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If I were you, I would not recommend the aluminum Macbooks, either. Most consumers may not care, but I'd like to be able to buy an HDV camcorder if I want to. In any case, I am cheap, so I'd rather get the white Macbook anyways. Besides, I dislike grey computers with black keyboards.
And I will still recommend them to those that are interested, for as long as they're available (and I'll be pleasantly surprised if that is very long). But if there is not a lower cost laptop available with firewire I will begin recommending PC laptops that I know to be of good quality and that have the necessary port.
 
Thats your problem right there. Two apple there are two markets: Pro and consumer. If you have "pro" tendancies then apple is hoping (by stiff arming you) into the Pro computer.

I'm speaking from the business side here, not the customer. I'd love a FW port, but I can see what apple is doing to differenciate their lines.

But that's what I find completely stupid, they are going to alienate a large part of their market, all for a $2 component.

Half my work is done, unfortunately in Windows (still no decent wave editor on the mac), that makes me seriously consider that my next notebook may have to be a windows based one, after all it runs Pro Tools and soundforge, and I'll leave logic to my desktop.
 
dont know, dont care, srry


All I was saying is the only people apple "screwed" by not including FW in the MB is hobbyists. No real professional is going to do video or audio on a 13" macbook.

You must have been programmed to be a really good "consumer"...

The specs of the Macbook w/Firewire 400 is perfect for digital audio and the 13" size is the near perfect size for remote or location recordings, etc. How "professional" the resulting recording sounds is dependent upon the quality of the D/A and A/D and preamps on the audio interfacing equipment and the quality of the microphones, etc.
 
Apple apologists are out in force tonight...

I know many pros who indeed use lowly 'consumer' machines such as Macbooks & iMacs for their pro work... either because they prefer the form factor or because they can't justify the price of the pro machines.

And last I checked, you can connect that little 13" macbook to a great big monitor...
Yea, im such an apologist because I can see what strategy apple is taking by trying to migrate users to where its gonna make them money.....

Im srry for using common sense.
 
Love it.

The FW I really wanted to try seeing as Ive never used it before (dont own a mac, none of my laptops have had FW) but I guess i cant really miss what i've never had.

Other than that its great! Innovative with the trackpad and I really love the (backlit) keyboard.

Hold up, you don't own a mac, never used firewire, can I ask what the hell are you doing in this firewire debate then???? :cool:

No offence I just want to know.
 
You must have been programmed to be a really good "consumer"...

The specs of the Macbook w/Firewire 400 is perfect for digital audio and the 13" size is the near perfect size for remote or location recordings, etc. How "professional" the resulting recording sounds is dependent upon the quality of the D/A and A/D and preamps on the audio interfacing equipment and the quality of the microphones, etc.
Actually, I rarely buy things because I'm in a constant state of being broke.

How the quality of sound got into this ill never know.
 
after going to apple's site i can see that apple is trying to encourage the attention of more game developers and gamers because graphics is what is written everywhere
And that's a wise thing, business-wise.
I have wondered for years (since the Intel switch basically) why they didn't more to entice casual gamers. I think, this could bode very well for Apple and their sales.

Face it: casual gaming is much more popular than popular video editing (and there are still many camcorders you could get, without FW).
 
You must have been programmed to be a really good "consumer"...

The specs of the Macbook w/Firewire 400 is perfect for digital audio and the 13" size is the near perfect size for remote or location recordings, etc. How "professional" the resulting recording sounds is dependent upon the quality of the D/A and A/D and preamps on the audio interfacing equipment and the quality of the microphones, etc.

True, and with the costs of quality audio gear it often makes economic sense to have the lesser computer, especially when many of the benefits of the higher end model are surplus to requirements.
 
how can you get backlit keyboard on the 1299 version? it's exclusive to the 1599 version

It was not mentioned but when you configure the 1,299 version the only choice is backlit keyboard ( english or spanish ). Someone on the forum chatted with an Apple Rep and said they are included and the site will be changed to reflect that, and I called Apple and they said my order included a Backlit Keyboard as it is included standard throughout the new line except for the old white macbook.
 
Hold up, you don't own a mac, never used firewire, can I ask what the hell are you doing in this firewire debate then???? :cool:

No offence I just want to know.
Pointing out apples strategy/offering the opinion of the "rest" of us (the ones that dont use FW or simply dont know about it). Cant really be mad at me for providing the other side of the argument, otherwise its just a bunch of pissed off people agreeing their pissed off:p

I've tried to make sure none of what I say is dependant on actually having used FW. Pointing out the strategy of a company reguarding FW doesnt require experience with it.
 
I've been waiting for what seems like half a year for this update and am at a loss as to what I want to do exactly. I will be switching from an older gateway (I know, I know) laptop that isn't doing to hot right now and have never had a mac before but have wanted and used them forever.

