I agree with you that some people will not buy it because of this port, but apple was low on port space and had to make a decision and if that decision fills the need for the majority than that's what they go with. Apple does this more than any other company I know. Not just in terms of hardware, but software as well. They limit your choices on things to make the user experience easier which is great for 80%+ of people and then those 20% of people like me that like to go more into settings can buy something else or just accept it.
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How many user really want FireWire on new MacBooks?
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I agree with you that some people will not buy it because of this port, but apple was low on port space and had to make a decision and if that decision fills the need for the majority than that's what they go with. Apple does this more than any other company I know. Not just in terms of hardware, but software as well. They limit your choices on things to make the user experience easier which is great for 80%+ of people and then those 20% of people like me that like to go more into settings can buy something else or just accept it.
What difference does it make how many people need it? Yes, there are probably more people not needing it versus people needing it, but that doesn't make the $5 cost of including FW any less annoying for us that need it.
There is no reason to remove it other than to artificially segment the market to make more money. Why are you, as a consumer, defending this?
ROFL
No just meant more storage (50GB vs 30GB) and bit rate (40Mbit/s vs 30.24 Mbits/s)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#CodecsWiki said:
Since when is Blu Ray superior to HD DVD when:
- HD DVD has no zones, while Blu Ray has region blocks
- HD DVD was a finished spec, while no one knows when Blu Ray will be finished
- All HD DVD players had internet connectivity, while this is a new feature available only on premium Blu Ray drives
- HD DVD has 1 layer of DRM, while Blu Ray has 2
- HD DVD players were cheaper
Apple took out ADB. Workaround = buy adaptor cable. ($10?)
Apple took out floppy. Workaround = buy external floppy ($30?)
Apple took out optical. Workaround = buy external optical from Apple. ($100)
Apple took out DVI. Workaround = buy miniDisplayPort adaptor ($xx <$100)
Apple took out Firewire. Workaround = NONE.
This is a different level of issue. 90% of decent video cameras, from low end to high end transfer video via Firewire, and ONLY via firewire. There 's no existing workaround. Even using a transfer deck ($1000+) won't help, these are FW controlled too.
Apple took out floppy. Workaround = buy external floppy ($30?)
Apple took out optical. Workaround = buy external optical from Apple. ($100)
Apple took out DVI. Workaround = buy miniDisplayPort adaptor ($xx <$100)
Apple took out Firewire. Workaround = NONE.
This is a different level of issue. 90% of decent video cameras, from low end to high end transfer video via Firewire, and ONLY via firewire. There 's no existing workaround. Even using a transfer deck ($1000+) won't help, these are FW controlled too.
If you don't like it, don't buy it
Nobody is forcing you to buy a mac. Go buy the $900 one with firewire or a pro. Nobody is going to care about firewire in 5 months when the new macs come out with USB 3.0. Firewire never caught on. Another superior technology which didn't win.
Now excuse me while I drive away in my steam powered car listening to my sony minidisc player to go rent a laserdisc to try to play on my HD dvd player.
Nobody is forcing you to buy a mac. Go buy the $900 one with firewire or a pro. Nobody is going to care about firewire in 5 months when the new macs come out with USB 3.0. Firewire never caught on. Another superior technology which didn't win.
Now excuse me while I drive away in my steam powered car listening to my sony minidisc player to go rent a laserdisc to try to play on my HD dvd player.
And USB 3.0 won't be finished for another year, while FireWire 3200 is finished and products should be coming out soon.
Faster interfaces won't make the millions of perfectly good audio/video devices with FW400 suddenly obsolete!
Do I need it? No. I've been using computers for years and while I have a firewire card in my desktop, I've never used it. Not even once.
I have a feeling that this won't hold true for that much longer. I know there is technical reason that prevent a FW to USB converter, but there is a way to run FW over Ethernet with a cat5e or higher. So I think some company out there will fill this hole soon enough.
Never used the firewire once on mine. I would say the same's true about at least 80% of MacBook owners.
People keep posting this. There is currently NO chipset for doing FireWire over an RJ45 port, so the MacBooks will never have this facility.
Yeah, I mean I have no idea if this is possible?? You could be right that this will never happen on the current notebook, but it seems like there could be some way to have an external converter that plugs into the standard Ethernet port.
"Never caught on?" Where have you been hiding the last ten years or so? Firewire is a dominant standard for any number of uses and devices, and has been for over a decade.
Unless & until USB 3.0 becomes a common standard for devices (at least a few years), and offloads the CPU overhead inherent in USB data transfer, it is not a suitable alternative to Firewire. Even at that, FW3200 will still be significantly faster.
Firewire/USB isn't an either/or proposition, they're different standards for different needs. While I use and need Firewire on a regular basis, I don't need a Pro to accomplish the underlying tasks that rely on that connection, nor can I accomplish them with a Windows alternative.
I would rather have a single orphaned port on my computer than several newly paperweighted devices that can't connect. As far as the number of USB ports, hubs are a dirt-cheap expansion capability; in point of fact, I have typically eight or more USB devices connected at home, all through a single port on the MacBook to a hub. On the road, I have a four-port hub (that I've never needed). But I still have my Firewire port, too.
I don't know if this FW on RJ-45 would actually mean that you could run FW over ethernet. If this were the case, the adapter could have such a chip to make it cost effective, but the Mac would still have to do the packetization by software, a far cry from the DMA capabilities of FireWire, which is the main reason why it performs so well.
I question your facts
I think you need to look up the word dominant. Maybe look up decade as well. Macs have had them, that doesn't mean they caught on. When the ipod stopped supporting firewire you might as well started carving the tombstone.
I think you need to look up the word dominant. Maybe look up decade as well. Macs have had them, that doesn't mean they caught on. When the ipod stopped supporting firewire you might as well started carving the tombstone.
You, need to realize that Firewire has its own uses as well as USB. And Firewire did catch on. It's used in a majority of camcorders and music equipment today and I don't see it dying. I personally prefer Firewire over USB. You can supply more power through it and its not CPU-intensive and its a continuous speed not just bursts. What isn't there to like about it?
Can people please STOP with this?
NO, there will never EVER be ANY way you can use a NIC for FW. NEVER EVER!
One could make a FW controller that is combined in the same port as a NIC, but you bloody well can't just make something like a network adapter input FW. For the life of me, I can't understand your reasoning. How on earth would you even logically think this through?
I don't miss it but it has been superseded by other things. Firewire is still a current technology - there isn't even a replacement for it on the horizon.
I think most people who buy the regular MacBook would make more use of another USB port vs. a FireWire. While I'd love to see the tech there - especially for the 50% of the people who voted who need it - I can understand why Apple would take it off considering most regular consumers (the ones who would be buying the regular MacBook) probably have little use for FireWire.