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Apple Announces New Aluminum MacBooks

NT1440 said:
I believe you just backed up the reasoning apple has for taking FW off their consumer line and only having it in there pro line....
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Arrghh! Can you people not read?

Firewire 400 was NOT, I repeat, was NOT included on the Macbook Pro.

Only Firewire 800, which will NOT work with your camcorder nor your audio interface UNLESS you purchase a third party adapter.

Forget it... I'm done here.
 
ballistik said:
I ordered up a refurbished black macbook for $1299.99 just the other day (like, 3 days ago) and it came and i am *in love* with it.. maxed out 250 gb hd and 2.4 ghz processor. then i looked online and now its only $1099.99!!!! so i called apple and they are going to issue me a $200 refund and it should arrive within a week. i am VERY HAPPY with this black macbook (it's maxed out and i love it, might add 2 more gigs of ram tho) and i don't want to return it just because new ones came out... you're not getting that much, in fact, i would pay more to get LESS.

now... apple refunding me the $200.. now THAT'S why I love Apple!!

B
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That's very cool they are refunding you the $200, probably b/c if you wanted to be an ass, you could do a full refund and repurchase, and that doesn't work out that well for them or you. Good buy I say! I got my Black MB rev C off Craigs list for $600 w/ leopard and I do not regret it, esp after seeing the new pricetag of the MB, I feel like I got a steal.
 
chelsea smile said:
alright i get what your saying. so firewire is like Scrubs, and USB, is more like House. they both do good, but one is much better then the other?

do firewire interfaces have less latency? my main point is that im going to be using this new macbook to record all my instruments seperatly. and is the USB interfaces going to give it latency, or just a less professinal sound. because i can live with less proffesinal sound, but latency is what annoys the *** out of me. and im not going to end up using the macbooks mic.
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Well latency is caused by many things, but if you've got a good audio interface with good drivers running on a good spec machine you should be OK. But Firewire interfaces generally have less overhead on the CPU, so less CPU usage normally = less latency when recording.

But whatever Audio interface you get it's worth looking out for ones with zero latency monitoring, that means you'll hear what you're playing via generally a DSP mixer on the interface without latency at all.

I'm not sure how many USB interfaces have this, but I'm guessing that many will, it is pretty common on most Firewire interfaces though.
 
AppliedMicro said:
Well... for things Photoshop, Quark, InDesign etc. it can't hurt, I'd guess.
I have never really used these apps though, so I'm really not the best one to answer.

However, in your case, I'd really wait for benchmarks to show up. If you plan doing intensive tasks on your machine, you might rather purchase the 2.4" model.

I suppose there won't be a big difference in "normal" use - but your use might go a bit beyond "normal"...
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sorry what do you mean by waiting for benchmarks to show up?
 
subc0mmander said:
Is the loss of firewire really that big a deal? Sure its kinda lame but couldnt you just use an adapter?
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What do you think can be used to adapt to firewire? Oh, an express card or pcmcia card slot adapter (something even many entry level pc laptops include)! Oh, wait, it doesn't have one. No, unless Apple's hidden something in there, there's no way to adapt it to firewire.

Here's an analogy for all those that keep sayinng, "I don't use firewire, no one really does anymore". Let's say you wanted to buy a new model Toyota Carolla. Toyota says the new model doesn't havve a heater and there's no way to add one on. If you want a heater you can buy a Camry. I could say, well, I don't care because I live in the desert and rarely use one anyway. You would be irate and have every reason to be.
 
Other than the FireWire problem, do you ladies and gentlemen consider the new Aluminium MacBook to be the "true 12" PowerBook G4 replacement"?
 
Torajima said:
Arrghh! Can you people not read?

Firewire 400 was NOT, I repeat, was NOT included on the Macbook Pro.

Only Firewire 800, which will NOT work with your camcorder nor your audio interface UNLESS you purchase a third party adapter.

Forget it... I'm done here.
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honestly if your so adament about using the old tech, then y wouldnt you get the adapter?

Im more than aware of the fact that there is no FW400, because there is an 800
 
myca said:
Well latency is caused by many things, but if you've got a good audio interface with good drivers running on a good spec machine you should be OK. But Firewire interfaces generally have less overhead on the CPU, so less CPU usage normally = less latency when recording.

But whatever Audio interface you get it's worth looking out for ones with zero latency monitoring, that means you'll hear what you're playing via generally a DSP mixer on the interface without latency at all.

I'm not sure how many USB interfaces have this, but I'm guessing that many will, it is pretty common on most Firewire interfaces though.
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alright you have been a huge help. but do you have any good suggestions for a USB interface because i am stuck without getting a firewire one? as long as its under like 600 bucks im in price range for it.
 
editguy said:
I don't have to use it to judge it. Without firewire, it's of no use to me or my students whom I've always recommended it to. No more. Does it look good? sure. but this is a perfect example of form over function. And firewire is a very basic function. It was apples baby in it's infancy. It's ironic they're the ones dropping it.
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$999 Macbook has Firewire, $100 cheaper than yesterday and comes with a DVD writer. If you were recommending Macs yesterday, you should do so even with more conviction now.

