Personally I hope not. Lack of firewire is an inconvenience to me. If I decided I needed it I'd pop back to a Pro.
Losing ethernet and having to carry around one more thing to lose would suck more for my purposes.
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No FireWire in MacBooks
- Thread starter kolax
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Personally I hope not. Lack of firewire is an inconvenience to me. If I decided I needed it I'd pop back to a Pro.
Losing ethernet and having to carry around one more thing to lose would suck more for my purposes.
I wish they'd implement this:
FireWire S800T (IEEE 1394c-2006)
FireWire is enhanced to share gigabit Category 5e cable
IEEE 1394c-2006 was published on June 8 2007.[21]
It provided a major technical improvement, namely new port specification that provides 800 Mbit/s over the same RJ45 connectors with Category 5e cable, which is specified in IEEE 802.3 clause 40 (gigabit Ethernet over copper twisted pair) along with a corresponding automatic negotiation that allows the same port to connect to either IEEE Std 1394 or IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) devices.
Though the potential for a combined Ethernet and FireWire RJ45 port is intriguing, as of Nomember 2008, there are no products or chipsets which include this capability.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire)
FireWire S800T (IEEE 1394c-2006)
FireWire is enhanced to share gigabit Category 5e cable
IEEE 1394c-2006 was published on June 8 2007.[21]
It provided a major technical improvement, namely new port specification that provides 800 Mbit/s over the same RJ45 connectors with Category 5e cable, which is specified in IEEE 802.3 clause 40 (gigabit Ethernet over copper twisted pair) along with a corresponding automatic negotiation that allows the same port to connect to either IEEE Std 1394 or IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) devices.
Though the potential for a combined Ethernet and FireWire RJ45 port is intriguing, as of Nomember 2008, there are no products or chipsets which include this capability.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire)
I see the possibility of it happening, but I would not hold my breath.
If Apple, and that's a big if, decides that they want to add FW to the MB, were will it go? Can they make room for another port and the chip(s) on the inside? Hard to say. But swapping out Ethernet for FW is definitely an option.
That sounds like a good solution. Sofmap usually checks things out pretty good so it should last a while.
I used a Japanese keyboard for a few years on my PB15. I miss it on my MBP15 which has an English keyboard. I really miss the @ key on the Japanese keyboard.
Many folks who use Ethernet at specific locations, say work and home, just get two connectors and leave them connected to the Ethernet cable and just plug in the USB end. That way they don't have to carry the adapters.
And when one the go, you use WiFi access for the most part, so you wouldn't need the adapter. Now I know you are thinking what about in hotel rooms. Well many provide Ethernet via DHCP. So I just carry my Airport Express with me. Plug the Ethernet into the AE and now I have a mini WiFi network in my hotel room. Can use with my laptops, touch, iPhone, etc. Works like a champ and is very convenient.
I would venture to say those of us who have been using Mac products for years and know the full extent of what you can do with FW would much prefer a FW port over an Ethernet port.
You can still buy a macbook just make sure it's the Polycarbonate one with the crappy Firewire 400 port. While you're there may as well order an external floppy drive as well because you never know....
Yeah, it seems pretty obvious that Apple is trying to nudge the people who really love/need FireWire towards the MacBook Pro. Shady, but clever.
It's not that clever, considering they're using the inferiour agere chipset in the MacBook "Pro". So people who really need it aren't "nudged" to buy the bigger, more unweildy one. No, they're forced off of the platform, unless they make a hackintosh.
Not clever at all, really.
It's still pissing people off, months after the launch.
I wonder if it was worth it for them to get those extra MacBook Pro sales at the expense of consumer loyalty and trust?
What's up your arse?
There are plenty of reasons why they should have a firewire port on the new macbooks. Apple has pushed the whole "make your own movies" angle for a while now and basically cutting out the casual movie maker with a perfectly good firewire based camera is not a great ploy.
Economic times are tough. buying a computer is a big investment for some. having to buy another camera is a deal breaker.
But the writing is on the wall for firewire. It was just too early. The comparison to the floppy is a poor one as there was an alternative to the floppy. there is no cheap alternative to losing the firewire port.
so why would you need ethernet port for portability? most places and houses have WiFi onlyor are you just trying to look for something to put the mac down for?
Looking at the board in a macbook i think there's room for both... I've seen far more cramped boards out there so...
and 1 more thing, a usb piece that weighs less than 1 ounce and worst case costs 20 bucks (ive found a price for like 5 bucks shipped on a usb ethernet dongle) is soo cumbersome that there are means to spend thousands more only to gain considerable carrying size and about a pound more of weight. Don't you think that logic is kind of flawed?
Guys don't blow things out of proportion. Oh noes no FW, yes inconvenient, but serious Professionals already are going to get the Pro, which is no compromise. There are plenty of card readers, and usb dongles (for direct camera link) out there. There are solutions within reason.
I can see the inconvenience and I would be angry if I thought of it as a price diversion. It does kind of feel like Mac is trying to pull the wool over our eyes and take away a previous standard feature to kind of round us up into buying a more expensive computer.
All Im saying is take a step back, and relax. Its solvable reasonably. Its a good computer w/ or w/out FW. I've heard many people say that the firewire was useless on past computer as well.
Look its been said many times before but:
All top pro external audio sound cards are firewire. Including products made by the mac only Apogee. USB is not considered as highly in the industry (almost but not quite)
Why do audio people have to go to a 15" laptop, to use firewire? Its ridiculous. (don't give me the 'pro' garbage, thats just Apple's marketing name)
We are not talking about an expensive connection here. Its just firewire.
All top pro external audio sound cards are firewire. Including products made by the mac only Apogee. USB is not considered as highly in the industry (almost but not quite)
Why do audio people have to go to a 15" laptop, to use firewire? Its ridiculous. (don't give me the 'pro' garbage, thats just Apple's marketing name)
We are not talking about an expensive connection here. Its just firewire.
I would NOT prefer losing my ethernet jack over my FW. Many places offer limited wireless speeds, but sometimes offer ethernet cable alternatives. I use my ethernet jack much more than my FW. That said, Apple should have never removed FW from the MB line.