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

someone needs to make a USB 2.0 to 3.0 Adapter, only because there are a lot of Macs and other devices that people just bought which do not have 3.0.

Glad I waited to get the new 13" MBA or MBP, however my uMB will be 4 years old soon, and waiting to see what the 13" Retina will look like if it really exists
 
heisetax said:
But some people want/need the 2 ThunderBolt connectors. I'm not happy because I had planned on purchasing 2 17" Ivy Bridge MacBook Pros. That saved me $6,000+. Then the lack of a new Mac Pro saved another $6-7,000. I've gotten used to Apple not needing my money. I want all of the ports that I can have & then some. In order to run my 4 displays that I run on my Mac Pro I need 2 ThunderBolt Ports.
Click to expand...

With all that money you saved, just daisy chain TB displays. At the end of the chain you still have a free TB port to use, as well as USB, Ethernet, FW, etc.
 
monkor said:
That's just completely wrong. In fact, professionals were so disgusted with FCP X that Apple actually started selling older copies of the product under the table because it sucked so bad. There's such a small percentage of Mac users who can even be considered high-end users. With PC's it's the same way, small percentage--just more. Best technology? Wrong. Most reliable? Debatable.
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There is truth to this. A lot of videographers and budding videographers like myself are switching to Adobe products. Premier for CS6 is very capable. FCPX has been a colossal failure within the film industry.
 
oxigeno5 said:
Yes my friend, just get a firewire 400 to 800 cable (like 6 bucks in Amazon) and you'll be all set. Still I think Apple should charge less for an adapter..
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people, this is not just an adapater with wires going from one end to another, it's proper hardware, with electronics, and so the price seems even to be soft for apple, and compared to the thunderbolt cable alone (which happen to also have electronics in it). On the contrary Firewire 400 to 800 cable IS an adapter, it's just a way to use a different connector, the fw800 chip deals transparently with both fw400 and fw800 hardware.
And no for the last time you CAN'T use this to add a thunderbolt port to a mac with firewire. don't be stupid.

----------
Kebabselector said:
Just a quick question. I currently have 2 firewire drives (chained) which are connected to my MacMini, would there be a speed advantage by having one connected via FW800 and the other via the FW800/TB adapter?
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Theorically yes there would be an avantage, but it depends on the speed of your drives. and fw is able to transparently copy from one drive to another without going through the cpu, so it would be faster in very specific configurations (like copying from both drives at the same time to an internal ssd).
 
What this adapter -really- indicates, is that the firewire port itself is soon going to disappear from Macs.

The Mac Pro models may remain an exception to this.

Prediction:
After 2012, no Macs (except for Mac Pros) will be sold with firewire ports.

If you need firewire connectivity get an "adapter"....
 
Fishrrman said:
What this adapter -really- indicates, is that the firewire port itself is soon going to disappear from Macs.

The Mac Pro models may remain an exception to this.

Prediction:
After 2012, no Macs (except for Mac Pros) will be sold with firewire ports.

If you need firewire connectivity get an "adapter"....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know. It wouldn't make me happy, as there are no Thunderbolt audio interfaces (or USB3, for that matter).

If they did, I would hope they would replace the FW with an additional Thunderbolt port. Or at least wait until Thunderbolt hubs and docks (like the one oweng linked to above) get to a reasonable price.
 
John.B said:
Yeah, I don't know. It wouldn't make me happy, as there are no Thunderbolt audio interfaces (or USB3, for that matter).

If they did, I would hope they would replace the FW with an additional Thunderbolt port. Or at least wait until Thunderbolt hubs and docks (like the one oweng linked to above) get to a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

UAD's Apollo is out. Really nice audio interface & DSP engine.

-----

Btw. Why is nobody talking about the fact that the adapter is NOT available? Hasn't been available for the majority of the last 24 hours???
 
Wicked1 said:
someone needs to make a USB 2.0 to 3.0 Adapter, only because there are a lot of Macs and other devices that people just bought which do not have 3.0.
Click to expand...

It is called using a USB 2.0 cable. USB 3.0 devices can be connected with a 2.0 cable. You just get 2.0 speeds bewteen the computer and the device. No adapter is needed.

Likewise a USB 2.0 cable can hook a 2.0 device to a 3.0 computer. It just operates at 2.0 speeds. Same cables that existed before. No adapter needed.
 
monkor said:
That's just completely wrong. In fact, professionals were so disgusted with FCP X that Apple actually started selling older copies of the product under the table because it sucked so bad. There's such a small percentage of Mac users who can even be considered high-end users. With PC's it's the same way, small percentage--just more. Best technology? Wrong. Most reliable? Debatable.
Click to expand...

Macs have appealed to pros for many years. The modern graphic design industry was built on Macs and for the last ten years Final Cut Pro has been the software of choice for most video editors of any level. High end users in the video, audio and graphic design fields generally use Macs.

