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New Apple Portables To Drop FireWire Support?
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I think this is complete BS. I know Apple's support of Firewire has waned in recent years but that's just explained by the USB 2.0 standard. The iPod issue is a matter of cost and supporting USB 2 is the only sensible solution, as Firewire is not standard on every PC. However, there is no reason to drop it from notebooks, especially when it is useful for video. Let's not forget that the iSight requires a Firewire port and iChat still doesn't even support USB cameras without a hack.
The cost of putting a FW port on the iBook is virtually zero. But take one away, and I (and many others) won't buy one because we need Firewire. I have a FW hard drive and I use the port for mini DV video. Sure, I could switch to USB 2 for my iPod (4G B&W) but Firewire syncing is faster (sustained).
Like I said, this is BS.
The cost of putting a FW port on the iBook is virtually zero. But take one away, and I (and many others) won't buy one because we need Firewire. I have a FW hard drive and I use the port for mini DV video. Sure, I could switch to USB 2 for my iPod (4G B&W) but Firewire syncing is faster (sustained).
Like I said, this is BS.
bad move
i have a 1ghz powerbook and i'm using the fw400 to transfer and charge my 5gb 1st gen ipod my fw800 is connected to my owc 259gb hard drive. I'd be really dissapointed if apple dropped the fw. Its much better than usb/2. I also btw have a pc card for my usb2 connections. Needless to say I don't take my powerbook anywhere! When i buy a new ipod i'll use the pc card which is fine but i bought the drive a few months ago so when i buy the new powerbook i still want to use the owc drive. I don't like much how Apple pushed the firewire and now a few years down the line after we've all bought firewire peripherals they drop it. One thing tho... I just checked my drive and it has usb2 as well. I guess it depends on how many people have old fw400 stuff without usb2 connections.
i have a 1ghz powerbook and i'm using the fw400 to transfer and charge my 5gb 1st gen ipod my fw800 is connected to my owc 259gb hard drive. I'd be really dissapointed if apple dropped the fw. Its much better than usb/2. I also btw have a pc card for my usb2 connections. Needless to say I don't take my powerbook anywhere! When i buy a new ipod i'll use the pc card which is fine but i bought the drive a few months ago so when i buy the new powerbook i still want to use the owc drive. I don't like much how Apple pushed the firewire and now a few years down the line after we've all bought firewire peripherals they drop it. One thing tho... I just checked my drive and it has usb2 as well. I guess it depends on how many people have old fw400 stuff without usb2 connections.
and to think i put a firewire card into the pc i built just to support all the fw devices i have for my macs... this story sounds like it should be on MacRumors' Page 3!
Part of his blog post:
"I reported back in October, that when Apple launched the video iPod sans FireWire, they also moved their FireWire Web page from a prominent location on the top level of Apple.com to a sub-page in the bowels of their developer Web site. Coincidence? You tell me."
Of course, he neglects to mention that the same thing happened to USB. Both technologies had their own special pages, now they redirect you to an article on developer.apple.com.
Nonetheless, I don't think this is true at all. What do you do with your iSight? How do you import video into iMovie? What about Mac users that have FireWire accessories? This makes no sense to me.
"I reported back in October, that when Apple launched the video iPod sans FireWire, they also moved their FireWire Web page from a prominent location on the top level of Apple.com to a sub-page in the bowels of their developer Web site. Coincidence? You tell me."
Of course, he neglects to mention that the same thing happened to USB. Both technologies had their own special pages, now they redirect you to an article on developer.apple.com.
Nonetheless, I don't think this is true at all. What do you do with your iSight? How do you import video into iMovie? What about Mac users that have FireWire accessories? This makes no sense to me.
Then I guess you're lucky. Mine is Firewire only. Still, why would you want to use the slower version when it supports Firewire? Like I said before, I hope this comes to nothing.yellowdog22 said:
I specifically went for FW over USB because Firewire was the preferred connection for video and I was switching to Macs: I knew that Macs were safe in that they all contained FW. Removing FW from some Macs will create a more complex system and basically drive the final nail into the coffin.
Sure, it could and we all hope that it is wrong. But the scary thing is that it is something that Apple could do, considering the way Firewire (and Apple's support of it) has been going recently.javiercr said:
if this is true - this is seriously fu#$%d!!!
is Apple going to start compromising now to give us cheaper prices for all the Windows users to switch!!! id rather pay a premium for a full featured computer, than a cheap stripped down toy.....
thats why i chose Mac in the first place.
Im going to be really dissapointed if this is true?
(sorry i havnt read through all the posts, i needed to write this down first -probably been said a hundred times allready!)
is Apple going to start compromising now to give us cheaper prices for all the Windows users to switch!!! id rather pay a premium for a full featured computer, than a cheap stripped down toy.....
thats why i chose Mac in the first place.
Im going to be really dissapointed if this is true?
(sorry i havnt read through all the posts, i needed to write this down first -probably been said a hundred times allready!)
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The new iPod feels like a cheap toy, don't do the same to the iBooks!
Target disk is very important to me!!!!
The new iPod feels like a cheap toy, don't do the same to the iBooks!
