(Unless you have BT, which most people don't use)

[mduser63]

It will never happen...
Most/all digital camcorders use Firewire 400.

I don't think this will happen. FireWire is a big part of Macs, and even it it wasn't, not including FireWire on an iBook would make iMovie all but worthless. Seriously, without a FireWire port, Apple might as well not include iMovie or iDVD with an iBook, because almost no one will be able to really use them.

[Mac_Freak]

I bought a FW800 external drive to take advantage of the speed of FW and now they want to drop it, BS! :mad:

[Le Big Mac]

Wow. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry:

Cry if it's true.

In the meantime, laugh:
1) Because I have never ever seen something on the front page have 50+ negatives (or positives) and zero positives (or negatives). It's unanimous!

2) Because we've been having this debate on iPods for a while now--maybe they want to make the iBook more compact and cheaper! USB2 is nearly as fast! Only a small group of people are affected because they have USB2. Yay USB2--Firewhat?

[nagromme]

I don't believe this either. Just Page Two It! :)

1. Camcorders and iMovie and iDVD.

2. iSight.

3. Huge family of FW400 products, and pro uses such as audio.

4. FW400 faster (except in bursts) than USB2.0. FW800 faster still--and it doesn't end there.

5. Firewire is bootable. Troubleshooting, backups, etc.

6. FW target disk mode (and the assistant app for easy migration to a new Mac).

7. Camcorders and iMovie and iDVD.

8. FW hubs built into all Apple displays.

9. You still need multiple things connected at once, so they'd only have to add more USB ports anyway.

10. Removing FW from iPods (I miss booting too!) was a reasonable business decision that doesn't impact most people and doesn't relate in any way to some larger "abandonment" of Firewire. The irony: people complaining about the lack of FW on new iPods are often the ones stuck using USB 1.1 on an older Mac. And why WAS Apple late to use USB 2.0? Because of their commitment to Firewire.

11. Firewire LAN networking in OS X.

12. Other rumored FW devices from Apple in the recent past: Asteroid.

13. Firewire is Apple's OWN technology (and name).

14. FW has been catching on with PCs too. (And does Apple make fees when companies use Firewire?)

15. Camcorders and iMovie and iDVD.

But I can see how this COULD be a distorted "quarter-truth"--if LoopRumors is right (big if) about Apple prepping a sub-$500 stripped-down iBook.

THAT machine might be the one that doesn't have Firewire. The rest of the lineup? FW is here to stay. I can imagine pro models MAYBE going 800-only... as long as some adapter is provided. Some support for FW400 must remain.

The balance of Firewire demand vs. cost is VERY different for a computer than for an iPod.

(PS: Woohoo! All negative votes! :) )

[Josh396]

I bought a FW800 external drive to take advantage of the speed of FW and now they won't to drop it, BS! :mad:
Well you're in luck as it appears they are going to keep FW800. For everyone else, you're screwed.

[Laser47]

I dont believe this at all. There is no logical reason for them to drop firewire. Also dropping firewire completely destroys the "Digital Hub" concept, and I guess if this is true the iMovie is out the window.
Saying apple will get rid of firewire is like saying they will get rid of an ethernet port, its just crazy.
Also for those who dont know, You can buy a very simple cable to convert FW800 into FW400, 800 carries the pins to do 400.
I guess people think that just because Apple does not have firewire on their ipods that they will drop it on the rest of their line.

[Over Achiever]

Apple dropping FW support on iPods is sad, but at least it made sense in the business model.

Apple dropping FW support on Powerbooks don't make much sense ... they won't make the powerbooks thinner and more appealing, plus the people that buy the powerbooks use FW in some form or another. This is unlike iPods where the majority of owners are PC users, and hence FW is not a priority.

I believe this is an overreaction to the drop in FW support in iPods. If this turns out to be true, Apple has made a bad decision.

[ebuc]

69 to 0 (as of about 10:45 EST)
Negative Votes to Positive Votes

That's rather telling of how Macrumors users feel. Usually there's at least one person who believes a rumor is positive.

IMHO, I can't think of a single reason Apple would get rid of the port they popularized across many platforms.

[mattraehl]

Many have mentioned that FireWire is the industry standard for DV camcorders. This is obviously reason enough not to drop it. But there is another reason... booting from external hard drives. Currently, FireWire is the only way you can boot from an external hard drive. They are not going to suddenly switch from FireWire to USB for external booting. Apple is too smart to do this- millions of their customers have large investments in FireWire hardware.

[plinkoman]

the sad thing is i actually find it somewhat believable...

the fact is though, if they include fw800, and fw400 can run through the same bus, then obviously a separate chip isn't needed, just the port, and come on, can that really be that expensive that you must only have a single fw port, that you have to share with all your fw400 and 800 peripherals?

if this happens, even on consumer lines, i will be absolutely furious. it pisses me off enough that they ditched it out of the iPod, but powerbooks? unacceptable... :mad:

[grapes911]

That's rather telling of how Macrumors users feel. Usually there's at least one person who believes a rumor is positive.

I believe this is positive. Positively a joke or positively BS. I'm not sure which one.

[generik]

Apple is trying to cut costs, just look at the recent iPods.

In other news Apple is still charging the same for the same product.

[EricNau]

I think whoever the root of this rumors is, was just making an "educated guess". S/He figured since the iPods dropped support for firewire, all of Apple's computers would also.

But this is not true.

[ncoffey]

Losing the firewire on an entry level iBook probably wouldn't be a deal breaker for people buying them. If Apple intends to release a much cheaper intel iBook with the lower feature set that an entry level Dell has, they could drop firewire, iLife (keep iTunes of course), airport, bluetooth, external video output, and the modem. Think "No-frills iBook". They could have this at a much lower pricepoint than their current entry level 12-inch iBook model and people would probably buy it. Higher end models could retain similar feature sets. This lower end iBook, while not popular with the current mac crowd, could entice new buyers to try macs, similar to the way the mac mini has. The iBook starts at $1249 (CDN), whereas the lowest end Dell model starts at $699 ($599 on sale at the moment). The Dell has an Intel&#174; Celeron&#174; M 360 (1.40 GHz/1MB Cache/400MHz FSB), 256 MiBs of ram (shared with video card), a 40 GB hard drive and XP Home. Many people wouldn't even get to this point however because they see the price tag of the Apple and the price tag of the Dell and choose the cheaper one immediately due to the large differential. After this they start to choose the feature set they want. No, not everybody operates like this but many do, and if Apple wants to grow their market share they can't keep all the hardware features they currently have in their base models.

Edit: Given some of Dells current screen offerings (1920x1200 in a 15" laptop) I would have a difficult time buying an Apple right now. That's not to say I'm leaping at the opportunity to buy a Dell but Full HD resolution in a 15" laptop isn't anything to shake a stick at either.

[BornAgainMac]

Next they will say they won't ship a flat panel screen with the iBook.

[EricNau]

I was 8 years old in 1995, and can only remember FireWire since the first iMac. Thanks for the info. :cool:

I was 5. :cool:

[iChan]

FW400 is by no means an obsolete technology... unlike ADB or serial. It is still as fast as anything standard on the PC side, and a whole lot more stable judging by my experiences. FW 800 is just the icing on the cake!

It makes no sense to state that a FW800 port will remain for "video professionals".

Even if they drop FW400, aren't all those hundreds and thousands of people with FW devices going to need adapters?? iSights, Digicams, HDs, CINEMA DISPLAYS FOR CHRISSAKES!

This makes no sense and is a throughly irresponsible and immature response to Apple dropping FW support on iPods.

Having said all that, i may be incorrect. stranger things have happened!

[EricNau]

Next they will say they won't ship a flat panel screen with the iBook.

Or any optical drive, or HDD, or WiFi, or Bluetooth.
Infact, it won't come with OS X either. :p

[runninmac]

*Laughs at the people waiting for the Intel books while running off with my new iBook*

But that really does suck a lot of people use their firewire ports.
I really dont belive this rumor.

[stesch]

the title says it all...

[jimsowden]

Firewire 800 is in essence what USB 2.0 is to usb, fully backwards compatable. If they have 800, i'll be fine. Though i don't see them doing it.

[EricNau]

69 to 0 (as of about 10:45 EST)
Negative Votes to Positive Votes

I don't know how to vote :o
Could someone help me out?

edit: nevermind
-but now I feel like a bigger idiot, I got excited that I figured it out, then my mouse slipped and I hit 'positive'

[Indiana Mac]

Apple is about to introduce the most the highly anticipated update to the portable line and it will be missing firewire? I suppose it will be missing an ethernet port as well. Consideing the emphasis that apple has placed on digital video editing and the increasing use of laptops, this would be a moronic decision. The only connectivity port that I can see Apple dropping is the modem, with the increasing prevalence of wifi connections at Hotels, that might make some sense(since the USB modem is only what 30 extra for those who need it?), but not firewire.

This deserves to be on page 2.

[Plymouthbreezer]

I don't believe this for a second. So many people rely on firewire for so many things.
Right, like us iPod folk...

