Apple Announces New Aluminum MacBooks

[takao]

You guys are funny, all proud when you can boast that anyone can use a Macbook to make home movies in iMovie or to record music in Garageband or Logic. But when they leave out firewire its..."Oh well nobody uses Macbooks for making movies or recording music, only pros who will buy the pro version."

nothing has changed to before since before the entry macbook didn't have a superdrive to burn those homevideos with idvd it came with

 

[bunty]

Because the new MBs lack FW many people will not be able to load in footage from many cameras into iMovie, load P2 cards and card readers, connect many HD cameras such as the Panasonic HVX-200, troubleshoot via target disk mode, edit HD from external HDs or use IP over firewire.

Paying $700 or so just to get a FW port plus an additional $8 to $30 for a 400 to 800 adapter or adapter cable is just dumb. Didn't Apple invent Firewire?

Now it's a MBP or nothing if you want to shoot and edit HD footage on the road or if you're a family with a FW camcorder and want to make some iMovies for your family. I can understand not having FW on an Air, but not on a MacBook us very surprising.

 

[azentropy]

You guys are funny, all proud when you can boast that anyone can use a Macbook to make home movies in iMovie or to record music in Garageband or Logic. But when they leave out firewire its..."Oh well nobody uses Macbooks for making movies or recording music, only pros who will buy the pro version."

Bingo! To me, and many others, it is a huge step back/sideways in what Apple themselves have been advertising for years.

I have a Canon ZR series camcorder that I bought about a year ago. The same entry level line that Apple themselves features in both physical stores and the online Apple Store, that uses Firewire. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/digital_cameras_video?mco=MTI2Mjc
My previous camcorder, a Sony TRV series also was Firewire.

It works fantastic with my Rev A. MacBook and I can easily, quickly and inexpensively create iMovies and iDVDs. So now that I'm ready to move to a newer system for other reasons, I'd also have to purchase a new camcorder to work with the new MacBook - or spend an extra $700 to get a Pro (which besides costing more I don't want as I prefer smaller form factor notebooks).

 

[darngooddesign]

Personally , I truly believe those folk to be on the payroll

Its way cooler to spell it pyroll.

 

[editguy]

nothing has changed to before since before the entry macbook didn't have a superdrive to burn those homevideos with idvd it came with

But at least with that you could connect an external DVD burner through firewire or USB and you were in business.

 

[bsrolston]

is there a way to buy some sort of hub to attach FW? i love the new macbooks except for for that small detail.... which makes all the difference in the world for a musician....as stated a thousand times before.

 

[terkwong]

boo! no firewire = lost part of the Mac soul!

firewire is especially useful with its ability to boot in target disc mode!!!!

 

[vendettabass]

my god is my 2.4 quiet! just an observation really. I'm at 72 celsius and the fans at 4000rpm and I can't hear a thing!

 

[thetinman]

I'm loving my 2.0 got it at 10:00 this morning no back lit keyboard, didn't think the alu base models came with it but there was a debate going on about a typo in the us store.

 

[firecrasher]

One of these will be my first Mac and I'm not sure which way to go... it's going to be for audio work etc. since I have a non-Vista desktop I'm content with. I have a Firebox and don't want to lose its functionality or have it behave badly with FW800, it pretty much refused to sync with the 1st gen. Macbook Pros.

My friend is planning on the high-end Macbook and attaching a USB-Firewire hub for his Firewire audio devices. Is that a viable option or will it just cause more problems?

I'm also not a fan of the chicklet keyboard, my hands are very very small and the keys being further apart is not a good thing...

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

well , I've slept on it now and come to conclusion that I'm leaning toward buying the base MBP , I have a few concerns .....

Is the MBP GPU that much different (in terms of what I'll be able to do) from the Macbook one ?

Why not grab one of the previous generation MBPs for $1444 from Amazon right now instead? That's a savings of over $500 off and it has the matte screen, 2 firewire ports and is nearly as fast as the new model. It still blows away the new regular Macbook for a similar price. I just ordered one.

 

[Snide]

All this firewire talk, too much for me, but if anyone is interested I've posted Steve Jobs (or some robot representatives) reply to my emails from earlier today, have a read.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/6417095/

Awesome! I left my own comments on the MacBook Feedback page:

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

This is probably much more effective than merely bitching about it here
(although I suspect that Apple bigwigs are acutely aware of this thread).

The more people who leave feedback, the better.

 

[50548]

What a looooooong thread...

Oh boy, is it hard to read this 30-page long thread or what? I give up...

 

[marbles]

Why not grab one of the previous generation MBPs for $1444 from Amazon right now instead? That's a savings of over $500 off and it has the matte screen, 2 firewire ports and is nearly as fast as the new model. It still blows away the new regular Macbook for a similar price. I just ordered one.

