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New Apple Portables To Drop FireWire Support?

California said:
By taking Firewire off a new line of iPods and macs, whatever they are, Apple would be effectively limiting what could be done by do it yourselfers like myself.

Now I like and admire Jobs. In his own way, he's a ruthless artist. Dumping firewire would be part and parcel of his control freak persona -- limiting what we can do with Apples and -- guess what -- I believe it would be helping to maintain their mystique. Windoze pcs have no mystique because you can pull them apart and step on them and then snap the virus vacuums together like Lego pieces.
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Listen fella, I really, really, REALLY need you to explain what the heck you're on about here!! How on earth can the "limiting" of a machine be seen as a means of ensuring the Mac "mystique" remains!?

As another poster has already pointed out the idea of not being able to hook-up consumer DV devices so Joe Average can edit the family holiday in iMovie and then author and burn under iDVD really defeats the objective of the digital lifestyle introduced by Apple with the iBooks and PowerBooks... It ain't gonna happen!!

I could see the introduction of 4pin connectors as a possibility but not the complete removal of!!
 
WTF ?? i just woke up and saw this on the front page ?


is it april already, if apple drop firewire then i can see many people dropping apple's new machines

isight,dv camera , ACD's and HDD's all use or have the firewire ports

just crazy
 
California said:
By taking Firewire off a new line of iPods and macs, whatever they are, Apple would be effectively limiting what could be done by do it yourselfers like myself.

Now I like and admire Jobs. In his own way, he's a ruthless artist. Dumping firewire would be part and parcel of his control freak persona -- limiting what we can do with Apples and -- guess what -- I believe it would be helping to maintain their mystique. Windoze pcs have no mystique because you can pull them apart and step on them and then snap the virus vacuums together like Lego pieces.

Jobs is afraid of that. He created the thing we all love about Apple -- intelligent design.
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There's nothing intelligent (from a consumers standpoint) about not having a firewire port on an iBook.

From Apple's perspective, I suppose it could be a way to drive more people to buy a more expensive PowerBook (with higher profit margins for Apple). Apple has been in a tough spot for a few years now, trying to distinguish the PowerBook line from the iBooks... crippling an iBook by taking away firewire would certainly make Powerbooks more attractive. I wouldn't call that intelligent either though...
 
I think this move is likely in one form or another. Even though I don't like it.

Firewire will likely be phased out of some consumer level products, and might become a CTO option as with the modem on the minis. I definitely agree with most that FW of some sort will remain standard on the power boxes.

Wouldn't you consider a USB only $500 Intel iBook as was rumored a few days ago?

Also, have we completely forgotten the move away from SCSI to IDE/Firewire? Used to be that all Macs had SCSI buses for the internal HD and external devices. Just like there were FireWire to SCSI adapters, there are already some ~$100 USB2 to Firewire 400 cables available that handle DV and have already been mentioned in the iPod forums. Apple could choose to make this a $50 option for those who use FW400 for DV and maybe even external hard drives.

B
 
magi.sys said:
I think it is very possible that Apple will drop FW400.
It's very easy to downconvert FW800 to FW400 with an adapter.
I think Apple will just move to all FW800 and drop FW400 completely, now that would make sense.

so my guess would be ibooks and powerbooks both have FW800. Maybe the powerbooks will have 2 FW800 ports ;)
they will probaly drop PCMCIA too and replace it with that PCI-express equivalent.
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Good point. I hope it's that.
 
Rating on this thread:
20 Positives; 395 Negatives​
There couldn't be a worse reaction unless they omitted the hard disk.
 
Bakey said:
Listen fella, I really, really, REALLY need you to explain what the heck you're on about here!! How on earth can the "limiting" of a machine be seen as a means of ensuring the Mac "mystique" remains!?

As another poster has already pointed out the idea of not being able to hook-up consumer DV devices so Joe Average can edit the family holiday in iMovie and then author and burn under iDVD really defeats the objective of the digital lifestyle introduced by Apple with the iBooks and PowerBooks... It ain't gonna happen!!

I could see the introduction of 4pin connectors as a possibility but not the complete removal of!!
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First, not a "fella".

Second the thought is that if Jobs wants to beat Dell at the cheap laptop game, dumping firewire might be the trick so the ibook becomes just an email and letter writing machine, which is what most people I know use 'em for.

Third, I am just thinking that the people at Apple ARE thinking all this through, and I'm old enough to recall "the horror" when there were no floppy drives on the CRT G3 iMacs.

I love FW but I'm just sayin' Jobs and co. have outthink us all for the good of the company and they are up against Evilsoft. But I'll be no fan of the Mactels, buying a new PB tomorrow.

One thing that I would do quick if I were Jobs would be shut down all Chinese manufacturing for Apple because I've noticed that the ChiComs are already counterfeiting the Shuffle in identical packaging and plastics, sans the Apple logo. With their penchant for reverse manufacturing and
***k you counterfeiting, Jobs may have made a big mistake in opening plants in the still totalitarian nation in order to "save money".

I bothers me that I lost the gamble and both my 12 and 14 inch new iBooks were made in China, quality on tiny detail is poor (front bezels not fitted exactly right, etc.) and i hate it that my money is going towards supporting a militaristic Orwellian regime with no free speech, no real property rights and a lot of people in labor camps. Sorry to digress but it does bug me!
 
this would be a huge mistake for apple if they want the intel gen. to begin nicely with the apple PowerPC faithful (myself included) I have no doubt that firewire 400 will still be included, how many external hard drives only have firewire 400 ports, how bout camcorders, how about apple's own iSight camera, how about firewire target disk mode, this is not being dropped.