But, they ditched FW on the 'Pods... Makes me wonder about this too. Scary thoughts.

[runninmac]

I don't know how to vote :o
Could someone help me out?

edit: nevermind

At the botom of the story on the main page there is a "positive" button or a "negative" button. Click which one you want. But it always seems to take a while to count the votes.

[Koodauw]

and I just bought a FW 400 cable. The Humanity!

[p0intblank]

This is not good... not good at all. I'm going to miss FireWire. :(

[itsbetteronamac]

All of this is a load of crap. Apple is not going to get rid of firewire, and just another rumor not worth spending anytime on. Apple getting rid of firewire would be like apple getting rid of ethernet jack. "You don't need it, but a hell of alot of people use it!"

But, since everybodys saying what they would miss the most... I would miss Target Disk mode very much. And, the knowlege that I wouldn't be able to use it would make me worry.

[vahtryn]

I'm a laptop performer and rely on firewire and usb to keep everything connected and running with as little latency as possible. Firewire is used for my sound card (10 ins and outs at 24/96) and my external drive. Also my midi is connected through my sound card into external gear or controllers. USB is used for every other controller and maybe a mouse until I go and get a BT one.

Now two FW800 buses would ****ing pwnz me. Too bad most gear doesn't come in firewire though, just usb (like the virus ti or various midi controllers).

[EricNau]

At the botom of the story on the main page there is a "positive" button or a "negative" button. Click which one you want. But it always seems to take a while to count the votes.
Thanks, but now that I know it might not be a good thing - I hit positive by mistake :o

[NYmacAttack]

Without FW how would you transfer your files to the new ibooks :confused:
Is there a USB cable that can do this?

[runninmac]

Thanks, but now that I know it might not be a good thing - I hit positive by mistake :o

Shame on you! :p

This has to be the fastest growning rumor I have seen. Apple will have a lot of explaining to do if they take it out.

[06m1r3m86]

I'm not sure if anyone else has thought of this, but you can't boot your computer from a USB hard drive if anything happened to your main hard drive, making the only option booting from a DVD drive. Also, what if you want to boot from Windows? I know it's possible with only one hard drive, but complex and limiting in space as well as making that one hard drive susceptible to viruses and spyware, slowing the entire computer down.
You'd also be compromising speed to switch soley to USB, Firewire has a higher sustainable speed than USB does.

[Dagless]

hmm. if this is true then i dont like it. if FW800 is backwards compatible then woo! I wouldn't mind FW800.

[Xenious]

You can use an adapter to plug a FW400 device into a FW800 port. I have one on my G5 because I ran out of FW400 ports and didn't need a hub.

[Laser47]

First of all, ibook is targeted towards home users, and last time i checked professionals werent the only people to do videos on their computer.
There is no reason apple would remove firewire to cut the costs.
Come on, how much would they save if they removed firewire from the ibook?
And if that was the case, they might as well remove external video out, ethernet, the superdrive, and bluetooth as they might be only needed for *Professionals* only. Also I guess we can all say goodbye to imovie and idvd. Because *Professionals* use Final Cut Studio.

[arcobb]

Remember when they dropped the audio-in jack on the powerbooks (I think desktops as well... not as sure) and we all had to get the goofy iMic adabtor just to record into the powerbook. For mobile computing and putting projects together it was a pain in the a**. This could the our future in the old kester. I don't want to go out and but an adaptor just to plug in my hard drive... but then again, Steve did make the sound to Intel sound good... and now we are waiting intel chip in our Macs... who woulda thought!

[ibook30]

What was that rule.... you can always add features later, but taking them away is forbidden ???

I like firewire, and it makes me feel better about shelling out the cash for a mac. It is one of the niceties that makes Apples products unique- and better. and worth the extra money!

I would miss FW if this be true.

[neutrino23]

Good luck using a mouse and keyboard then. :D
(Unless you have BT, which most people don't use)

The PB already includes a keyboard and trackpad.

[puckhead193]

how would one import video into imovie if there is no firewire... This guys an idiot.

[dollystereo]

That would never happen, we need firewire to connect our CamCoders, drop Firewire 400 is no sense, dont worry is absolutely fake.

[neutrino23]

Apple is trying to cut costs, just look at the recent iPods.

In other news Apple is still charging the same for the same product.

Great. It would be so much cheaper without a hard drive or a keyboard or speakers or a display. There is so much room for cutting costs.

[EricNau]

Shall we all send an e-mail to Jason O'Grady of PowerPage.org to let him know what we think? :p

[Billicus]

[Comic Book Guy Voice] Dumbest move by Apple EVER! [/Comic Book Guy Voice]

[Preacher85]

If they do this, then they'll probably include a F800 —> F400 converter with the PBs. I hope that they don't do this though, and I don't see why they'd really need to unless they're that limited on space.
-Chase

If the case is that Apple needs the space, they should axe the 56K modem. Especially since they made their own little USB based modem. Leave my firewire port alone.

[Warbrain]

I find it totally funny that everyone got into a fit about this rumor.

It's a rumor, and a very bad one at that. This isn't as bad as the Dharma rumor, which is one of the worst that I've seen. But we all know that Apple won't drop FireWire from their computers. They know that nearly everyone uses FireWire in some manner on their computer. It was only dropped from the iPod because the FireWire chip takes up a good amount of space inside of the iPod.

So if Apple were to drop FireWire from the portables, it would have to be to make a very slim portable. I don't see that happening.

[themacman]

thats stupid, firewire is just about every digital camera/videocamera. this rumor is complete bs.

[MacNemesis]

But IF (and that's a big if), they drop the 400 port in favor of an 800 port, they would likely include a 400->800 converter since so many consumer devices use it. In a sense it would be future protecting the ibook. That being said, it would be annoying because methinks those adapters (like the DVI->VGA, etc) would be lost easily and cost more $$$ than you'd like to replace. But relax, there STILL WILL BE FIREWIRE. Just 800 instead of 400. I still won't believe it till I see it, though.

[pizzach]

For general users, one port is more than enough. It will be truely sad when there are none at all....which may be coming too. Just not yet.

I wonder how much Intel is paying Apple to get rid of Firewire. Or maybe it's a good will move on Apple's part. And now to end this post with a questionable comment in all caps for people who won't read this sentence. INTEL'S USB SHALL RULE ALL. HAH AH HA HAH HA HA HA HAH A.

[Warbrain]

If the case is that Apple needs the space, they should axe the 56K modem. Especially since they made their own little USB based modem. Leave my firewire port alone.

Exactly. That's how they got the iMac to be slimmer than it was before.

And anyway, if they were to drop FireWire, they most likely wouldn't totally drop it. They might include a simple 4-pin FireWire port that doesn't provide power instead of the 6-pin.

[MrTrout]

I absolutely loathe USB and everything about its hideous design. Audio / video professionals simply rely on FW to get their job done, it's fast and reliable and that's what's required.

FW also has others uses (TCP over FW), I just can't see Apple dropping such a prominent connector on their laptops.

G.

[EricNau]

Exactly. That's how they got the iMac to be slimmer than it was before.

And anyway, if they were to drop FireWire, they most likely wouldn't totally drop it. They might include a simple 4-pin FireWire port that doesn't provide power instead of the 6-pin.

They wouldn't go backwards to 4-pin.

[grapes911]

I absolutely loathe USB and everything about its hideous design.
Then you obviously know nothing about USB. I'm not advocating dropping FW, but I'd wouldn't drop USB either. Both have advantages and disadvantages. They compliment each other very well. And there is nothing wrong with USB's design. From a pure development stand point, it does exactly what it is supposed to do.

[EricNau]

Then you obviously know nothing about USB. I'm not advocating dropping FW, but I'd wouldn't drop USB either. Both have advantages and disadvantages. They compliment each other very well.
except FireWire is better ;) :p

[DTphonehome]

No freaking way. And I'll tell you why: Every single digital video camera uses Firewire. Every. Single. One. So Apple is suddenly going to decide not to be a "digital hub"? Drop digital video from its master plan? Hell no. They practically invented video editing for the average user by implementing Firewire and creating iMovie. This rumor has no legs to stand on. I don't believe it for a second.

--DT

edit: read the thread over and saw that I'm not nearly the first one with that thought. But the point stands.

[faintember]

i agree with all the other MR users claiming that this is BS.

As long as the Intel PB's have FW 400 or 800 i will be happy as all of my audio interfaces other than my mBox are FW, though there is no reason for the iBook to not include at least an 4-pin FW port similar to windoze laptops. Getting rid of FW to save space/make the laptop smaller makes no sense; the laptops are already portable enough for most people.

[Laser47]

except FireWire is better ;) :p
Yea, and it sounds cooler.

[grapes911]

Yea, and it sounds cooler.
Actually, I like the sound of iLink better. Sounds more apple-ish.

[MacNemesis]

And anyway, if they were to drop FireWire, they most likely wouldn't totally drop it. They might include a simple 4-pin FireWire port that doesn't provide power instead of the 6-pin.

