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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,490
30,731
ITWorld reports that a slip up may reveal Firewire 2 is coming tomorrow:
Several hours after announcing that it is introducing desktop hard drives that connect to Apple Computer Inc. computers using the new high-speed 800M bps (bits per second) FireWire standard, SmartDisk Corp. asked that the news be "killed due to premature release."

The aborted news suggests that Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple, may announce FireWire2, or FireWire 800, in his keynote speech at MacWorld Expo Tuesday

The question becomes - which hardware will sport the new interface?
 

mcrain

macrumors 68000
Feb 8, 2002
1,773
12
Illinois
Other than the fact that I have a brand new 20 gig iPod, I wouldn't mind a new video iPod. Transferring huge video files might be a use for a FW2 of FW800. If so, that would necessitate very fast DVD compression (new software).

Then again, FW2 may just be a play to hammer USB2.0.
 

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
Very good, now what about USB2.0? Is there even a future there, or is Apple going to leave USB 1 for low-speed peripherals only? I don't really see the point in USB 2 since FW 2 is so much better...

pnw
 

daveg5

macrumors 6502a
Nov 28, 2001
741
0
you know it

its about a year overdue this might be why no new machines will be announced if true. they may not have enough ports to go around, although i think a newer slot loading imac will make a debut
 

Kid Red

macrumors 65816
Dec 14, 2001
1,428
157
This was mentioned earlier at AI I think. I say Steve will be throwing pocket firewire drives athe SmartDisk reps tomorrow behind the stage.

This is winding up to be a whirlwind of a show. Apple sells smartdisk drives at their stores, wonder if Stevie will pull them like he did to ATI.
 

Kid Red

macrumors 65816
Dec 14, 2001
1,428
157
Originally posted by paulwhannel
Very good, now what about USB2.0? Is there even a future there, or is Apple going to leave USB 1 for low-speed peripherals only? I don't really see the point in USB 2 since FW 2 is so much better...

pnw

USB2 has a future with PCs and with USB only type products. But until their are plentiful, I don't see it on the mac.
 

job

macrumors 68040
Jan 25, 2002
3,794
3
in transit
Originally posted by paulwhannel
don't really see the point in USB 2 since FW 2 is so much better...

but the problem is that the average consumer does not realize this.

you might have your techies and mac users who realize the performance gains, but will Joe PC really care or want to use the new tech?
 

Tom800

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2002
72
0
What?!

Are nine of us posting simultaneously? I swear that said no comments and I wrote quick!
 

Tom800

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2002
72
0
Oh well

Must be a problem at this end, what the hell, sorry for the multiple off topic posts.

And hey, 11th Post!
 

lmalave

macrumors 68000
Nov 8, 2002
1,614
0
Chinatown NYC
Check out this moron (an analyst at IDC):

"Kay is unimpressed with the promise of Firewire2. "I don't know what we need it for. FireWire is really fast already, and data is only as fast as your slowest link -- your PC or your modem or cable line."

This guy gets paid big bucks to be a tech expert?!!? So my Firewire2 connection will be slow trasferring multi-GB video files because the same computer also has a 56K modem? 'Cause, hey, a computer is only as fast as its slowest connection, right?

Such a freakin' moron :rolleyes:
 

lmalave

macrumors 68000
Nov 8, 2002
1,614
0
Chinatown NYC
Originally posted by paulwhannel
Very good, now what about USB2.0? Is there even a future there, or is Apple going to leave USB 1 for low-speed peripherals only? I don't really see the point in USB 2 since FW 2 is so much better...

pnw

Well Firewire2 is probably about 3 times faster than USB2.0 (since benchmarks already had Firewire significantly faster than USB 2.0). So I think it would be smart for Apple to upgrade all its USB ports to 2.0, just for compatibility's sake. 3x difference is enough that I don't think external drive makers and video camera makes would drop Firewire2 support entirely in favor of USB 2.0. And if they were going to drop Firewire support they probably would've regardless of what Apple and its 3% market share does...
 

Natron

macrumors member
Oct 26, 2002
96
0
The only reason USB should be on Macs is for switchers who might have USB 2 devices. I know USB 2 will work on USB 1 ports, but the speed would be greatly reduced.