I can get a discount at Apple so I don't know what to do

 

[shortyjj]

Can someone who has the new MB talk about temperature on the underside of the computer, especially compared to the old MBP?

 

[ubercool]

Oh boy, is it hard to read this 30-page long thread or what? I give up...

You missed very little: 14 pages bitching about lack of FireWire; 14 pages bitching about glossy screens and two pages of actual good information.

 

[ubercool]

seriously crawling through specs seems to be the norm now with apple .. it gets seriously annoying WTF .. you don't have to do that on the Sony laptops

You mean you can easily figure out Sony's 24+ laptop models that are obsolete every three months?

 

[Snide]

You missed very little: 14 pages bitching about lack of FireWire; 14 pages bitching about glossy screens and two pages of actual good information.

You obviously haven't read all the posts, or you would know that the glossy-screen
comments represent a small fraction of the posts bemoaning the lack of Firewire.

 

[editguy]

Why not grab one of the previous generation MBPs for $1444 from Amazon right now instead? That's a savings of over $500 off and it has the matte screen, 2 firewire ports and is nearly as fast as the new model. It still blows away the new regular Macbook for a similar price. I just ordered one.

Do you have a link for that? The best price I found was $1569.

 

[mBox]

Because the new MBs lack FW many people will not be able to load in footage from many cameras into iMovie, load P2 cards and card readers, connect many HD cameras such as the Panasonic HVX-200, troubleshoot via target disk mode, edit HD from external HDs or use IP over firewire...

I had to buy one for work. I told my boss that he cant hook up the XDCAM and GRAID2 at the same time anymore. He didnt care he just wanted the new laptop. Weve been waiting for months. I however held back. For home I wanted a replacement for my G4. I guess I have to wait a bit longer. I do tons of site work freelance. Plus add that I play in a band. Really need a portable. The Nvidia part is all I really wanted dont care for anything else really.

 

[i eversaw]

Hey guys, flame me all you want but here's my two cents:

I have been in the market since May for a new laptop, about the time the update rumors started coming out. I have managed (I have no idea how) to hold back on buying a blackbook until the update. Now that the update is here, I'm actually very impressed and willing to buy and regardless of all the major issues everyone seems to have I am going to pick one up as soon as I can.

I know i know no firewire, but I don't think I've ever owned a product that uses that. The price stayed the same so why is everyone getting upset over that? There are big improvements that really make this new macbook state of the art.

Everyone seems to have a real gripe with the glossy screen, but personally I think it looks great. I am an advertising major and I understand why there would be a desire to have a matte screen, but like other people said if you don't like it, you can always buy a 3rd party screen cover.

long story short, I am so happy to finally be getting a mac, and I am very optimistic about this machine doing everything it should do for me and more. And I'm sorry if the update has made some people turn their noses at apple, but just remember:no one is MAKING you buy it!

 

[tgildred]

boo! no firewire = lost part of the Mac soul!

Along with no Apple logo on the command key, and removing the "Computers" from the company name.



I can't believe I just said that. Apple Secret Service (ASS) agents are at this moment enroute to my home to take away my "fanboy*" card.

*I hate that term, just using it here at a lame attempt at humor.

 

[tgildred]

Hey guys, flame me all you want but here's my two cents:

I have been in the market since May for a new laptop, about the time the update rumors started coming out. I have managed (I have no idea how) to hold back on buying a blackbook until the update. Now that the update is here, I'm actually very impressed and willing to buy and regardless of all the major issues everyone seems to have I am going to pick one up as soon as I can.

I know i know no firewire, but I don't think I've ever owned a product that uses that. The price stayed the same so why is everyone getting upset over that? There are big improvements that really make this new macbook state of the art.

Everyone seems to have a real gripe with the glossy screen, but personally I think it looks great. I am an advertising major and I understand why there would be a desire to have a matte screen, but like other people said if you don't like it, you can always buy a 3rd party screen cover.

long story short, I am so happy to finally be getting a mac, and I am very optimistic about this machine doing everything it should do for me and more. And I'm sorry if the update has made some people turn their noses at apple, but just remember:no one is MAKING you buy it!

Congrats on making the switch. All griping aside, you'll love it. We gripe only because we care so much.

 

[zacman]

Anyone knows if Firewire was a seperate chipset on the old Macbooks or was it included on the southbridge?

 

[tgildred]

The person with Apple's Consumer Relation's division said if Apple gets enough viable complaints they may change the design of the products... Posting on this forum may do very little good, that's why WE must file with Apple's Consumer Relations Division which you can speak with my calling the main number and requesting to file a complaint with Apple's Consumer Relation's division...

This is really the best we can do. Apple has reversed bad decisions before, maybe they'll do it again. Just remember to be polite, everyone, and save the obscenities for forums! (just kidding, moderators)