Sorry, but not a chance. It would render all bus-powered devices useless, a big time step backwards.

[MacNemesis]

Actually, I like the sound of iLink better. Sounds more apple-ish.

That made me laugh. iLink is Sony's branding of 1394. And what about sony is Apple-ish??

[faintember]

Yea, and it sounds cooler.
doesn't it sound hotter?

<slinks back to editing my 30 page paper>

[EricNau]

That made me laugh. iLink is Sony's branding of 1394. And what about sony is Apple-ish??
I think s/he was refering to the "i" infront of the word "Link". Like iPod, iMac, iLife, iWork, you get the idea...

[Bubbasteve]

That seems very strange to me...I just can't seem to believe that

[grapes911]

I think s/he was refering to the "i" infront of the word "Link". Like iPod, iMac, iLife, iWork, you get the idea...
Exactly what I was going for. I though it would have been more easily understood. :o

It is ironic though. Isn't it?

[EricNau]

Exactly what I was going for. I though it would have been more easily understood. :o

It is ironic though. Isn't it?
yeah, it is ironic, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if Sony got the idea from Apple.

[longofest]

Wow... well, you can just throw iMovie and iDVD out of the iLife suite, since you won't be able to capture from camcorders anymore.

Personally, I think this is a very bogus rumor. No way Apple would do this. I think they are just trying to expand upon the fact that the iPod has gone to total USB 2.0, but that's just the iPod. It shouldn't be taken to mean that they will do the same thing to the iBook, etc.

[Warbrain]

They wouldn't go backwards to 4-pin.

Sorry, but not a chance. It would render all bus-powered devices useless, a big time step backwards.

I posted earlier saying that Apple knows that they wouldn't drop it at all because of how many people actually use FireWire and how they only had to drop it from the iPods in order to make them as thin as they currently are. I know that Apple won't go to a 4-pin port, but offered it as a response to all the 'OMG APPLE CAN"T DROP THIS!!!!' posts. I find it completely funny that people are getting so hyped up over some rumor that is more than likely to be debunked.

[Laser47]

Theres no justification for apple to drop firewire.
Its not like it costs them 100$ to include firewire or like it takes up so much room on their notebooks. And if they are trying to be conservative on space then they should drop the modem, compared to other components in the ibook its big. It requires its own modem card which takes up space compared to a firewire controller.

[IndyGopher]

No freaking way. And I'll tell you why: Every single digital video camera uses Firewire. Every. Single. One.

Your point is that it is pervasive in video cameras, but you are 100% wrong about it being in EVERY digital video camera. A lot of the cheapie (<$300) cameras only support USB streaming.

[Spock]

More like 1995

It wasnt until 1999 when Apple put Firewire on the B&W G3

The new G3 was the first Apple model to support FireWire, Apple's new high-speed serial standard. It was also the first professional model to include USB.

The only way Apple can dump Firewire 400 is to make FW 800 standard across the lines and include a 400 adapter

[Counterfit]

For once, I'm posting before reading all the replies. There are just too many! :eek:

anyways, look here (http://indigo.intel.com/mbsg/default.aspx), and select "IEEE-1394a" under "Integrated Product Features". The number in the upper right corner should show "Motherboard or Barebones matches: 15". 15 Intel motherboards have FireWire on them (1 has FireWire800). I doubt that Intel would force Apple to drop FW for USB. Heck, I'll even guess that the processor deal included reduced licensing fees for Intel to use FW.

[virus1]

It will never happen...
Most/all digital camcorders use Firewire 400.
thank you.. apple innovates, not reduces innovative technologies on thier products. (what 5G ipod..? :rolleyes: )

[steebu]

it takes up too much room!

[deedas]

Apple could not possibly alienate their users anymore. If they drop FW400 on PBs that would mean whenever I upgrade this PB and other Macs, I'd have to buy new iSights, a new Camcorder that has FW800 (I don't think there are that many out there so my choices would be pretty slim,) new FW hdds, couple others things I can't name at the top of my head.


Unless of course, they make an adapter, which might actually already exist. Still, that would be a whole load of adapters I'd have to buy and it'd be too much of a hassle for me to still consider my apple experience a completely enjoyable one.

[flowerbook]

it´s time for a new connection.
so you have to buy everything again.
with the new connection they will also present the first apple camcorder which incl. this new connection.
fast as hell.
:D

[magi.sys]

I think it is very possible that Apple will drop FW400.
It's very easy to downconvert FW800 to FW400 with an adapter.
I think Apple will just move to all FW800 and drop FW400 completely, now that would make sense.

so my guess would be ibooks and powerbooks both have FW800. Maybe the powerbooks will have 2 FW800 ports ;)
they will probaly drop PCMCIA too and replace it with that PCI-express equivalent.

[gugy]

This is total ********.
Apple brought the firewire to the masses. Now everything from cameras to hard drives to scanners, etc. rely on firewire. I seriously doubt this will happen.
I understand when Apple dropped the flop disk because it was basically obsolete and did not hold enough files. But Firewire is a completely different thing. Live long Firewire.

[briansolomon]

even low end pc portables have firewire on them

[ncoffey]

I must reiterate my position that I believe this is a good move for Apple. On an entry level system, every $5 chip that can be removed is a step in the right direction. (Without destroying necessary functionality.) Remove a few other things (bluetooth/wireless/iLife) and you have yourself a better competitor to the Dell entry level laptop. Current mac users are going to want the same higher priced model anyway so what's the harm in offering something that more people would want (which is cheap), yet keeping that which is truly important (OS X).

[richdun]

they will probaly drop PCMCIA too and replace it with that PCI-express equivalent.

ExpressCard, here (http://www.intel.com/technology/itj/2005/volume09issue01/art02_pcix_mobile/p05_pcix_mobile_apps.htm), 'bout half way down. We could also see PCI Express Mini instead of MiniPCI...maybe new AirportSuperUltraExtreme? I really can't see Apple just switching CPUs and not using the opportunity to integrate a ton of new features (crosses fingers for HDMI in a PowerBook...yes, its just DVI w/audio, but my new HDTV has HDMI, and I want not only the ability to hook up to it, but good support for it)

[Sweetfeld28]

Is it just me, or has Apple dropped FW 800 on the new iMacs? No, they didn't drop FW completely just the FW800 ports, they still have the FW400 ports though.

i just don't understand why my MDD 1.42 G4 has both, and is older than the G5's. I think it would be a big mistake to abandon FW, after all isn't this what they developed Target Disk Mode?

[DMPDX]

When I read this I thought "what happens to target disk mode"????????????????????????:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[maestro55]

I agree with everyone else, I don't believe this. Atleast not getting rid of it, and as someone else said if they made it all FW800 they would be sure to include some adapter. Looks like that blogger needs to re-think things.

[iEric]

G-A-R-B-A-G-E

that's not going to happen. especially not getting rid of it on iBooks!

[Super Dave]

Add one more vote to the "not gonna happen pile." You can't be the company that pushes making home movies without FireWire.

And what about the Mac-to-Mac migration during a new Mac setup?

Bogus! This is so not true.

David :cool:

[twoodcc]

after seeing so many replies about how this is a terrible idea and will probably never happen, i also don't think it would happen. mainly b/c of all the unhappy costumers that apple would have if they did drop it.

to me, it makes more sense to start having support for usb (like for imovie, etc) before you start throwing away FW and make everyone go to usb

[Super Dave]

I must reiterate my position that I believe this is a good move for Apple. On an entry level system, every $5 chip that can be removed is a step in the right direction. (Without destroying necessary functionality.) Remove a few other things (bluetooth/wireless/iLife) and you have yourself a better competitor to the Dell entry level laptop. Current mac users are going to want the same higher priced model anyway so what's the harm in offering something that more people would want (which is cheap), yet keeping that which is truly important (OS X).

Mac OS X isn't the only important thing. When IDE drives used to suck, Apple had SCSI. When the PC was trying to get their act together, Apple had FireWire.

Apple has always had nice hardware. If they put the extra money in for LED lights on the batteries of their laptops, and magnetic latches for their lids, and coin turnable battery snaps, I'm sure they're not going to ditch a FireWire port. I'd rather lose Ethernet or a Modem jack before FireWire, and I suspect I'm not alone.

David :cool:

[~Shard~]

Yikes. I knew Apple was phasing out Firewire in terms of the iPods, but I thought that was always in a n effort to appeal to more of the PC crowd, where firewire isn't as prevalent. Perhaps there is a grander, overall strategy in place then at Apple if this is indeed the case. Guess we'll find out in a month at MWSF!

[Jovian9]

This would be awful. It is already bad enough having to sync my 60GB iPod (video) with USB2......which is ALOT slower.

This will not happen......but they will remove the dial-up modems from the next generation of all Macs (at least I believe so).....they've already started with the iMac G5.

[Trowaman]

Well I guess we know where Steve will go with this one:

"Firewire has been a huge success for us. It's the standard for video transfers on computers. As such, it's time to replace it . . ."