Target disk is very important to me!!!!
what about my MOTU audio interface? and firewire harddrives!
i can't believe apple would drop support for something so popular especially in the creative industry. but perhaps upgrade cards will be avaliable to add firewire.
i can't believe apple would drop support for something so popular especially in the creative industry. but perhaps upgrade cards will be avaliable to add firewire.
This would make iMovie useless for all iBook owners. Unless they're going to introduce some kind of FW-USB converter to accompany iMovie, it's surely nothing more than extreme nonsense.
I'm amazed MR considered this worthy of a front page posting and not a Page 2, frankly. Does O'Grady have a real source, or is he just searching for hits? Only time will tell, but for the iMovie reason alone I'd be shocked.
Are we also therefore expecting a USB iSight any time soon?
I'm amazed MR considered this worthy of a front page posting and not a Page 2, frankly. Does O'Grady have a real source, or is he just searching for hits? Only time will tell, but for the iMovie reason alone I'd be shocked.
Are we also therefore expecting a USB iSight any time soon?
a step too far
Switching to intel I can accept - that's fine, as was converting from ADC to DVI. Dropping firewire I can't! Firewire and Apple go togeather perfectly. This will be one strong reason for me not to invest in the new intel machines.
Google, bring on that open sourse OS
Switching to intel I can accept - that's fine, as was converting from ADC to DVI. Dropping firewire I can't! Firewire and Apple go togeather perfectly. This will be one strong reason for me not to invest in the new intel machines.
Google, bring on that open sourse OS
"No....thats not true, thats impossible!!!!" - Luke Skywalker, Empire Strikes Back
Firewire and USB are two very different technologies, better suited for different things.
Firewire is a peer-to-peer bus, and being so, you can use it for networking and Firewire Disk Mode. Most DV cameras nowadays have Firewire ports, and a lot of Mac users make movies with iMovie. Firewire has six-pins: four for data, two for power
Firewire hard drives have not only faster transfers, but in my experience have more reliable transfers.
USB is a master/slave bus, and is therefore best suited for general peripherals like mice, hard drives, printers, and iPods. It has
Also, speed-wise, Firewire 400 decimates USB 2.0.
http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
- Luke Skywalker, Empire Strikes Back Firewire and USB are two very different technologies, better suited for different things.
Firewire is a peer-to-peer bus, and being so, you can use it for networking and Firewire Disk Mode. Most DV cameras nowadays have Firewire ports, and a lot of Mac users make movies with iMovie. Firewire has six-pins: four for data, two for power
Firewire hard drives have not only faster transfers, but in my experience have more reliable transfers.
USB is a master/slave bus, and is therefore best suited for general peripherals like mice, hard drives, printers, and iPods. It has
Also, speed-wise, Firewire 400 decimates USB 2.0.
http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
I could see Apple including a single FW 800 port. It would still allow FW 400 peripherals to connect and jump start FW 800.
Not read through the 6 pages of outrage but this would be a way to differentiate between 'power'and 'i' lines of laptops.
it would of course mean i wouldn't touch the new ibook (audio interfaces and external drives are necessary for me) but many people never use firewire and wouldn't be put off.
it would of course mean i wouldn't touch the new ibook (audio interfaces and external drives are necessary for me) but many people never use firewire and wouldn't be put off.
johnnyjibbs said:
Likewise. Firewire is far superior to usb2. I've bought Lacie firewire only drives because performance is better than firewire/usb2 combination equivalents.
I also love the fact that both my PM and PB have FW 400 + 800. 400 is nice and adds connectivity to a huge variety of quality peripherals and 800 is a real bonus for large transfers.
If this is true, which I doubt, Apple will appear to be gearing up their machines for mass market approval. It's nice being part of a niche. My question is, are we coming out the other side of Apple's golden era?
there's nothing like using the power of mac rumour sites to start a rumour like this so everyone buys the last PPC ones and hey presto, old stock depleted, and new releases have firewire 400 and 800 as standard.
or am i missing something here?
or am i missing something here?
Please read the article....
... uhhh. I should have read it. Missed the iBook comment.
It's understandable for the Powerbooks. FireWire is backward compatible and use is limited to video auditing or external drives only.
But dropping it from the iBook is not the right thing to do. Too many miniDV camcorders are using it, and that's what non pro users have.
... uhhh. I should have read it. Missed the iBook comment.
It's understandable for the Powerbooks. FireWire is backward compatible and use is limited to video auditing or external drives only.
But dropping it from the iBook is not the right thing to do. Too many miniDV camcorders are using it, and that's what non pro users have.
Maybe that’s because they’ll get FireWireLESS 400
So they just moved your FW 400 ports to the new Airport Express Steve would like to sell you.
Edit: ups, beaten to it
So they just moved your FW 400 ports to the new Airport Express Steve would like to sell you.
Edit: ups, beaten to it
bad idea, I don't think this will happen, pretty much all DV Cameras use fierwire, not to mention tons of External HD's, optical drives, ect, ect...
I don't think you can positon yourself as a media editing computer (i.e. imovie) without having firewire support. But you never know, apple always has been good at dropping stuff that they feel no longer serves a purpose (i.e. disk drives).
I don't think you can positon yourself as a media editing computer (i.e. imovie) without having firewire support. But you never know, apple always has been good at dropping stuff that they feel no longer serves a purpose (i.e. disk drives).