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How many user really want FireWire on new MacBooks?

Do you really need FireWire on regular MacBooks?

  • Total voters
    467
buckawheat said:
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.
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You may want to expand your horizons a bit there. Snarky repartee aside, you've been looking through some mighty narrow blinders if you consider that to be the truth.

Question whatever you want, but facts are facts, and the iPod's got nothing to do with it. :rolleyes:
 
I own no devices that run off a FireWire port. Most of them run of USB which I wish they would have put 3 instead of 2. But I still love my MacBook:D
 
You have to sacrifice something. USB is more popular, that is true. So therefore Apple went for the more popular and widespread connection standard. BUT, Apple also did not kill off the old MacBooks w/ FireWire. Those of you that claim function over form, head in the direction of plastic MacBooks, if you are true to your word. Same goes for the MacBook Pros. The older option remains (17" only though...) but if you REALLY needed it, then that would the option for you.
 
Milk*is*tasty said:
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?
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Forever, forever, ever, forever, ever?
Forever never seems that long until you're grown
 
cube said:
Floppy drives were obsolete and you could get a USB drive if you really needed it.

FireWire equipment is by no means obsolete and compatibility cannot be added to the MacBook.

Totally opposed situations. The floppy argument is completely bogus.
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The first flash drive didnt come out until 2000. Apple got rid of the floppy drive a few years before that (1997?). I paid $35 for a 8mb flash drive when they first came out.

Floppy disks were crap back then. Firewire is still better then USB.

I think apple is getting rid of firewire on all consumer products because of pressure from Intel to insure that USB 3 has no competition.
 
A process that worked really well on all macs is not being destroyed. Target disk mode was so extremely useful. To perform the same operation, you are spending twice the amount of time or just wasting time when you can't use a network connection to transfer data between machines. Only issue is if the machine doesn't boot, you can't transfer anyways. Unless you want to take apart the laptop, attributing to twice the amount of time.

What a terrible decision. Killing their own useful creation. There is no argument against that.
 
JohnNotBeatle said:
You may want to expand your horizons a bit there. Snarky repartee aside, you've been looking through some mighty narrow blinders if you consider that to be the truth.

Question whatever you want, but facts are facts, and the iPod's got nothing to do with it. :rolleyes:
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Actually, and unfortunately the iPod does have something to do with it. The reason why Apple dumped FireWire on iPods is because of Windows users. The last iPod to support FW was the iPod mini. At the time there was a lack of FW on PC's, and if they did have it, only had 4-pin connectors which did not charge their iPod. To make things easier, and to reach a wider audience they dumped FW in favor of USB since they wanted to sell more units. Now that they all have them, Apple is getting rid of it.

Apple is pandering to recent switchers, not for those of us who have used Macs since 1984.

(most of you weren't even alive :) )
 
I also need firewire, and I'm no pro.

I made a post here with some charts and explaining why some non pro people do need firewire.

It's quite interesting to see 50% of people requesting the port thought... that's not a low %.
 
only reason i can think id need it is for target disc mode
but when i would need that, id NEED it
 
If firewire is so irrelevant, why does the MB 'pro' still have it?

Obviously Apple doesn't think its irrelevant, its just decided that it wants to target its Macbook to a specific audience - and give less, rather than more (which it has always done - oh and charged more for doing it)

I could 'live' without a firewire port, but then I would have to buy a new sound card, and I would not be able to use the best ones in the industry, nor could I use firewire hdd (which is superior than usb for an audio hard drive).

Why can't I do these things on a 13" Apple laptop? Why forced to a 'pro' machine just for a little firewire port? I mean, they could have even added a mini 4pin firewire (which wouldn't be buspowered but at least the connectivity would still be there)
 
Its my opinion most people are complaining for the same reason people use to yell at me when their rollover minutes would expire. Because it was there and now it is gone. People are mindless about some things like that. Firewire is not a need and if you need it opt for the pro machine as opposed to the regular macbook. :rolleyes:
 
iSchultzie said:
Firewire is not a need and if you need it opt for the pro machine as opposed to the regular macbook. :rolleyes:
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Wrong. Firewire is a need for many of us, we already have it on a MacBook, and there's no good reason for it not to be. It's not a matter of "Oh, just toss in another $700 and you can have your port back."