[mongoos150]

WHAT the ****?!?!?! what about DV CAMS!!!!!!!!!! If this is true - I will seriously doubt buying another Mac. This is just THAT serious, and I'm a die-hard Apple supporter. Ho-lee *****.

[~Shard~]

Maybe Steve is going to replace Firewire with wireless firewire instead! :eek: ;)

Hmm, "wireless firewire" - wouldn't that just be fire?... :cool:

[wPod]

nooo, the end is near!!! whats next? apple drops unix in support of the more prevalent windows OS?!!! im glad apple is doing well the the mp3 player market, but please please dont fall into the 'windows is GOD' midset like palm has!!!

[From Win to Mac]

none ! every camera uses FW, from the cheap ones to GL1s or whatever

[blufire]

This is really sad.. I hope it's not true! FireWire disk mode is a life saver and an awesome feature.. FireWire is just a better technology than USB 2.0, and even if the Windows world doesn't do much with it, I know a ton of Mac users who would be enraged..

[dontmatter]

Maybe they could drop firewire 400 because USB 2.0 does essentially the same and is more universal, but if they do that, they need to make and market it as a firewire 800 machine.

This would be BAD news, otherwise.

[Chundles]

Is it just me, or has Apple dropped FW 800 on the new iMacs? No, they didn't drop FW completely just the FW800 ports, they still have the FW400 ports though.

i just don't understand why my MDD 1.42 G4 has both, and is older than the G5's. I think it would be a big mistake to abandon FW, after all isn't this what they developed Target Disk Mode?

iMac never had FW800, only the PowerMacs and PowerBooks had it.

[syme72]

This move wouldn't surprise me coming from Apple. While one can argue that USB2 & Firewire 400 are comparably the same speeds, Apple has succeeded in creating a network bridge over Firewire - which would lead me to believe that Apple will certainly be covering their butts with such a move. Be on the lookout for a Firewire->USB adapter provided by Apple for users who are Firewire 400 dependent to make a smooth transition. Of course it means a little extra revenue on accessories... Sounds typically like a strategic Apple move to me.

[aafuss1]

I don't believe this as well-if Apple drops Firewire from the Powerbook's, then you wouldn't be able to use a iSight or Firewire target disk mode. Removing the 56k modem would be better-already started with the new iMac G5.

[Some_Big_Spoon]

Well, to be fair, Palm's "switch" has nothing to do with windoze worship, it's pure survival. The Palm OS is good, very good, but dead in the water, and hasn't progressed in a very long time. Windows mobile allows them to stay alive and possibly retake the hardware market that they were a part of building.

If they could get by on Palm, they would in a heartbeatm but sadly they can't.

As for FW being kicked out, I call BS. Every video, and most music professionals are dependant upon FW400 for their bread and butter, so kill it and you kill the market, unless you ship wit some sort of uber adapter.

FW800 on the other hand is useless due to the limitations of HD's, etc.

FW800 = fish+bicycle


nooo, the end is near!!! whats next? apple drops unix in support of the more prevalent windows OS?!!! im glad apple is doing well the the mp3 player market, but please please dont fall into the 'windows is GOD' midset like palm has!!!

[California]

In the "fish stinks from the head down" philosophy -- Jobs seems to me to have always had a need to control us Macaddicts by not allowing Apple computers to be worked on and taken apart like Windoze Lego toys.

Their "don't touch" or kill your warranty attitude regarding do it yourself laptop upgrades is symptomatic of this legacy.

By taking Firewire off a new line of iPods and macs, whatever they are, Apple would be effectively limiting what could be done by do it yourselfers like myself.

Now I like and admire Jobs. In his own way, he's a ruthless artist. Dumping firewire would be part and parcel of his control freak persona -- limiting what we can do with Apples and -- guess what -- I believe it would be helping to maintain their mystique. Windoze pcs have no mystique because you can pull them apart and step on them and then snap the virus vacuums together like Lego pieces.

Jobs is afraid of that. He created the thing we all love about Apple -- intelligent design.

So, stock up on old machines and fw devices. Or design us a usb to firewire adapter (I know, technically impossible) but let's not whine. I think Jobs is trying very very very hard to not let Apple go the way of all flesh next year -- and this may be part of his strategy. We all love Apple BECAUSE they outthink us.

Thinking things through is what makes excellent design.

Thinking things through is what made Apple Apple.

Thinking things through is -- love!

[trebblekicked]

bah. baseless speculation extrapolated from the ipod move. if apple had any plans of phasing out firewire, they never would have included it on the mini.

[VIREBEL661]

...is an awesome feature of Macs... I guess they could somehow implement this on a USB bus...

[macamacamac]

Just buy a firewire400 6pin to firewire800 9pin cable. Did all of you complain because apple went from the original usb to usb 2?

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail~dpno~521808.asp

[karl878]

Is there a possibility Apple could be switching from Firewire to external SATA (eSATA)?

[iEdd]

I highly doubt this will happen. Firewire 800 is something that is a perk to upgrade from iBook to powerbook, so consumer comps should stick with FW400 and all 'pro' comps should have at least one of each. Otherwise FW800 and a FW800->2 FW400 adaptor would be cool.

[mrweirdo]

no firewire in intel ibooks means no new iBook for me I will stick with the ppc platform thank you very much. I'm doubfull it will hapen though

[Bakey]

By taking Firewire off a new line of iPods and macs, whatever they are, Apple would be effectively limiting what could be done by do it yourselfers like myself.

Now I like and admire Jobs. In his own way, he's a ruthless artist. Dumping firewire would be part and parcel of his control freak persona -- limiting what we can do with Apples and -- guess what -- I believe it would be helping to maintain their mystique. Windoze pcs have no mystique because you can pull them apart and step on them and then snap the virus vacuums together like Lego pieces.

Listen fella, I really, really, REALLY need you to explain what the heck you're on about here!! How on earth can the "limiting" of a machine be seen as a means of ensuring the Mac "mystique" remains!?

As another poster has already pointed out the idea of not being able to hook-up consumer DV devices so Joe Average can edit the family holiday in iMovie and then author and burn under iDVD really defeats the objective of the digital lifestyle introduced by Apple with the iBooks and PowerBooks... It ain't gonna happen!!

I could see the introduction of 4pin connectors as a possibility but not the complete removal of!!

[liketom]

WTF ?? i just woke up and saw this on the front page ?


is it april already, if apple drop firewire then i can see many people dropping apple's new machines

isight,dv camera , ACD's and HDD's all use or have the firewire ports

just crazy

[seriypshick]

I forgive apple for dropping FW on iPods.
But THIS, I don't think I will forgive.

[atari1356]

By taking Firewire off a new line of iPods and macs, whatever they are, Apple would be effectively limiting what could be done by do it yourselfers like myself.

Now I like and admire Jobs. In his own way, he's a ruthless artist. Dumping firewire would be part and parcel of his control freak persona -- limiting what we can do with Apples and -- guess what -- I believe it would be helping to maintain their mystique. Windoze pcs have no mystique because you can pull them apart and step on them and then snap the virus vacuums together like Lego pieces.

Jobs is afraid of that. He created the thing we all love about Apple -- intelligent design.

There's nothing intelligent (from a consumers standpoint) about not having a firewire port on an iBook.

From Apple's perspective, I suppose it could be a way to drive more people to buy a more expensive PowerBook (with higher profit margins for Apple). Apple has been in a tough spot for a few years now, trying to distinguish the PowerBook line from the iBooks... crippling an iBook by taking away firewire would certainly make Powerbooks more attractive. I wouldn't call that intelligent either though...

[balamw]

I think this move is likely in one form or another. Even though I don't like it.

Firewire will likely be phased out of some consumer level products, and might become a CTO option as with the modem on the minis. I definitely agree with most that FW of some sort will remain standard on the power boxes.

Wouldn't you consider a USB only $500 Intel iBook as was rumored a few days ago?

Also, have we completely forgotten the move away from SCSI to IDE/Firewire? Used to be that all Macs had SCSI buses for the internal HD and external devices. Just like there were FireWire to SCSI adapters, there are already some ~$100 USB2 to Firewire 400 cables available that handle DV and have already been mentioned in the iPod forums. Apple could choose to make this a $50 option for those who use FW400 for DV and maybe even external hard drives.

B

[Multimedia]

It wasnt until 1999 when Apple put Firewire on the B&W G3

The only way Apple can dump Firewire 400 is to make FW 800 standard across the lines and include a 400 adapterYou are correct sir!:mad: :( :eek: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[seriypshick]

I think it is very possible that Apple will drop FW400.
It's very easy to downconvert FW800 to FW400 with an adapter.
I think Apple will just move to all FW800 and drop FW400 completely, now that would make sense.

so my guess would be ibooks and powerbooks both have FW800. Maybe the powerbooks will have 2 FW800 ports ;)
they will probaly drop PCMCIA too and replace it with that PCI-express equivalent.

Good point. I hope it's that.

[Doctor Q]

Rating on this thread:20 Positives; 395 NegativesThere couldn't be a worse reaction unless they omitted the hard disk.