In the long run, that is another story, but at the moment Macbook is still viable.
 
hpwc121 said:
You can still get a refurb WhiteBook or BlackBook and will work just as good.
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Now, but what about six months from now? And many parents are afraid of refurbs and my school district has a policy against purchasing refurbs.
 
phatspider said:
I know - thats not what made me chuckle

The fact you think someone is going to miraculously put a backlit keyboard in your 2.0 Macbook :)
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I never said that. Had you read my other posts you would know what I'm talking about. But since I've now talked to 3 different Apple people plus a supervisor and they all tell me the same thing. Well.

whatever.;)
 
NO Firewire

I was looking to replace my 2.5 year old MBP 2.0Ghz with one of the new $1599 Macbooks today but I was disappointed by the fact that they had pulled the firewire port. I'll hold off until next April when my Applecare expires and will get another MBP at that time.

Too bad because I really like the feature set, look, size and weight of the new Macbooks.
 
UGH, add me to the list of people being bummed about the no Firewire on the new MBs. I fool around with experimental audio/video, my DV camera and my audio interfaces are Firewire. I can't afford the price point of the MBPs right now. Guess I'll just have to stick with my lowly iBook G4 that HAS A FIREWIRE PORT...
 
NT1440 said:
honestly if your so adament about using the old tech, then y wouldnt you get the adapter?

Im more than aware of the fact that there is no FW400, because there is an 800
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Firewire 400 interface for camcorders is not old tech. It's the defacto standard.
 
chelsea smile said:
can someone explain to me what everyone is using firewire for anyway?
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External Hard Drive & Audio Interface.

Why FireWire HD? See Below.

FireWire 400 vs. USB 2.0 - Architecture

* FireWire, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer

*Hi-Speed USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control)

FireWire 400 vs. USB 2.0 Hard Drive Performance Comparison

Read and write tests to the same IDE hard drive connected using FireWire 400 and then Hi-Speed USB 2.0 show:

Read Test:

* 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
* 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

Write Test:

* 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
* 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0
 
I don't want to go on too long of a rant so I will keep this short and sweet.

Everything kinda just made sense for me. Montevina was late, not fully functual, and overall bad. Apple missed the original plan to get these out sooner because Montevina was late. Apple has ALWAYS used intel chipsets for the intel cpus in its notebooks, now randomlly the first time Ive heard of a penryn notebook chipset made by Nvidia? Apple last week went public saying Nvidia was the reason for so many defects, a long with HP, Dell etc etc. Then apple switches to an all nvidia chipset, that no ones heard of? I want to stay so far away from these its not even funny.
 
theBB said:
$999 Macbook has Firewire, $100 cheaper than yesterday and comes with a DVD writer. If you were recommending Macs yesterday, you should do so even with more conviction now.

In the long run, that is another story, but at the moment Macbook is still viable.
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I differ in opinion. If firewire is necessary then perhaps you are right. However, with the Nvidia graphics update, any type of editing and basic computer usage will flow much better which is actually a great step forward.
 
chelsea smile said:
alright you have been a huge help. but do you have any good suggestions for a USB interface because i am stuck without getting a firewire one? as long as its under like 600 bucks im in price range for it.
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You know something, I'm stuck too, there's only really M-Audio who do USB interfaces, most over companies only do Firewire now, and M-Audio can have problems with their mac drivers, I've heard they work better on Windows.

Your best bet is to hunt around the forums on macmusic.org and bigbluelounge.com

Good luck :)
 
i have my 12" PB and between all these i still love my PB ..

Can anyone tell me how is it possible they sell 2.1 for 999 and 2.0 to 1299 .. I know there is more differences but processor is really important thing and lately almost every laptop coming with 2.0 or up but in a half price..

And who would want to buy a white macbook when the case of that is already oldfashioned..

They should replace the old macbooks with a new aluminium case and faster processor and faster something.. Apple is doing some stupid moves these days..
 
Torajima said:
Just an FYI, for all those people saying that firewire users should simply buy a Macbook Pro...

The Macbook Pro does NOT have a firewire 400 port! Only a firewire 800 port!

Which means that even on the pro machines, you can't connect your firewire camcorder or audio interface unless you purchase a third party adapter, and even then it's anyone's guess as to whether finicky audio interfaces will even run using this adapter.
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There are FW400 into FW800 cables. They are quite standard and your FW400 equipment does not even know that it is going into a FW800 port.
 
theBB said:
$999 Macbook has Firewire, $100 cheaper than yesterday and comes with a DVD writer. If you were recommending Macs yesterday, you should do so even with more conviction now.

In the long run, that is another story, but at the moment Macbook is still viable.
Click to expand...
That's the problem, though. I can't think about just what is available today. I have to plan for the near future. And why would I recommend them with more conviction now? It's clear that the future for lower cost video editing machines Apple is not the answer. I made the mistake of touting the new MacBooks to my students before I knew what the specs were. Now I have to tell them the facts. Too much like eating crow :D
 
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