The critical point is that it's been removed from an existing line. Every other Mac that had it last week, has it this week, except for the MacBook, which is (IIRC) the #1 selling Mac in the entire lineup. Hell, the iMac has FW400 and 800, and it's essentially an anchored notebook. The Air never had it, so no existing users had their hardware or needs suddenly orphaned.

How about this: I don't use the audio in or out, so they should drop those. I mean, there's already a built-in mic & speakers. If you want those extra ports, just go Pro. :rolleyes:
 
This poll is pretty pointless. The majority of MacBook buyers do not visit MacRumors and do not really have any interest in computing at all. They're students or home users who buy the machines to write essays and listen to music.

We are very much in the minority here, so even though we are sitting at a 51% split in favour of FireWire that's 51% of a very, very small niche.
 
The problems with removing firewire (and why it's a daft idea) include:

-It was an existing port they removed on an 'upgrade'.

-They didn't replace it with anything better (SCSI etc went, but USB and firewire came in). Even if they had, with something like eSATA, people have an investment in FW devices.

-It's still on the Pro, which proves it's possible to keep it with the newer technologies in the uni-body designs.

-Some people can't afford the Pro, and those people are the least likely to be able to afford to 'upgrade' all their firewire peripherals to USB2, some of which like Audio interfaces simply don't exist as USB devices.

-Some people CAN afford the Pro, but use the smaller MacBook precisely because of its smaller footprint. If you don't need an express card slot and the bleeding-edge fastest macs but you do need firewire for whatever reason Apple have sold you down the river with this decision.

-If, as many suspect, the decision was made in part to try and force people to buy the Pro, I think this might back-fire a bit. For reasons already stated, the Pro is not suitable for everyone, and some customers might simply go elsewhere.

-If even a small minority of people use firewire, it's still worth keeping. Those who are upset by this would probably happily pay an extra $?? to have it on their machines. Apple could actually make money on keeping Firewire as an option when you buy your MacBook.

Did I miss any?
 
Porco said:
-They didn't replace it with anything better (SCSI etc went, but USB and firewire came in).
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They couldn't just replace it with anything non-FireWire better. There's a lot of perfectly good FW400 gear out there.
 
I need it to bring in camcorder movies. I am not in the market for a new camcorder until this one breaks. I would be willing to move up to a Pro if there was a smaller one. I like a 12-13" screen for portability.

You do not need a MacbookPro to use iMovie as some posters have suggested.

If there was an adapter or other means to go from firewire to USB I would be satisfied because I am not using it for the speed or target disk mode. I have not found a substitute.

The floppy drive example is not a reasonable comparison because users could use an external drive with the old data or a USB drive for new data.
 
I am not getting a new MacBook figuring my late-2007 one is just fine, but if I were (and weren't going to consider the MBP), then I wouldn't let the lack of firewire influence my purchase. The only device that I currently use with firewire is my external hard drive, which can also be powered by a ton of other ways (USB, eSata, Firewire 400/800), so I would definitely be able to make it work, without. And I personally am only using it for Time Machine, so being able to get the higher speeds through FireWire wouldn't make a huge difference to me.

So, would I use it, yes, would I actually need it to use my devices, no.

And as to the poll, in the future, I wouldn't make it a "public poll" where people can see what you selected, I would just make it a regular poll. It is just my feeling about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if I am alone with this opinion. It makes viewing the results a little easier, and I think that most people (well, me at least) like anonymity when voting on something, whatever, it doesn't make a huge difference.
 
Would I need it on a 10 inch netbook: no
Would I need it on a 13 inch notebook: yes, definitely

Therefore my next portable will be an MSI Wind or eeePC with Ubuntu or 10.5 Hackintosh.
Thank you Apple for helping me to save 800 bucks!
 
JML42691 said:
And as to the poll, in the future, I wouldn't make it a "public poll" where people can see what you selected, I would just make it a regular poll. It is just my feeling about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if I am alone with this opinion. It makes viewing the results a little easier, and I think that most people (well, me at least) like anonymity when voting on something, whatever, it doesn't make a huge difference.
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Yeah, I kind of wanted to hold people to their vote :D
As to the viewing results its only Yes or No and you can view it without seeing the details so.
 
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