[California]

Listen fella, I really, really, REALLY need you to explain what the heck you're on about here!! How on earth can the "limiting" of a machine be seen as a means of ensuring the Mac "mystique" remains!?

As another poster has already pointed out the idea of not being able to hook-up consumer DV devices so Joe Average can edit the family holiday in iMovie and then author and burn under iDVD really defeats the objective of the digital lifestyle introduced by Apple with the iBooks and PowerBooks... It ain't gonna happen!!

I could see the introduction of 4pin connectors as a possibility but not the complete removal of!!

First, not a "fella".

Second the thought is that if Jobs wants to beat Dell at the cheap laptop game, dumping firewire might be the trick so the ibook becomes just an email and letter writing machine, which is what most people I know use 'em for.

Third, I am just thinking that the people at Apple ARE thinking all this through, and I'm old enough to recall "the horror" when there were no floppy drives on the CRT G3 iMacs.

I love FW but I'm just sayin' Jobs and co. have outthink us all for the good of the company and they are up against Evilsoft. But I'll be no fan of the Mactels, buying a new PB tomorrow.

One thing that I would do quick if I were Jobs would be shut down all Chinese manufacturing for Apple because I've noticed that the ChiComs are already counterfeiting the Shuffle in identical packaging and plastics, sans the Apple logo. With their penchant for reverse manufacturing and
***k you counterfeiting, Jobs may have made a big mistake in opening plants in the still totalitarian nation in order to "save money".

I bothers me that I lost the gamble and both my 12 and 14 inch new iBooks were made in China, quality on tiny detail is poor (front bezels not fitted exactly right, etc.) and i hate it that my money is going towards supporting a militaristic Orwellian regime with no free speech, no real property rights and a lot of people in labor camps. Sorry to digress but it does bug me!

[Multimedia]

Seems my PB may turn into a 'Limited Edition' portable with firewire 400 & 800... Get'em now, while you still can...I use the 400 port for the camera and the 800 port for the external 500 GB FW 800 Hard Drive. This is INSANE if true. :mad: :confused: :(

[TyleRomeo]

this would be a huge mistake for apple if they want the intel gen. to begin nicely with the apple PowerPC faithful (myself included) I have no doubt that firewire 400 will still be included, how many external hard drives only have firewire 400 ports, how bout camcorders, how about apple's own iSight camera, how about firewire target disk mode, this is not being dropped.

Tyler

[millhouse_man]

What? No. Wait a minute...What? No. Not a chance. That would just be absolutely insane!

[Avicdar]

...then couldnt you just buy a PCMCIA adaptor card? Or would this mystical machine come without those too?

The ONLY way I would believe this rumor is if Apple were trying to design the Mac mini of laptops. Entry level, small, designed for a very particular market.

Hmm.

It wasn't long ago a lot of us on here were saying - "What?? No way Apple is going to release an iPod without a screen!" Then the shuffle came out. Everyone then said "oh, that makes sense. Its for the users who dont need a screen. Very specific market"

A sub 500 dollar Mac laptop would be kinda sweet, and if it had PCMCIA expansion slots, you could always add what you wanted later I suppose.

I think people are constrewing this rumor, if there is any truth in it at all, to mean Apple would abandon firewire in all of its laptops going forward. I dont think thats what the rumor is saying, really.

Apple is far too locked into firewire to drop it as a technology.

[GeeYouEye]

I for one wouldn't be upset, so long as they include 2 1394b 800 ports (and converter cables) or 1 1394b 800 and 1 1394b 1600 port. :drools:

But if they don't, I certainly won't be buying one. FW TDM and bootability (although that's strictly a firmware issue - PC's have USB boot) are essential. One of the reasons I'm not getting a new iPod too. I can't boot from it. When my current one runs out of space, I'll get a 60 GB iPod photo.

Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.

[stephenli]

my goodness what is the point to preinstall iMovie then?!
how to CAPTURE from DV cam?! nooooooooooo

dont give us something like i-link
i dont want to buy new cables
i need firewire 400, seriously
otherwise do i also need to throw away my external HDD?!

[Marx55]

This is not completely unusual for Apple. First, they tell us that something is perfect, then they drop it leaving us in the cold.

Do not take me wrong. I love the Mac, but this is too much.

Apple, please, do not do stupid things again (remember when Apple did not unclude CD-R or CD-RW drives for a long, long, long time?):

- Need Firerwire on Mac for booting from external devices, for Target Disk Mode, for camcorders, for daisy-chain and for convenience.

- Need to boot from iPods for repairs. Need Firewire on iPods!

- Need dual DVD-RW drives on Mac. Even cheap PC-Windows out there have had it for years! One DVD-RW and one DVD read only on the same Mac. Perfect for cuplicating CDs and DVDs. Legally, of course.

- Need more choice. Bring back the cube or something equivalent. A quiet powerful NOT-all-in-one computer with external monitor. I do not want to trow away my magnificent Apple Cinema Display after three years (read iMac G5 main problem). And the Mac mini is not powerful enough and very limited (a single Firewire port is not enough).

Please. Thanks.

[dbritto]

My iBook is getting old now and I will be replacing in within the next year, I am hoping it had enough life left in it until the Intel iBook’s arrive June should be okay but Jan would be great.

I make extensive use Firewire on it, 3G iPod, Firewire hard drive, and Camcorder.

If apple were to remove Firewire from the next version of the iBook, it would mean that I would be buying an older model (the current G4 model) second had, from one of the auction sites. Or considering the ultimate betrayal and moving to a PC laptop with Firewire built in or a PCMCIA slot to allows me to add it

[mdavey]

Maybe Steve is going to replace Firewire with wireless firewire instead! :eek: ;)

Hmm, "wireless firewire" - wouldn't that just be fire?

Maybe that is how the rumor started? Someone told O'Grady that the new Apple Macs would have Firewireless ports and he misunderstood ;)

[Mikey Mike]

That website hasn't got the best track record in predicting anything, but Apple hasn't got the greatest track record in NOT doing silly things at times!

If a FW800 only iBook comes out don't worry there will be 20 company's jumping on the band wagon with every adaptor configuration known to man. LaCie already ship their large HD's with FW800 only but include a FW800-FW400 cable in the box.

Hell, Apple might include one in the box??? Be cheaper than having to add it to the mainboard, and will help keep the iBook size down cramming in less.

[Mikey Mike]

Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.

No, G4 533MHz Towers didn't have one... I had to buy a iMic... Apple sometimes have a brain explosion!

[shadowmoses]

This is really bad news, I always found Firewire useful when i wanted to back up mac's or transfer data to someone elese's mac. it worked beautifully, its a must to mac's and i cant see why apple would want to get rid of it, as it can't be expensive or troublesome to add to machines,

Shadow

[Arcady]

Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.

Um, wrong. The original Mac 128, 512, Plus, SE (etc.) had no line in. The Digital Audio G4's and Quicksilver G4's had no line in. I'm sure there are several other ones that were missing it too.

[cwedl]

Apple sucks at the moment, First no chargers in iPod boxes, then this? this company is trying to cut costs, but in a crappy way!

[ATG]

Just like apple would NEVER drop ADB.
Or like apple would NEVER go to intel.
Or like apple would NEVER sell a two button mouse. ;)

[Sogo]

Didn't Jobs, in one of his keynotes, say that they weren't going to support firewire for the ipod?

I don't know, but that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title of thread. I may just be crazy though.

[iEdd]

Why is everyone believing this rumour? And what's ADB?

[johnnyjibbs]

I think this is complete BS. I know Apple's support of Firewire has waned in recent years but that's just explained by the USB 2.0 standard. The iPod issue is a matter of cost and supporting USB 2 is the only sensible solution, as Firewire is not standard on every PC. However, there is no reason to drop it from notebooks, especially when it is useful for video. Let's not forget that the iSight requires a Firewire port and iChat still doesn't even support USB cameras without a hack.

The cost of putting a FW port on the iBook is virtually zero. But take one away, and I (and many others) won't buy one because we need Firewire. I have a FW hard drive and I use the port for mini DV video. Sure, I could switch to USB 2 for my iPod (4G B&W) but Firewire syncing is faster (sustained).

Like I said, this is BS.

[yellowdog22]

i have a 1ghz powerbook and i'm using the fw400 to transfer and charge my 5gb 1st gen ipod my fw800 is connected to my owc 259gb hard drive. I'd be really dissapointed if apple dropped the fw. Its much better than usb/2. I also btw have a pc card for my usb2 connections. Needless to say I don't take my powerbook anywhere! When i buy a new ipod i'll use the pc card which is fine but i bought the drive a few months ago so when i buy the new powerbook i still want to use the owc drive. I don't like much how Apple pushed the firewire and now a few years down the line after we've all bought firewire peripherals they drop it. One thing tho... I just checked my drive and it has usb2 as well. I guess it depends on how many people have old fw400 stuff without usb2 connections.

[bigjohn]

and to think i put a firewire card into the pc i built just to support all the fw devices i have for my macs... this story sounds like it should be on MacRumors' Page 3!

