Apple's Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter Rolling Out in Online Store

[Mousse]

If you need a CD Drive, ethernet, and ethernet connected all or most of the time, buy a different computer.

Yeah. This is why the Air holds zero interest for me. Pay more to get less...sure you get a thinner machine. Good gawd, . What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

 

[MrNomNoms]

The big question, just reading through the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394

Does it mean that we might possibly see a Firewire 1600/3200 adapter or is Firewire adapter merely for legacy support with the eventual move to retire it in favour of Thunderbolt?

 

[paul8]

Not showing up on the USA apple site for me yet. I need this cable to hook up my camcorder to my rMBP. I have a firewire 400->800 cable, so I hope this works with the thunderbolt-firewire 800 cable.

 

[robvas]

If Apple can make a FireWire adapter - what about USB 3 adapter too, why not?

Why, when you can just upgrade your whole machine

 

[NStocks]

As is pretty much always the case. UK prices include (extortionate) sales taxes. US prices generally do not include them.



Of course it's the same for the UK. It was the UK he was talking about

So was I.

 

[UMHurricanes34]

Just placed my order. Might get a second in the future

Looking forward to using my "old" high speed card reader and external HD with my new Retina

 

[paradox00]

If Apple can make a FireWire adapter - what about USB 3 adapter too, why not?

What motivation does Apple have to make such an adapter?

 

[Mabus51]

Yay I can use Pro Tools on my retina display.

 

[Icaras]

Ethernet should really be BUILT INTO the Macbook Air.

Yuck, no. Please keep that unsightly and unused thing outta my Air! The adapter serves exactly the needs of the minority.

 

[pgiguere1]

My biggest beef with these adapters is that they are not chainable.



Because Apple's SSD upgrade prices are as ridiculous as they are, making the MBP a really bad deal IMHO. (And even if you get the SSD, it will replace the HDD, not the crappy DVD drive.)

I think if Apple offered an SSD MBP, or even an SSD+HDD MBP for a fair price, most of us MBA whiners would never have gotten an MBA.

I know it's not a perfect "it just works" solution, but you could always replace the optical drive with an aftermarket 2.5" SSD yourself.

 

[K4LK]

Somebody PLEASE make a TB to USB 3.0 adapter for my 2011 MBP and MBA? Pretty please?

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What motivation does Apple have to make such an adapter?

They don't but I really would like to plug my 2TB WD Mypassport with USB 3 into my 2011 MBP.

 

[iPhoneApple]

Can't believe this is 30 dollars.

 

[chaosbunny]

Yay cool new adaptor! The thing I love the most about Apple computers is the constant need for adaptors!

 

[Konrad9]

UK price £25, US price $29

Imagine if other companies were allowed to make them...

 

[terraphantm]

Somebody PLEASE make a TB to USB 3.0 adapter for my 2011 MBP and MBA? Pretty please?

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They don't but I really would like to plug my 2TB WD Mypassport with USB 3 into my 2011 MBP.

Apple's USB3 support is currently broken anyway. So you're not missing out.

 

[fruitpunch.ben]

Yeah. This is why the Air holds zero interest for me. Pay more to get less...sure you get a thinner machine. Good gawd, . What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

No it doesn't suck. It's great. Now I can have the tiny 11" MBA and yet still have gigabit ethernet and firewire 800 when I need it? You on the other hand can just buy a MBP. Why must you get so angry because some people want a computer that you don't have any use for? Life isn't worth just being angry for no reason mate. Try looking at things looking for the good in them.

 

[dyn]

NO MBA has ever had an ethernet port or optical drive because the idea is that it would be a wireless device.

Yet there is no 3G connectivity on the device other than using an external via bluetooth or usb

What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It's not really the thinness that matters, it is the fact that thinner means less material and thus less weight. Less weight is what most people are after. That and smaller because that way it can fit easily into any kind of bag/case without you needing physiotherapy afterwards due to sore shoulders/neck/back.

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

There is not that much difference between needing to use an adapter or having a port on the machine itself. You still need to hookup the firewire or ethernet cable to the port. The adapter only extends it a bit. It is only annoying when you want to use multiple adapters and/or the display output at the same time. In the MBPr this is somewhat possible because you have 2 thunderbolt ports, on the Air it is only 1. That's why having a usb3 version would be cool.

