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Q: Firewire in MBP13 vs MB White. How important is FW?

hundert

hundert

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 24, 2010
177
0
Hi!

I am not so up to date on shooting digital. Most of the stuff I shot was on HVX200, but times have changed and I have failed to inform myself.

Now. Back then, FireWire was inevitable for capturing footage. How is it done today? RED, Canon DSLR and other modern digicams, how do you capture footage today? Is it still FireWire?

Well, if it is not FW anymore, I dont see a reason to not get a MB White instead of MBP13. Simply, because it is the same machine for far less, without a FW port.

I speculate, that also MB White will be updated along with the MBP line, and I speculate that low end MBP 13 will be the same as its white brother, just as it is now the case. I guess, simply because it is cheaper for Apple to use the same stuff inside, instead of developing a different one.

What do you think? Do will I need FireWire in the future for capturing?


Thank you!
 
Not for capturing maybe,, but as an interface for an external HDD that you use as a scratch disk to store your video files on which you want to edit.

USB is capable of that too, but as the USB interface has no independent controller and has to transfer data through the CPU, USB is not as good as Firewire when it comes to a constant data rate, as Firewire has its own controller and is thud independent of the CPU.

If you only want to edit for yourself and YouTube like sites, then USB might be enough.

Also without Firewire there is no Target Disk Mode.


PS: Video recorded on digital cameras without tape are either stored on an internal HDD or a flash based medium like an SD or P2 card.
That data is then transferred via USB or a memory card reader or another interface.
 
oh yeah, now I remember. Thanks

Whenever I used ext. HDD on USB the video playback was not fluent.

We used an old computer to capture p2 card footage, it had that p2 card slot, that modern notebooks dont come with.

Very very disappointing Apple removing FireWire from the white book :(
 
hundert said:
...

Very very disappointing Apple removing FireWire from the white book :(
Click to expand...

Do you mean something like this in a PC?
pcdtp110cs_halfbk-xl.jpg


pcdtp110cs_application.jpg



There are external solutions for the ExpressCard /34 slot or for USB/Firewire ports.
exp34cba_application.gif

455632.jpg
 
it was a laptop. Yes, it was exactly that. I dont know how that slot is called, I dont think it is important for me to know ;)
 
hundert said:
I dont see a reason to not get a MB White instead of MBP13. Simply, because it is the same machine for far less, without a FW port.
Click to expand...

Well, you might be ok not having FW, but don't forget the other differences:

-Pro: slightly lighter, and slightly more solid and "durable" (less prone to cracking to due heat since aluminium spreads it better than plastic)
-Higher RAM possibility on MBPro (8Gb vs 4Gb.. although some have stated that you could upgrade the MB to 8Gb, while it might recognise 6Gb or something like that.. it was on here somewhere)
-Illuminated keyboard on MBPro
 
Firewire is way more useful on a Mac than on a PC, you'll use it as a High speed connection for a Time Machine External Hard Drive, also target mode if your MacBook goes wrong, overall the 13" MBP is a better computer than the White MacBook because of the way more resistant body, better screen with 60 % more color gamut, SD Slot, and a backlit keyboard, that's absolutely worth 200$ more on the longterm

EDIT: They won't have the same stuff, i think that with this update they'll make a difference
 
I have never in my life used FireWire. I don't know if that answers your question but I have a conon eos dslr and it uses an as card or USB FireWire seems kind of pointless.
 
99.999% of the world will never use firewire. If you're not sure you need it, you almost certainly dont.
 
Cali3350 said:
99.999% of the world will never use firewire. If you're not sure you need it, you almost certainly dont.
Click to expand...

I am sure I need it right now, but I am not sure, whether I will need it in the future.

Firewire is better for external HDD
Firewire is used today to capture footage from digital cameras/camcorders.
Target Disk Mode is used through that, so I am not sure about 99.999%

I think third of people with mac use it. What I am asking is whether I will need it in the future (I never use Target Disk Mode)
 
I've got a Mini DV semi-pro camcorder. I actually stopped using it while I've had those first generation unibody MacBooks and an Air. Now I have a few Apple portables with Firewire, yet I don't take advantage of them.

But Mini DV is good technology and it is a cheap format in terms of storage.

Besides, if you have another Firewired Mac, target disc is a great convenience.
 
These days I find that the most important use for Firewire is audio interfaces. The FW audio interfaces tend to perform better than their USB counterparts and there are also FW models with a higher number of inputs and outputs whereas USB models are generally limited to a handful of inputs and outputs because of bandwidth restrictions.

I like using my MBP with a FW audio interface to get better sound out of it than I would with its built-in soundcard. My hifi system doesn't have optical input so good quality DA converters are a must - you won't find those in integrated soundcards.
 
None of them will be as important as the connections that don't exist on any macbook yet.

ie USB3, Light Peak, ESata.

I am really unsure of why Target disk mode is that useful, I've never really had the urge to use my macbook pro as an external firewire drive on another computer. Also apple is working on target disk mode via ESata as I recall.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/08/apple-aims-to-patent-target-disk-mode-for-esata.ars

Esata is the port I want, the combined usb/Esata port would have been great. Quite a few pcs and notebooks have this port so I don't think it's due to technical issues.

And yes, Esata is Faster than firewire. 3gbs vs 800mbs. And ESata might get bumped to 6gbs soon too :) Now this is all theoretical unless you have an internal /external higher spec SSD. But in practical use at work, I know that a firewire 800 linked HD is slower than an internal Sata Drive of the same spec.
 
fibrizo said:
Esata is the port I want, the combined usb/Esata port would have been great. Quite a few pcs and notebooks have this port so I don't think it's due to technical issues.
Click to expand...

eSATA is useless for anything but external hard drives, that's its main problem since there are no other devices using the port. Both FireWire and USB are more multi-purpose.
 
You might not need Firewire to capture the footage, but until Apple releases a computer that has something better than USB, Firewire is your only choice for external hard drives.

tl;dr: If Apple laptops had eSATA, you might not need Firewire.

P.S. The MBP doesn't have an express card slot for expansion anymore, either.
 
kasakka said:
eSATA is useless for anything but external hard drives, that's its main problem since there are no other devices using the port. Both FireWire and USB are more multi-purpose.
Click to expand...

True. Which is why it's a combo usb2/ESATA port on most laptops.
 
hundert said:
I am sure I need it right now,
Click to expand...

Good, then it's settled. Get the MBP and be happy.

thejadedmonkey said:
You might not need Firewire to capture the footage, but until Apple releases a computer that has something better than USB, Firewire is your only choice for external hard drives.
Click to expand...

Ah really ? Guess I should just trash my Ethernet connected NAS then. And it was so fun accessing my files via my Wi-Fi network.
 
KnightWRX said:
Ah really ? Guess I should just trash my Ethernet connected NAS then. And it was so fun accessing my files via my Wi-Fi network.
Click to expand...

Some people think firewire is the only viable option, simply because they own it.

Also nice avatar.... Who the hell do you think I am? :p Of course I can store files externally without firewire.
 
KnightWRX said:
Good, then it's settled. Get the MBP and be happy.



Ah really ? Guess I should just trash my Ethernet connected NAS then. And it was so fun accessing my files via my Wi-Fi network.
Click to expand...

I have a MBP (two actually) but I need a new one soon.


And sharing files over WiFi is way to slow, I do it every day. FireWire is the only way for external HDD. USB2.0 is too slow for that and does not have a controller, which is very helpful when working with files directly from the HDD, like a video file.
 
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