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Apple Drops MacBook Educational Pricing to $899
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I've found it highly convenient when I need to transfer large files or directories full of many files. A portable hard drive is the best solution, if one is available, but Firewire Target Disk Mode made it easy too.
I used to regularly be in a situation at a summer camp where an older iMac was used to create a (multi-gigabyte) video file and a laptop in another room would present it on a projector. We would boot the iMac into Target Disk Mode and copy the file over to the laptop. Except one day I forgot to bring the appropriate FireWire cable... we had to scramble to find another way to copy the file in time! We didn't have a USB stick big enough, the only portable hard drive we found was formatted NTFS (read-only on a Mac), there was no burner... Finally I found someone with an Ethernet patch cable and we rigged up a little network to copy the file over, just in time. That experience taught me 3 things: (1) Target Disk Mode is really handy! (2) Always double check to make sure you have the right cables! (3) The following year I bought the danged dongle so the iMac could connect directly to the projector...
*sigh*...'collects' , 'charge', whatever -- you know what I meant. I realize the taxes don't ultimately go to Apple.
The fact remains relatively no one files taxes on goods bought online and for most people that remains one of the reasons to purchase online, and unless you're tax-exempt, the edu discount doesn't do much.
Anyway. Woohoo for Apple lowering prices.
Not certain if this means anything but when I've used Target Disk Mode on my Intel Macs they all still have the bouncing FireWire symbol so I've assumed FireWire only.
Coincidence I THINK SO!
The funny thing is that about 2 days before the price drop, i was on the store website chatting with an apple representative. I asked why apple only has a $50 student discount whilst best-buy has a $100 student discount on macbooks. Needless to say, the rep. got very irate and started knocking best buy for their flaws and why I should buy only from an apple store or apple.com. I highly doubt this discussion had anything to do with it, but it is still a very funny coincidence
The funny thing is that about 2 days before the price drop, i was on the store website chatting with an apple representative. I asked why apple only has a $50 student discount whilst best-buy has a $100 student discount on macbooks. Needless to say, the rep. got very irate and started knocking best buy for their flaws and why I should buy only from an apple store or apple.com. I highly doubt this discussion had anything to do with it, but it is still a very funny coincidence
$899 is a fantastic price, especially at $100 off. In the UK the standard price excluding educational discounting is £816...I think $100 off for standard educational discount is a bargain
.I haven't seen a firewire port on a new consumer camcorder in some time. It seems (IMO only) like firewire was more suited to cameras with tapes that had to essentially play back to get the file onto your machine.
Now with cameras recording to .mp4, you can just drag and drop the thing over USB, or plop a card directly into your mac's media card reader.
I thought I remember that Steve Job's reasoning was that most cameras now support USB. Can't say I agree with leaving it out, but that's the thought process.
No question there, and for everyone buying a camera today, it's no problem. But I have two miniDV cameras equipped with Firewire, one I bought in 2000 and one I bought in 2004. Both are still going strong with no sign of hardware failure, I have hundreds of hours of memories already on tape, and I intend to keep using them until they die. I have thousands of dollars invested in those cameras and related equipment, and I'm not about to dump it all "because Steve says they're outdated".
Granted I could be more in the "prosumer" category as I do video editing as a hobby. Maybe your average Joe has already broken his $200 miniDV camera and is thus prepared to go out today and buy one of those $200 HD flash cameras to replace it. But I'm not ready to jump to flash memory technology just yet.
Temporal Spatiality and technology
Firewire is superior by far and those who do not see it are limited to the temporal timeframe in which they had owned technology that had used Firewire.
I for example still own my first and second generation ipods which are firewire only. One I still use for music and the other is used as an external Firewire HD. I also have both a 2.5 and 3.5 inch external disk enclosures which support both firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 Firewire is faster hands down. I still own a Mini DV Camcorder that I use on a regular basis that is Firewire only. I have an external isight webcam that uses firewire only. I have used firewire Target disk mode at least a dozen times over the past decade but it has literally saved me weeks worth of time and headache.
My 2006 Scion Tc with integrated ipod Head Unit will also only charge up to the fourth generation ipod as it was the last to still retain the Firewire charging pins. I still use my Fourth Generation ipod in this car as a permanent fixture granted this model is USB it is the last model that my head unit can charge without a converter adapter.
In short Firewire is still part of my everyday life and it has been around for about a decade. When Apple developed Firewire Intel was still on it's piddly USB 1.0 interface which they were desperately trying to push. USB 1.0 didn't even compare to Firewire and it took apple to include USB in the first imacs for USB to catch on in the mainstream. (yes ironic) This was back in the day when PCs were still limited to parallel and serial ports!! It took USB 2.0 nearly a half decade after Firewire 400 was introduced before some parity was established. As far as Firewire 800 goes it creams USB 2.0 and it has been around for the past 4 years or and yet we are still waiting for USB 3.0
Its a shame that Apple dropped the ball on its own technology that it developed and pioneered.