-Nate
 

nanosound

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2002
121
0
Analysts are not often right. Just look at the stock market--how many could predict that?

What he doesn't know is there is always room for more bandwidth. And in a few years, we'll have megabandwidth. Just wait.

FW2 would be a good feature to have. Hope it happens.
 

locovaca

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2002
428
1,225
Iowa
Firewire maxes out at 50 MB/s. Most 7200 rpm hard drives cannot even provide a sustained 40 MB/s. FW2 will help burst transfers, but it will not magically double your hard drive transfer speed. Only until they start throwing in 10k or 15k RPM hard drives (which will not happen until they make the IDE versions of them) will we need FW2. The only real good, immediate, application of FW2 will be for networking computers to make clusters. For most everything else the bus isn't really a bottleneck.
 

insidedanshead

macrumors regular
Jul 17, 2002
154
0
Everyones bypassed the real question possed by this.. why would they release Firewire2 without a machine to put it in? Everyones insisting no powermac updates... and yet steves announcing FW2? doesnt add up....
 

Codemonkey

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2002
280
0
Edmonton
Originally posted by Natron
The only reason USB should be on Macs is for switchers who might have USB 2 devices. I know USB 2 will work on USB 1 ports, but the speed would be greatly reduced.

-Nate

I don't think I follow... I'm not a switcher, however my printer, scanner and digital camera are usb...

Take away usb and you take away the ability to use nearly all peripherals currently being mfg'd ... right?

Incidentally... would FireWire2 be better for capturing HDTV signals? From what I understand, regular 720x486 footage comes in at about 30mb/second... in which case to record a higher def signal would require 'something more' than FireWire1?
 

JOHNGAETANO

macrumors 6502
Jan 3, 2002
343
163
Akron, Ohio
NOTHING BIG

The more I look at Apples web site, and compare it to last years hype, I really don't think we are going to see the really really cool surprise device. I mean, I would love nothing more than that, but I doubt it. Apple is not hyping anything at all. It's very quiet.

JOHN
 

rmac

macrumors member
Mar 5, 2002
36
0
Hanover, NH
Re: NOTHING BIG

Originally posted by JOHNGAETANO
The more I look at Apples web site, and compare it to last years hype, I really don't think we are going to see the really really cool surprise device. I mean, I would love nothing more than that, but I doubt it. Apple is not hyping anything at all. It's very quiet.

JOHN

The hype going into last year was a first for Apple, I think. Maybe they didn't like the effect it had. I mean, by the time we got to the show I was expecting something so much more than a flat panel iMac. So at least for me, the hype they posted backfired. Better to leave us in the dark...then when we see what Steve has to show we can decide for ourselves how ho-hum or cool it is.
 

rugby

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2002
222
0
chicago
Firewire 2 will be excellent for my 800gb external RAID housing all my replaytv movies. Nice and speedy. Of course I can't actually afford this yet, but someday.....


Originally posted by locovaca
Firewire maxes out at 50 MB/s. Most 7200 rpm hard drives cannot even provide a sustained 40 MB/s. FW2 will help burst transfers, but it will not magically double your hard drive transfer speed. Only until they start throwing in 10k or 15k RPM hard drives (which will not happen until they make the IDE versions of them) will we need FW2. The only real good, immediate, application of FW2 will be for networking computers to make clusters. For most everything else the bus isn't really a bottleneck.
 

Codemonkey

macrumors 6502
Apr 22, 2002
280
0
Edmonton
Originally posted by rugby
Firewire 2 will be excellent for my 800gb external RAID housing all my replaytv movies. Nice and speedy. Of course I can't actually afford this yet, but someday.....



You mean, to connect to a computer? Of course, you'd have to get a computer that could handle FireWire2 as well... :)
 

AssassinOfGates

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
303
0
A cardboard box.
Ltes hope that either Apple or some 3rd party release a PCI card for it. I just bought this comp in August! Plus, wasn't the Mirrored Drive Doors model supposed to have FW2 according to that PDF that got leaked? Im thinking it may be incorporated into XServes, and possibly following the style of BlueTooth's release at the last MacWorld Tokyo.
 
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