[animefan_1]

Part of his blog post:

"I reported back in October, that when Apple launched the video iPod sans FireWire, they also moved their FireWire Web page from a prominent location on the top level of Apple.com to a sub-page in the bowels of their developer Web site. Coincidence? You tell me."

Of course, he neglects to mention that the same thing happened to USB. Both technologies had their own special pages, now they redirect you to an article on developer.apple.com.

Nonetheless, I don't think this is true at all. What do you do with your iSight? How do you import video into iMovie? What about Mac users that have FireWire accessories? This makes no sense to me. :confused:

[johnnyjibbs]

One thing tho... I just checked my drive and it has usb2 as well. I guess it depends on how many people have old fw400 stuff without usb2 connections.
Then I guess you're lucky. Mine is Firewire only. Still, why would you want to use the slower version when it supports Firewire? Like I said before, I hope this comes to nothing.

I specifically went for FW over USB because Firewire was the preferred connection for video and I was switching to Macs: I knew that Macs were safe in that they all contained FW. Removing FW from some Macs will create a more complex system and basically drive the final nail into the coffin.

[javiercr]

why does everybody believes this right away?

[johnnyjibbs]

why does everybody believes this right away?
Sure, it could and we all hope that it is wrong. But the scary thing is that it is something that Apple could do, considering the way Firewire (and Apple's support of it) has been going recently.

[BollywooD]

if this is true - this is seriously fu#$%d!!!
is Apple going to start compromising now to give us cheaper prices for all the Windows users to switch!!! id rather pay a premium for a full featured computer, than a cheap stripped down toy.....

thats why i chose Mac in the first place.

Im going to be really dissapointed if this is true?

(sorry i havnt read through all the posts, i needed to write this down first -probably been said a hundred times allready!)

[crackrock]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

The new iPod feels like a cheap toy, don't do the same to the iBooks!

Target disk is very important to me!!!!

[usingautumn]

what about my MOTU audio interface? and firewire harddrives!

i can't believe apple would drop support for something so popular especially in the creative industry. but perhaps upgrade cards will be avaliable to add firewire.

[thequicksilver]

This would make iMovie useless for all iBook owners. Unless they're going to introduce some kind of FW-USB converter to accompany iMovie, it's surely nothing more than extreme nonsense.

I'm amazed MR considered this worthy of a front page posting and not a Page 2, frankly. Does O'Grady have a real source, or is he just searching for hits? Only time will tell, but for the iMovie reason alone I'd be shocked.

Are we also therefore expecting a USB iSight any time soon?

[phonic pol]

Switching to intel I can accept - that's fine, as was converting from ADC to DVI. Dropping firewire I can't! Firewire and Apple go togeather perfectly. This will be one strong reason for me not to invest in the new intel machines.

Google, bring on that open sourse OS:mad:

[Quartz Extreme]

"No....thats not true, thats impossible!!!!" :mad: - Luke Skywalker, Empire Strikes Back

Firewire and USB are two very different technologies, better suited for different things.

Firewire is a peer-to-peer bus, and being so, you can use it for networking and Firewire Disk Mode. Most DV cameras nowadays have Firewire ports, and a lot of Mac users make movies with iMovie. Firewire has six-pins: four for data, two for power

Firewire hard drives have not only faster transfers, but in my experience have more reliable transfers.

USB is a master/slave bus, and is therefore best suited for general peripherals like mice, hard drives, printers, and iPods. It has

Also, speed-wise, Firewire 400 decimates USB 2.0.
http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

[Passante]

I could see Apple including a single FW 800 port. It would still allow FW 400 peripherals to connect and jump start FW 800.

[emotion]

Not read through the 6 pages of outrage but this would be a way to differentiate between 'power'and 'i' lines of laptops.

it would of course mean i wouldn't touch the new ibook (audio interfaces and external drives are necessary for me) but many people never use firewire and wouldn't be put off.

[phonic pol]

I specifically went for FW over USB because Firewire was the preferred connection

Likewise. Firewire is far superior to usb2. I've bought Lacie firewire only drives because performance is better than firewire/usb2 combination equivalents.

I also love the fact that both my PM and PB have FW 400 + 800. 400 is nice and adds connectivity to a huge variety of quality peripherals and 800 is a real bonus for large transfers.

If this is true, which I doubt, Apple will appear to be gearing up their machines for mass market approval. It's nice being part of a niche. My question is, are we coming out the other side of Apple's golden era?:eek:

[pawnstar]

what is the standard connector for video?

firewire

what is one of Apple's core markets?

video

Is there an alternative in this area?

Not really, no

Is Apple going to drop firewire?

No

[vincebio]

there's nothing like using the power of mac rumour sites to start a rumour like this so everyone buys the last PPC ones and hey presto, old stock depleted, and new releases have firewire 400 and 800 as standard.

or am i missing something here?

[twilson]

Your point is that it is pervasive in video cameras, but you are 100% wrong about it being in EVERY digital video camera. A lot of the cheapie (<$300) cameras only support USB streaming.

I'm sure when they said "video camera" they actually meant "(DV) video camcorder".

[MarcelV]

... uhhh. I should have read it. Missed the iBook comment.
It's understandable for the Powerbooks. FireWire is backward compatible and use is limited to video auditing or external drives only.
But dropping it from the iBook is not the right thing to do. Too many miniDV camcorders are using it, and that's what non pro users have.

[ifroed]

And where will i connect my really old iPod? :mad:

Please don't drop it!!!

[Platform]

What ???

Target disk mode :(

Unless as Shard said: Wireless FW....802.11z :D

[localghost]

Maybe that’s because they’ll get FireWireLESS 400
So they just moved your FW 400 ports to the new Airport Express Steve would like to sell you. :p

Edit: ups, beaten to it

[lopresmb]

bad idea, I don't think this will happen, pretty much all DV Cameras use fierwire, not to mention tons of External HD's, optical drives, ect, ect...

I don't think you can positon yourself as a media editing computer (i.e. imovie) without having firewire support. But you never know, apple always has been good at dropping stuff that they feel no longer serves a purpose (i.e. disk drives).

[Morky]

This obviously ridiculous claim should be on page 2. Home video editing is a major draw to the Mac an this would kill it for consumers. How would you transfer video off cameras? Get real. Apple hasn't made a mistake like that since before Job's return. The reason for dropping it in the iPod is that most PCs don't have firewire and USB 2 is pretty much as fast at transferring files.

[phonic pol]

This just occured to me. Perhaps apple is dropping wired firewire support because the next generation 'firewireless' is gonna feature in the new machines.:)

This would of course be backward compatible through some kind of accessory.

I'm happy now...

[iMeowbot]

It would be cool to see FW cut down to a single legacy port to make room for external SATA disks, to get proper SMART support out there.

[phonic pol]

... uhhh. I should have read it. Missed the iBook comment.
It's understandable for the Powerbooks. FireWire is backward compatible and use is limited to video auditing or external drives only.
But dropping it from the iBook is not the right thing to do. Too many miniDV camcorders are using it, and that's what non pro users have.

BOLLOCKS - it's not understandable for powerbooks; lots of non pro video editors use powerbooks. I'm a photogrpaher and designer so in that aspect I'm a pro but when it comes to video I only dabble i.e. I'm a consumer. I and many others need firewire in their powerbooks, we also need all the power we can get our hands on to speed workflow in pro apps like aperure, photoshop, illustrator etc. The only line of macs that I use and will use in the future are their pro machines.

Transfer rates or raw images using firewire card readers is far superior to usb2 readers i.e. essential on location. A powerbook is the only computer on location with the majority of pro photographers.

[Stella]

Don't believe it for one second.

The reason for dropping FW from iPods was to make the device smaller and cheaper.

Cutting money off a $1200 unit is a drop in the ocean - the price of a FW controller from a $375 unit may be significant, but not for $1200.

Cutting $1200 will make too many devices incompatible and piss a lot of people off. Do Apple want to reduce their market share?

[imikem]

And in with the new.

I could easily believe that FireWire 400 is being deprecated in favor of FW 800. That would simply reflect ongoing enhancement to technology and would help foster broader availability of FW 800 peripherals. :cool:

A FireWireLess technology is a possibility, but a slim one for the moment, I think.

Eliminating it entirely? I really really doubt it. I think that would have a drastic negative effect on their user base. Suddenly many mobile professionals in digital video and photography might be forced to buy laptops from other vendors. Not the group of users one wants to alienate.

[ITASOR]

Heh, so much for that new miniDV camera.

[superleccy]

This would be a disaster. How am I supposed to connect my LaCie? And my Elgato EyeTV? Please Apple, don't do this.

Superleccy

[Les Kern]

Crap news from a crap source. Think about it... Apple announces a new digital hub based on Intel, but sorry folks, there's no way to get the digital IN to the Intel product. Oops! If it IS a single 800 port, that's FINE... just include the damned adaptor.