My question is, what is the exact difference between the MB and the MBP? Are there little things (like backlit keyboards) that differentiate them or is it just the size and the graphics card? I'm torn between getting the higher end MB and the lower end MBP.
 
Lack of Firewire Sucks!

All I was saying is the only people apple "screwed" by not including FW in the MB is hobbyists.

And network admins who have PPC-based Macs to care for. Firewire target mode is damned handy.

I like the small size of the MacBook, and I don't like that if I want the spiffy new features I'll have to buy a bigger machine and basically pay $700 for one stinkin' extra port. Either that, or lug a Firewire drive with a bootable partition on it everywhere I go, instead of just a couple cables.

~Philly
 
You realize that was based on a rumor right?

My apologies, due to the fact that the internet sucks at tone, i thought you were just trying to be a smart ass by saying you wouldnt recommend apple.

No, I'm actually very disappointed. I had been talking up the new MB's to my students. Ultimately, they need a tool that can get the job done at a price point they can afford. That's what will force me to recommend a PC laptop. Fortunately, there are a couple of models that have the specs, price and reliability with CS3 that I can do that. But it's not what I had planned to do.
 
A great machine, the new MB, and i will soon have one in hand. A graphics boost was sorely needed, and Apple gave us a big one. :cool: That tilts the scales for me.

And call me vain, but i am so stoked about that backlit keyboard. Going to my local reseller tomorrow.
 
Actually, I rarely buy things because I'm in a constant state of being broke.

How the quality of sound got into this ill never know.

Let me put it in simpler terms: The quality of the recording made on a Macbook Pro isn't going to be any better than the quality of the recording made on a Macbook. But somehow you think the Macbook Pro is the only suitable Mac for "pro" use? Huh? What?
 
Actually, I rarely buy things because I'm in a constant state of being broke.

How the quality of sound got into this ill never know.

you mentioning that " the only people that Apple has screw.........

folk use Firewire audio interfaces with their Macbooks ;) , well they did :(
 
It was not mentioned but when you configure the 1,299 version the only choice is backlit keyboard ( english or spanish ). Someone on the forum chatted with an Apple Rep and said they are included and the site will be changed to reflect that, and I called Apple and they said my order included a Backlit Keyboard as it is included standard throughout the new line except for the old white macbook.

interesting i just watched the keynote and steve highlighted the point that major difference with the 1599 version was processor speed, hd space, and baclkit keyboard. i'd like to see how your story turns out.
 
But that's what I find completely stupid, they are going to alienate a large part of their market, all for a $2 component.

Half my work is done, unfortunately in Windows (still no decent wave editor on the mac), that makes me seriously consider that my next notebook may have to be a windows based one, after all it runs Pro Tools and soundforge, and I'll leave logic to my desktop.

I think you severly overestimate the number of people whos productivity relies on FW. However, it was stupid to alienate those who use things like imovie.

I expect apple has something up their sleeve.
 
Let me put it in simpler terms: The quality of the recording made on a Macbook Pro isn't going to be any better than the quality of the recording made on a Macbook. But somehow you think the Macbook Pro is the only suitable Mac for "pro" use? Huh? What?

The new MacBook Pro: "Advanced MacBook"
or not even that, it should be: 15" MacBook.
They might of as well unified their laptop line under one name.
 
Firewire 400 interface for camcorders is not old tech. It's the defacto standard.

FW400 came out in 2000 (edit: sorry revised in 2000 came out in 1995)
FW800 came out in 2003
FW1600/3200 came out this year

So yes FW400 is old tech. It is also true that it is the standard for DV because (if I remember correctly) they were basically designed together. And as everyone has said, the pro having an 800 port is a good thing. 800 is totally backward compatible with 400 with a simple cable.

If anything they should have put a FW800 on the Macbook!

They should have included an e-sata on the Pro model to make it better for high end video data transfers.
 
dont know, dont care, srry


All I was saying is the only people apple "screwed" by not including FW in the MB is hobbyists. No real professional is going to do video or audio on a 13" macbook.

LOL!!! Is this guy for real???

You ever heard of an external monitor?? ROFL!!!!
 
Pointing out apples strategy/offering the opinion of the "rest" of us (the ones that dont use FW or simply dont know about it). Cant really be mad at me for providing the other side of the argument, otherwise its just a bunch of pissed off people agreeing their pissed off:p

I've tried to make sure none of what I say is dependant on actually having used FW. Pointing out the strategy of a company reguarding FW doesnt require experience with it.

I'm just playing, but I can understand Apples skewed logic, but I don't think it'll work, instead they'll have a bunch of pissed off customers saying that they're pissed off at having to fork out bucket loads of money for one simple feature, and most 'Pros' may be more inclined to jump ship and use another platform, as most 'Pros' often work in mixed environments.

Plus with these models being the consumer models, where's the consumer price tag?
 
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