Tyler
 
Even if this were true..

...then couldnt you just buy a PCMCIA adaptor card? Or would this mystical machine come without those too?

The ONLY way I would believe this rumor is if Apple were trying to design the Mac mini of laptops. Entry level, small, designed for a very particular market.

Hmm.

It wasn't long ago a lot of us on here were saying - "What?? No way Apple is going to release an iPod without a screen!" Then the shuffle came out. Everyone then said "oh, that makes sense. Its for the users who dont need a screen. Very specific market"

A sub 500 dollar Mac laptop would be kinda sweet, and if it had PCMCIA expansion slots, you could always add what you wanted later I suppose.

I think people are constrewing this rumor, if there is any truth in it at all, to mean Apple would abandon firewire in all of its laptops going forward. I dont think thats what the rumor is saying, really.

Apple is far too locked into firewire to drop it as a technology.
 
I for one wouldn't be upset, so long as they include 2 1394b 800 ports (and converter cables) or 1 1394b 800 and 1 1394b 1600 port. :drools:

But if they don't, I certainly won't be buying one. FW TDM and bootability (although that's strictly a firmware issue - PC's have USB boot) are essential. One of the reasons I'm not getting a new iPod too. I can't boot from it. When my current one runs out of space, I'll get a 60 GB iPod photo.

Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.
 
my goodness what is the point to preinstall iMovie then?!
how to CAPTURE from DV cam?! nooooooooooo

dont give us something like i-link
i dont want to buy new cables
i need firewire 400, seriously
otherwise do i also need to throw away my external HDD?!
 
This is not completely unusual for Apple. First, they tell us that something is perfect, then they drop it leaving us in the cold.

Do not take me wrong. I love the Mac, but this is too much.

Apple, please, do not do stupid things again (remember when Apple did not unclude CD-R or CD-RW drives for a long, long, long time?):

- Need Firerwire on Mac for booting from external devices, for Target Disk Mode, for camcorders, for daisy-chain and for convenience.

- Need to boot from iPods for repairs. Need Firewire on iPods!

- Need dual DVD-RW drives on Mac. Even cheap PC-Windows out there have had it for years! One DVD-RW and one DVD read only on the same Mac. Perfect for cuplicating CDs and DVDs. Legally, of course.

- Need more choice. Bring back the cube or something equivalent. A quiet powerful NOT-all-in-one computer with external monitor. I do not want to trow away my magnificent Apple Cinema Display after three years (read iMac G5 main problem). And the Mac mini is not powerful enough and very limited (a single Firewire port is not enough).

Please. Thanks.
 
My iBook is getting old now and I will be replacing in within the next year, I am hoping it had enough life left in it until the Intel iBook’s arrive June should be okay but Jan would be great.

I make extensive use Firewire on it, 3G iPod, Firewire hard drive, and Camcorder.

If apple were to remove Firewire from the next version of the iBook, it would mean that I would be buying an older model (the current G4 model) second had, from one of the auction sites. Or considering the ultimate betrayal and moving to a PC laptop with Firewire built in or a PCMCIA slot to allows me to add it
 
~Shard~ said:
Maybe Steve is going to replace Firewire with wireless firewire instead! :eek: ;)

Hmm, "wireless firewire" - wouldn't that just be fire?
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Maybe that is how the rumor started? Someone told O'Grady that the new Apple Macs would have Firewireless ports and he misunderstood ;)
 
Don't Worry!

That website hasn't got the best track record in predicting anything, but Apple hasn't got the greatest track record in NOT doing silly things at times!

If a FW800 only iBook comes out don't worry there will be 20 company's jumping on the band wagon with every adaptor configuration known to man. LaCie already ship their large HD's with FW800 only but include a FW800-FW400 cable in the box.

Hell, Apple might include one in the box??? Be cheaper than having to add it to the mainboard, and will help keep the iBook size down cramming in less.
 
GeeYouEye said:
Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.
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No, G4 533MHz Towers didn't have one... I had to buy a iMic... Apple sometimes have a brain explosion!
 
This is really bad news, I always found Firewire useful when i wanted to back up mac's or transfer data to someone elese's mac. it worked beautifully, its a must to mac's and i cant see why apple would want to get rid of it, as it can't be expensive or troublesome to add to machines,

Shadow
 
GeeYouEye said:
Oh, and to whoever brought it up: the only Apple line to NOT ship with a mic/line-in port was the iBook line. Everything else since the original Macintosh has.
Click to expand...

Um, wrong. The original Mac 128, 512, Plus, SE (etc.) had no line in. The Digital Audio G4's and Quicksilver G4's had no line in. I'm sure there are several other ones that were missing it too.
 
Apple sucks at the moment, First no chargers in iPod boxes, then this? this company is trying to cut costs, but in a crappy way!
 
Just like apple would NEVER drop ADB.
Or like apple would NEVER go to intel.
Or like apple would NEVER sell a two button mouse. ;)
 
Didn't Jobs, in one of his keynotes, say that they weren't going to support firewire for the ipod?

I don't know, but that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title of thread. I may just be crazy though.
 
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