 

[Slovak]

UK price £25, US price $29

This argument again? Facepalm... let's do the math together:

The £25 includes a 20% VAT (effectively sales tax). Welcome to Europe, don't go to Hungary VAT is 27% there. The actual product price is then about £21 (rounded up) which is $32.50.

Now add the cost of transportation ($8+ per gallon of gas), "free" healthcare, 6 weeks of vacation benefits, etc. Free to recipient != free of cost

I'd say £25 is actually "cheaper" than in the US.

 

[Skika]

Yeah. This is why the Air holds zero interest for me. Pay more to get less...sure you get a thinner machine. Good gawd, . What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

If only Apple were selling some other laptops that were thicker with the functionality you are after .

 

[relbbircs]

Another reason for trying to use this adapter is that the USB ports on newer Macs may not work properly. On my new Macbook Air I can't connect w/ USB to my RME UCX mixer. After looking at many posts about this I think it's Apple's fault. Probably a software fix will solve that but in the interim the adapter is probably the cheapest way to get normal connections working...

 

[k3roro]

Good to hear that Tim Cook replies e-mails.

 

[oxfordguy]

UK price £25, US price $29

There's not even any discount on the UK Education Store, whereas there are for most Apple peripherals :-(

Still bought one, though, as need it for my Echo AudioFire4 audio interface...

 

[doelcm82]

Yeah. This is why the Air holds zero interest for me. Pay more to get less...sure you get a thinner machine. Good gawd, . What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

For a portable machine, thinner and lighter are ways to make it more portable.

But if having the ports built in is more important to you than increased portability (they aren't more important to me, so your obsession with having the built-in ports doesn't drive my decision), then I can understand why you wouldn't be interested in the thinner, lighter machines.

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Yay cool new adaptor! The thing I love the most about Apple computers is the constant need for adaptors!

For me, it's only a sporadic need. One think I love (it's not the thing I love the most, however) about my new rMBP is that I don't have to constantly lug around certain bulky internal components that I only occasionally need.

 

[faroZ06]

Ah, finally. This reminds me of the docks on old HP laptops that had USB 2.0 on them while the computer had no USB on it. The Apple Thunderbolt Display looks like a perfect dock for a laptop, especially because it provides power to charge the laptop. If only the power could actually go through the Thunderbolt to charge the MacBook...

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Imagine if other companies were allowed to make them...

Wait, you're saying that other companies are not allowed to make FW800-TB adaptors?

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Yeah. This is why the Air holds zero interest for me. Pay more to get less...sure you get a thinner machine. Good gawd, . What's with the can-never-be-too-thin obsession?

It sucks that you have to buy an adapter to get functionality that use to be built into older MBPs. Sure wireless is all the rage, but some of us think reliability more important than coolness. Gimme built in 1GBit Ethernet of old.

Obviously, the Air is not for you

And I don't think the Air is meant for that many people unless it's just for showing off in business meetings or whatever. If you want a super-portable and light computer, get an iPad. The Air should really have a 4G option on it.

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There are to many extra connectors you need to run the Macbook Pro retina display now. CD drive plus these two connectors. annoying

Do you constantly need a CD drive? My Mac Pro has two DVD+RW drives in it, and I rarely use them.

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This might put me in the stone age, but I am wondering if I can run this adapter into FW800>FW400.

It might put me in the stone age, but I have an audio console I really like that still uses the ol' 400.

...All in all, trying to go FW400>TB.

Thoughts?

I was thinking about this too. I would actually need to go from TB to FW800 to FW400 to 4-pin FW (or whatever that is called).

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All that is listed:

Image

This adaptor requires Lion??! Aw come on, that's just ridiculous. Seriously Apple, we don't all want Lion, especially when Rosetta support is dropped randomly, destroying a bunch of our apps. I even have a Lion DVD, and I'm not installing it.

 

[Laird Knox]

GbE can easily sustain over 110 MB/sec, which is not a "tiny fraction" of its theoretical 125 MB/sec.

Please explain.

He writes small - all his fractions are tiny fractions.