[thejadedmonkey]

there's nothing like using the power of mac rumour sites to start a rumour like this so everyone buys the last PPC ones and hey presto, old stock depleted, and new releases have firewire 400 and 800 as standard.

or am i missing something here?

Perhaps the iBooks will lack Firewire. They might even look like the new iPods, to intice switchers. Thin, Light, medeocre battery life, alright performance and specs. Than, apple rolls out the powerbooks, with one firewire port. the powerbooks would have the same sort of specs of the current iBooks and ONE Firewire 800 port (as stated). Lastly, Apple rolls out a Probook, with everything and the dish washer.

I really don't see the point of a firewire port in a sub $700 machine. No pro will ever use it, and if you do get a sub $700 computer, you can get a PC card if you need one that badly. Otherwise, get the higher end models.

Of course, this only works if the iBooks become sub $700, and are so crappy that only n00bs would want them.


If my predictions are wrong, I'll be pissed:mad:


P.S. Doesn't OS X REQUIRE a firewire port? And would apple really kill their own superior technology because they might save a few dollars. Something no one's mentioned this far is that Firewire doesn't tax the CPU like USB does. That makes for better transfers, and I really can't see apple removing it from any 'book that has more than basic (by basic I mean slow, old, etc) features.

[revisionA]

firewire 400 x2 firewire 800 x2 wimax & wifi, usb 2.0 x4, pcmcia II, dvi

if you want a hub, make it a friggin HUB! The less additional hubs to pack in your bag, the more you will get out of your portable.

standardized connections will help it sell more than an ipod dock integration. If the dock breaks, you need to fix your book... no good.

Yes firewire takes power to run, so does usb... anything that is vampric (not self powered) will lower battery time. And that may be why they think apple is losing firewire, and also the ipod losing it... battery life.

if that happens, revision E powerbooks will be in demand for at least one revision of the intelbooks.

$

[Little Endian]

I am still pissed that Apple completely dumped Firewire for the ipod nano and new Video ipods. I use a G5 and it has USB 2.0 in addition to Firewire Connectors so no prob but I also have an older G4 imac and ibook that have only USB 1 and syncing ipod to these machines is slow as hell!!!

I need Firewire!! I have an isight and DV camera that are FireWire only. I also have Firewire external Hard drives and I often transfer files between computers via FireWire Target disk mode. I prefer Firewire over USB. I do not want only one FireWire 800 port, why should I have to buy an adaptor to go down to 400 besides one port is not enough. My mom had to spend extra to get a Firewire cable that was not included with her second generation ipod mini and I thought that was bad. It's crap like this that makes me feel Apple would rather make it's current and past user base make sacrifices to appease the PC world and make it easier and cheaper for converts.

I am not to happy over Apple's recent Push toward becoming more "PC" like.
Apple dumps PowerPC, Apple gives Firewire the backseat, Apple introduces mighty mouse, (mighty mouse is a step in the right direction though). What's next!! Apple dumps real video cards for intel integrated graphics crap!! Oh how scary that is but I see it happening. Say bye bye to Nvidia and ATI graphics in consumer macs like the mini, ibook, and perhaps even imac!!

[decksnap]

I'm not even going to read all the previous posts, because I can't imagine any of them being positive. Just wanted to post my opinion:

REALLY STUPID IDEA!! :eek:

[fixyourthinking]

Jason O' Grady is nothing but a Bill Palmer like, Dvorak like website editor - when hits are low ... he manufactures some lame rumor or regurgitates some flame to incite Mac users to visit his site.

That said, if this happens ... I won't credit The PowerPage with the rumor because this is actually a logical progression for ALL Apple product lines.

Here are some plausible scenarios:

Apple does drop firewire 400 and goes w/ additional USB 2.0 ports - leaves firewire 800 (which having 400 is just redundant if you have an adapter)

Apple drops firewire 400 and 800, but (and this would be AWESOME) - includes a wireless firewire (which exists) breakout box w/ pro machines and makes it an option on consumer Macs.

Think about #2 scenario - a high end video transfer ... wirelessly that doesn't interfere with airport or bluetooth - a possible connection standard for iPods/Tivo (and the VIIV stuff)

[nxent]

if apple drops firewire support, i will be pissed

[jdechko]

Noooooooooo... they can't drop firewire. It's too useful. Digital Video, booting from an external drive (IMO, more useful than Digital Video). The list goes on and on.

[Gasu E.]

This would be insane. Video production at both the professional and amateur levels is a distinctive competence of Apple. Every switcher I know first looked at the Mac because of the iPod, but actually made the leap because of iMovie.

[jdechko]

I really don't see the point of a firewire port in a sub $700 machine. No pro will ever use it, and if you do get a sub $700 computer, you can get a PC card if you need one that badly.

Except the current iBooks don't have a PC card slot. So Apple takes out the FW port and the contoller, and puts in a PC Card slot (which is much bigger). If it's a size thing, I don't buy it.

[freeny]

Absolute ********. Dont buy it for a second

[hyperpasta]

This isn't happening. Camcorders all use Firewire. All Apple computers must retain 1 Firewire 400 port, pro computers must have an 800 as well.

[ccool2ax]

Apple's really bold for even remotely thinking abot dropping FW.
I can imagine Steve announcing it, and all of our opinions will be different. Everybody thought it would be the end of the world with Intel. Isnt USB 2 faster anyway? (Intel is faster than PPC) Cant we just make a USB-FW conversion module? (Rosetta) USB is cheaper than Firewire (Intel cheaper than PPC.) We even bundled the camera latch iSight we patented in October! (Etc.)

[dernhelm]

Very disappointing and totally expected at the same time.

Glad I got my PB when I did!

[MazaGRANDEman]

And what's ADB?

If no-one answered you yet, ADB stands for Apple Desktop Bus which was used to connect mouse & keyboard (possibly other peripherals too) on the old macs.

And for the topic, I don't see it happening. FW is just too commonly used to be thrown away from the game just yet. But when Apple introduces the FirewireExtremeUltraTurboNuclearBoostHyperdrivebus, it may then be dropped, but not in the near future, no.

Not believing this rumors either.

[whooleytoo]

If it IS a single 800 port, that's FINE... just include the damned adaptor.

Fair enough, but:

a) Having to carry an extra adaptor around with your iBook is annoying.
b) If you plug a FW400 device into the FW800 port, do other FW800 devices slow to FW400 speeds?
c) Knowing Apple, they'll bundle the adaptor and say "so what's the fuss?", and then quietly stop including the adaptor a few months later so it becomes an extra expense.


a) Having to carry an extra adaptor around with your iBook is annoying.
b) If you plug a FW400 device into the FW800 port, do other FW800 devices slow to FW400 speeds?
c) Knowing Apple, they'll bundle the adaptor and say "so what's the fuss?", and then quietly stop including the adaptor a few months later so it becomes an extra expense.

d) I just realised, I hate it when people break their posts into individual points as above... :o ;)

[~Shard~]

The more and more I think about this and read these comments, the more I think this simply will not happen. It would be foolish of Apple to remove FW, plain and simple, even if it's just in the portables and not across the line.

[Surreal]

what about my MOTU audio interface? and firewire hard drives!

Reiterated with proper emphasis

[Macmaniac]

Lies, lies, no way, if its true I will eat my shoe!

[Stonecoldcleric]

There is no possible way this is true -
All the Sony products
The iSight
Most iPods
Hundreds of branded ext hdds

All these use FW400 - there is no way they would risk loosing all those customers! Also, I have only seen FW800 on HDDs, never on a camera - because, as I understand it, even streaming hd video does not need all of the FW400 bandwidth.

This guy needs to think before he posts!

[joecool85]

Unfortunetly, I think that the new iPods being USB 2.0 only is a sign of things to come...meaning the end of FW. I hope not though. I love being able to boot of an external drive via FW, the speed, everything about it is great.

[aaronsullivan]

I don't know. My first instinct is to cry foul on the rumor. Of course, we won't know until we know, so we might as well speculate on the possibility.

Apple has done crazier things. The iBook may be going "sub"notebook and the focus may be on wireless, low power, etc.

IF there is an introduction of a new airport to go along with the "media device" for streaming, they may very well make a firewire port on it, or something like that. That's a long shot, I know, but I can't see Apple removing firewire on the iBook without some alternative for getting your DV video to the iBook. It's far too integral to the image of the consumer mac: digital hub. This imaginary solution (or something similar) would split the price into two devices and make the "sub"iBook that much cheaper and compact.

Plus, if there is a new media device, the argument for why you need a full on computer to go with it needs to be strong. Weakening the iBook's ability to import video seems to be counter to that.

Even with this imaginary solution, I can't see firewire audio devices being reliable enough. A "sub"iBook would not be targeted at musicians... and as someone has suggested, there could be a low-end powerbook to fill the gap. Think $800, $900, $1000 iBooks, $1200 and up Powerbooks.

So, my prediction is... false rumor, or true, but with an ~equal alternative.