Best technology, yes. Innovations like USB, FireWire and Wi-Fi were introduced and popularised in Macs. Closer to today you have the unishell process of carving a laptop shell out of a single block of aluminium. MacBooks make other laptops feel flimsy.

Apple products are simply well built. Much more so than the cheaper PCs most people opt for.

As for FCP-X, that was a badly managed launch for a drastically different FCP. Apple needed to work on their transition strategy. Maybe delay the product until it was fully featured.
 
Sol said:
Macs have appealed to pros for many years. The modern graphic design industry was built on Macs and for the last ten years Final Cut Pro has been the software of choice for most video editors of any level. High end users in the video, audio and graphic design fields generally use Macs.

Best technology, yes. Innovations like USB, FireWire and Wi-Fi were introduced and popularised in Macs. Closer to today you have the unishell process of carving a laptop shell out of a single block of aluminium. MacBooks make other laptops feel flimsy.

Apple products are simply well built. Much more so than the cheaper PCs most people opt for.

As for FCP-X, that was a badly managed launch for a drastically different FCP. Apple needed to work on their transition strategy. Maybe delay the product until it was fully featured.
Click to expand...

Cheaper PCs? What professional is using a cheaper PC? They all buy top of the line. Buy a high end PC, get a high end product. Comparing a low-end Dell and a high-end Alienware (or anything high-end, really) is pointless. Likewise with Mac laptops. They're designed to be high end.

As for the technology. There is a fundamental difference between innovating and popularizing. They didn't invent any of that technology save FireWire. Those were going to be industry standards. Mac popularized it, sure. The i in iMac stood for internet at first (as in it's supposedly easy to use), but please don't suggest my PC wasn't doing that before the iMac ever came out. USB? That was developed by Microsoft, Dell, IBM, Intel, NEC, Compaq, Nortel, and DEC. None of those companies are Apple.
 
djpetermunch said:
what is the Option Card?
Click to expand...

The Apollo comes stock with two FW800 ports and an expansion bay on the back for their Thunderbolt Option Card (click image twice to zoom all the way in).

hardware_callouts.png


Their Thunderbolt Option Card has been announced, but pricing and availability haven't been released.

Still, nice to see someone giving Apogee a run for their (and my) money.
 
John.B said:
The Apollo comes stock with two FW800 ports and an expansion bay on the back for their Thunderbolt Option Card (click image twice to zoom all the way in).

hardware_callouts.png


Their Thunderbolt Option Card has been announced, but pricing and availability haven't been released.

Still, nice to see someone giving Apogee a run for their (and my) money.
Click to expand...

I see. I honestly thought it was already available.

I just sent an email to UAD support asking if a Factory Upgrade would be possible for the boxes (like my UAD2 Quad, currently only FW).

Still nobody is talking about the fact that the adapter is not available! :) Anybody?
 
pc-proud said:
Is it only the mba that doesn't have a gigabit port or is it all mb models? I thought something like that was pretty standard?
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As has already been stated in this thread several times, the Air doesn't have it because the Air is too thin to fit it. Also, ethernet is a necessary component of yesterday's computers, and Apple usually leads the way in dropping older technologies.
 
I can't find any information on this, does the current classic mbp model firewire 800 I use everyday also output only 7W of power?
seems really not enough
 
grrrz said:
I can't find any information on this, does the current classic mbp model firewire 800 I use everyday also output only 7W of power?
seems really not enough
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I think standard USB was 2.5 watts, and I want to say FireWire could do 10 watts without breaking a sweat so 7 watts sounds reasonable for an adapter.

Really any external HDD or audio adapter or related device should do fine at those power levels. The problems with powered ports begin to show up when it comes to charging devices like the iPad (the square iPad charger is a 10 watt device). Another option would be a powered USB hub that plugs into the wall for additional charging power.
 
Why I won't be buying a retna MBP

Why I have to use a dongle to attache to a network or a FW drive?!?! No Retna for me ;-(
 
I concur. I don't mind the USB Ethernet adapter I use on my 2011 mba. I just keep it around if I need it. Really doesn't happen that often. But you never know when your gonna get crappy wifi performance.

Fishrrman said:
What this adapter -really- indicates, is that the firewire port itself is soon going to disappear from Macs.

The Mac Pro models may remain an exception to this.

Prediction:
After 2012, no Macs (except for Mac Pros) will be sold with firewire ports.

If you need firewire connectivity get an "adapter"....
Click to expand...
 
drbroom said:
Why I have to use a dongle to attache to a network or a FW drive?!?! No Retna for me ;-(
Click to expand...
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I don't really get the complaint. If you're already willing to pay big bucks for a MBP Retina, an extra $60 for a couple of cables isn't going to break the bank. And the dongles themselves aren't going to add noticeable bulk, since an ethernet cable already *is* a cable (so you attach the dongle and now you have a slightly longer cable) and a FireWire drive already has that FireWire *cable*, so now you attach that dongle and you essentially have a slightly longer FireWire cable.
 
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