Firewire is superior by far and those who do not see it are limited to the temporal timeframe in which they had owned technology that had used Firewire.
I for example still own my first and second generation ipods which are firewire only. One I still use for music and the other is used as an external Firewire HD. I also have both a 2.5 and 3.5 inch external disk enclosures which support both firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 Firewire is faster hands down. I still own a Mini DV Camcorder that I use on a regular basis that is Firewire only.
I have an external isight webcam that uses firewire only. I have used firewire Target disk mode at least a dozen times over the past decade but it has literally saved me weeks worth of time and headache.My 2006 Scion Tc with integrated ipod Head Unit will also only charge up to the fourth generation ipod as it was the last to still retain the Firewire charging pins. I still use my Fourth Generation ipod in this car as a permanent fixture granted this model is USB it is the last model that my head unit can charge without a converter adapter.
In short Firewire is still part of my everyday life and it has been around for about a decade. When Apple developed Firewire Intel was still on it's piddly USB 1.0 interface which they were desperately trying to push. USB 1.0 didn't even compare to Firewire and it took apple to include USB in the first imacs for USB to catch on in the mainstream. (yes ironic) This was back in the day when PCs were still limited to parallel and serial ports!! It took USB 2.0 nearly a half decade after Firewire 400 was introduced before some parity was established. As far as Firewire 800 goes it creams USB 2.0 and it has been around for the past 4 years or and yet we are still waiting for USB 3.0
Its a shame that Apple dropped the ball on its own technology that it developed and pioneered.
Ditto and Amen...Firewire is superior by far and those who do not see it are limited to the temporal timeframe in which they had owned technology that had used Firewire.
I for example still own my first and second generation ipods which are firewire only. One I still use for music and the other is used as an external Firewire HD. I also have both a 2.5 and 3.5 inch external disk enclosures which support both firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 Firewire is faster hands down. I still own a Mini DV Camcorder that I use on a regular basis that is Firewire only.
My 2006 Scion Tc with integrated ipod Head Unit will also only charge up to the fourth generation ipod as it was the last to still retain the Firewire charging pins. I still use my Fourth Generation ipod in this car as a permanent fixture granted this model is USB it is the last model that my head unit can charge without a converter adapter.
In short Firewire is still part of my everyday life and it has been around for about a decade. When Apple developed Firewire Intel was still on it's piddly USB 1.0 interface which they were desperately trying to push. USB 1.0 didn't even compare to Firewire and it took apple to include USB in the first imacs for USB to catch on in the mainstream. (yes ironic) This was back in the day when PCs were still limited to parallel and serial ports!! It took USB 2.0 nearly a half decade after Firewire 400 was introduced before some parity was established. As far as Firewire 800 goes it creams USB 2.0 and it has been around for the past 4 years or and yet we are still waiting for USB 3.0
Its a shame that Apple dropped the ball on its own technology that it developed and pioneered.
Ugh! Of course, with my luck I had to go ahead and graduate in December
I guess I'll just work on saving up for either a MBP or the tablet
I guess I'll just work on saving up for either a MBP or the tablet
On their website their cheapest MacBook has a downgraded processor from what was standard a year or so ago
Ugh! Of course, with my luck I had to go ahead and graduate in December
I guess I'll just work on saving up for either a MBP or the tablet
Go enroll yourself in a Graduate seminar or other continuing education course or just enroll in a course at a community college and voila you are a student again!! Most importantly you will be a someone who qualifies for student edu
sheesh... its not like Apples Edu pricing is a giveaway
Apple's EDU pricing is a joke as you can get most Apple products for less through either amazon or a plethora of third party resellers. This is especially true once you consider tax breaks, rebates, shipping, and other perks. Why anyone buys from apple at full msrp is beyond me. They do so for convenience or for immersing themselves in the sheer pleasure of consumer culture. I would rather save myself the 2-15% Albeit the %10 off on the macbook is quite impressive as you would be hard pressed to find a better deal and if you do you could save maybe $10-$20 on a near $1k purchase. Never forget opportunity cost......Go enroll yourself in a Graduate seminar or other continuing education course or just enroll in a course at a community college and voila you are a student again!! Most importantly you will be a someone who qualifies for student edu
sheesh... its not like Apples Edu pricing is a giveaway
It's a lot easier to return the computer to an Apple Store if you buy it from Apple if there is something wrong with the machine.