[Little Endian]

Apple's really bold for even remotely thinking abot dropping FW.
I can imagine Steve announcing it, and all of our opinions will be different. Everybody thought it would be the end of the world with Intel. Isnt USB 2 faster anyway? (Intel is faster than PPC) Cant we just make a USB-FW conversion module? (Rosetta) USB is cheaper than Firewire (Intel cheaper than PPC.) We even bundled the camera latch iSight we patented in October! (Etc.)


Firewire is just as fast as USB 2 and in some cases slightly faster as USB 2 lacks a dedicated controller in most cases and cuts into the CPU to control its data transfers. Firewire also has better sustained Data rates and can transfer more power than USB 2 that is why Firewire is more commonly used to power bus powered portable Hard Drives though USB 2 can do the same Firewire can provide more juice to power the drive.

FireWire has also been around for much longer than USB 2.0 Firewire was introduced in late 1998 while USB was not introduced until late 2001. I don't know exactly how many machines have Firewire or USB 2.0 but all of Apples machines since late 1999 have had them as standard and we only got USB 2.0 in mid 2003 as standard offering across the board. Many PCs have firewire as well especially in recent times with DV camera popularity. Many PC people added FireWire to their machines as well to fill in the gap before the PC world got USB 2.0 For 3 years the PC world had nothing that could compare to Firewire.

Firewire has also advanced beyond it's original specifications with Firewire 800 which has no real competitor right now and is twice as fast as both USB 2.0 and the Original Firewire. Firewire 800 is also backward compatible with 400 although one will need a 400-800 cable or an adaptor.

[iMeowbot]

Unfortunetly, I think that the new iPods being USB 2.0 only is a sign of things to come...meaning the end of FW. I hope not though. I love being able to boot of an external drive via FW, the speed, everything about it is great.
Another thing has been happening over the past few months. FW400 bridge boards are disappearing, it's getting harder to find them.

[Seasought]

He may have simply written the 'a little birdie told me' to incite response concerning the issue. I was under the impression (being a recent convert to Apple keep in mind) that video enthusiasts were a significant consumer share in the Apple market and removing Firewire altogether would upset a large portion of the customer base.

I don't follow the tech. with regard to video editing/composition: is the hardware for video editing shifting as well or is firewire that prominent? Seems silly to stop supporting a hardware staple of a particular industry.

[mcadam]

c'mon - this is the silliest rumor in years. What about external harddisks, DV cameras and connecting macs through target mode. Just silly.

A

[dausone]

Man, everyones acting like this is the end of the world.

The article says that Apple isnt getting rid of Firewire just Firewire 400... makes sense when you are making ultra slim, smaller powerbooks... etc. etc.

Get a grip and just pre-buy your 400 to 800 adapters now.. or just hold your horses and see if Apple provides it (yeah right).

D1.

[mustang_dvs]

O'Grady's full of it. This is just a sad, desperate act in order to garner attention for his new ZDnet column and moderately increase his revenue. The PowerPage used to be a reasonably good source of PowerBook/iBook and associated mobile device info, but it's languished over the last 2 years, plagued by poor writing, a lack of effort and general apathy on O'Grady's part when it failed to become a money-making venture. Now, it's simply an advertisement for his ZDnet column.

Can anyone even cite an example where, within the last three years, the PowerPage was even remotely correct on any of its exclusive rumors?

As stated before, Apple has numerous reasons to leave FireWire intact on the Powerbook and very few reasons to remove or reduce the number of FW ports.

O'Grady's specious reasoning seems to derive solely from the removal of the FW chipset on the 5G iPods, a decision based on the size of the chipset, rather than its utility.

Don't give O'Grady or his ilk any more attention -- it will only encourage more sites to go the route of MacOSRumors. (Yecht!)

[modernpixel]

This rumor really doesn't make any sense. Why would Apple remove a port that they've worked to make the industry standard for digital video? It'll just cripple the abilities of their own products. Want to download your daughter's birthday party video to iMovie? Oops, sorry, we removed that port. Haha.

Plus, there's no benefit in removing it, they own it and don't have to pay a dime for the rights to use it. Unless there is a shift in the entertainment industry away from Firewire that I am not aware of. But as of now many:

Camcorders, HDTVs, A/V Receivers, High-end DVD Players, Higher-end Digital SLRS and more, I'm sure are using Firewire.

Moving the iPods to USB 2.0 makes perfect sense, since the iPods went to Windows and USB is ubiquitous in Windows machines, whereas Firewire is not (at least not in older and lower end machines.)

There are so many more interesting rumors to make up. I guess kudos to Jason D. O'Grady for making up the most random one.


I'm going to start my own rumor right here:
Apple will drop the use of screen technology in their Intel iBooks, they will instead offer a CRT monitor adapter for the keyboard-only laptop.

Joe

[reckless_0001]

That would really suck. I use Firewire (400) for my music stuff (MLAN) and with my Camcorder. :(

[j33pd0g]

I find this hard to believe. FW400 is important to my personal and professional work.

However, if it is true that you can use the FW800 port with FW400 devices, I guess that would be alright. I think they would do better to offer us the option (special order) to have it or not though. That will depend on if the intention is to lower overall cost.

Who knows, maybe they will surprise us with an Uber-One-Size-Fits-All USB, FW400, FW800 connection port. And if that's the case they had better give us 2.

[xenotaku]

I don't believe it. There are too many firewire-only DV cams out there, and the iSight is firewire only. I paid an arm and a leg for that damn iSight, they better make it work with my next Mac!


It will be useless anyways, since all portable laptops are rumored to have built in iSights.

[TJOLSON19]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Jason O'Grady of PowerPage.org claims (http://www.powerpage.org/archives/2005/12/the_apple_core_firewire_not_dead_but_its_on_life_support.html) that FireWire (IEEE 1394) will be completely missing from the rumored (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2005/11/20051130123242.shtml) Intel iBooks.

He also claims that the new Intel PowerBooks will lose FireWire 400 ports, and only retain a single FireWire 800 port to appease video professionals.

Apple has been using firewire for years on their hardware.....It seems impossible to me that they would remove FW 400 from their portable machines.....Macs wont recognize DV cams over USB and firewire enables Target Disk Mode. All in all, I can't forsee this actually happening.....And if it does I will be sorely dissapointed

[phonic pol]

If backward compatible I would rather 2x FW 800 ports than one of each. Best of both worlds as I see it. FW 400 devices still supported through use of a different cable and 2x FW800 ports when I need them - nice!:)

[whiskeybravo]

This is pure BS in my opinion. Unless Apple can deliver a free adapter that will allow DV cameras to be controlled and footage be imported using USB2 then this will not happen. Are you telling me that Apple is abandoning the digital hub? Because iMovie/iDVD is as good as useless without firewire and a DV cam

Steve is not stupid. Firewire was dropped from the iPod becuase it was redundant and unnecessary since all macs have been USB2 equipped for nearly 3 years. firewire as absolutely NOT redundant for DV cameras.

As as to the speculation that firewire will be used to differentiate pro from consumer, also poppycock. DV cameras are not a pro technology and iMovie is not a pro app.

[ncoffey]

Mac OS X isn't the only important thing. When IDE drives used to suck, Apple had SCSI. When the PC was trying to get their act together, Apple had FireWire.

Apple has always had nice hardware. If they put the extra money in for LED lights on the batteries of their laptops, and magnetic latches for their lids, and coin turnable battery snaps, I'm sure they're not going to ditch a FireWire port. I'd rather lose Ethernet or a Modem jack before FireWire, and I suspect I'm not alone.

David :cool:

You probably aren't alone, but they're not trying to sell this laptop to you, they're trying to sell it to the kid going back to school. Someone who hasn't used an Apple ever, but needs something that can be seen as a little more reliable than a Windows PC. Something that little Johnny won't get into all kinds of games on. (I know this picture isn't entirely accurate.)

[angelwatt]

I've never used firewire, just usb2. i won't be missing it.

[giveup]

I don't believe it. There are too many firewire-only DV cams out there, and the iSight is firewire only. I paid an arm and a leg for that damn iSight, they better make it work with my next Mac!
haha, to me, I have paid too much for the firewire relating stuff too drop it. No firewire, I'll be really screw.
usb iPod, errr......

[giveup]

this rumour reminds me the stupid firewire drop of recent ipod. Apple, you've got to paid for this.

[JDOG_]

I don't really care one way or the other since most of my gadgets that use firewire also use USB 2.0 (external HDs & iPod mini). What does bug me is Apple killing off its own technology if this is true.

I mean how much freaking money, effort and marketing did Apple put into pimping Firewire as the end-all connectivity technology and now they're just bedding up with USB 2.0.

Leaving off an iPod is one thing, taking it off a computer is teh suck.

[themacmaestro]

long live firewire

[railthinner]

I'd like to think that Apple recognizes the plethora of musicians out there using firewire interfaces. Why would they want to irritate so many loyal users who stand in front of an audience displaying the Apple logo? The idea that upgrading my powerbook might also mean having to buy a new $1000 audio interface to replace the fw model I have just because Apple decides to drop firewire is absolutely depressing. Say it ain't so. doh.