Just wanted to shout out to all the tons of people who voted to bring back firewire... hats off to you
And apparently now you have voted to bring back this thread.
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Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in MacBooks
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And apparently now you have voted to bring back this thread.
There can be only 1
(Firewire port on most of the consumer lines these days, but at least that's better than nothing)
(Firewire port on most of the consumer lines these days, but at least that's better than nothing)
Yup - again. Macbooks no longer have FW. In fact the new MB is almost exactly like mine. Except mine has separate audio in/out ports, a 2.4GHz processor and a backlit keyboard. And cooler black keys and black around the screen.
Yup - again. Macbooks no longer have FW. In fact the new MB is almost exactly like mine. Except mine has separate audio in/out ports, a 2.4GHz processor and a backlit keyboard. And cooler black keys and black around the screen.
Except it's $500 cheaper than what you paid for yours.
Except it's $500 cheaper than what you paid for yours.
True, but I've also had the use of mine for the last eleven months. And I didn't notice at first that the new MB is still polycarbonate, not aluminum. I'd still pick mine, although from the start what I really wanted was the current 13" MBP. Oh well, I'm happy for another year or two, when this one will get passed along to my wife and I'll get an Arrandale or Arrandale successor based laptop.
Amazed after all this that Apple would release an updated Macbook without Firewire. Its not like they didn't have the room. It and the macbook air are the only machines without Firewire 800. Seems really odd. Sticks out like a sore thumb.
I can only imagine that its meant as a differentiator. But a silly one at that.
BTW, I'm a happy clam with my new 13" MBP with fw800. The 13" MBP seems like a better machine for a reasonable price all around.
I can only imagine that its meant as a differentiator. But a silly one at that.
BTW, I'm a happy clam with my new 13" MBP with fw800. The 13" MBP seems like a better machine for a reasonable price all around.
It will probably fall on deaf ears in a thread that's mainly frequented by those people who care about FW, but I'll say it again.
Firewire is dead. Apple is very kind in phasing it out slowly, and keeping it on the pro machines for now mainly because of all the expensive FW peripherals the pros have assembled over the years.
But you have to realize that these pros such as yourself are a tiny, miniscule market. Name a single PC that comes with FW standard - there are none. That's because FW is a dead technology. Apple is now selling to consumers most of who never even heard of FW.
And from hereon out, it's deader than ever before. Once Apple phased it out, there was no reason anymore to produce more FW peripherals so all those that do still use it will switch to other interfaces very quickly.
I'd be surprised if there was any new hardware with a FW interface coming out over the last year. Cameras and what have you have long jumped ship. So now it's all about your precious legacy equipment which is becoming obsolete quickly.
Personally, I don't understand techno-nostalgia. Let's move on, folks!
Firewire is dead. Apple is very kind in phasing it out slowly, and keeping it on the pro machines for now mainly because of all the expensive FW peripherals the pros have assembled over the years.
But you have to realize that these pros such as yourself are a tiny, miniscule market. Name a single PC that comes with FW standard - there are none. That's because FW is a dead technology. Apple is now selling to consumers most of who never even heard of FW.
And from hereon out, it's deader than ever before. Once Apple phased it out, there was no reason anymore to produce more FW peripherals so all those that do still use it will switch to other interfaces very quickly.
I'd be surprised if there was any new hardware with a FW interface coming out over the last year. Cameras and what have you have long jumped ship. So now it's all about your precious legacy equipment which is becoming obsolete quickly.
Personally, I don't understand techno-nostalgia. Let's move on, folks!
No Firewire? They should call it the MacBook Noob
It's not about techno-nostalgia. It's about being able to hook up a Mac to a Mac via Target Disk Mode and instantly transfer large files without having to blow an extra $100 ~ $200 on an external hard drive that you should then plan on carrying around with you everywhere you take your computer.
It's about being able to move from an old Mac to a new Mac seamlessly through a TDM data migration. Apple wants you to be without FW/TDM so that you have to rely on their $99 OneToOne for all your transfers. Don't get me wrong, OneToOne has great value for that price but it shouldn't be mandatory for folks who just want their files moved and are competent to do it themselves.
It's about the number of ports you have at your disposal. On my black MacBook (champion of champions!) I often use both of my USB ports and my FW400 port at the same time. One reason for this is that many USB hard drives require two USB cables to power the drive (another reason USB is inferior). So that leaves you with 0 available ports while your external drive is plugged in. So much for external-to-external data transfers.
It's about not being able to use your perfectly good FW camcorder and having to buy a new one. Now add $500 ~ $1000 to the cost of your new Mac purchase. Or just spend $200 more and get the 13" MBP, which is what Apple is basically telling you to do.
Don't people realize they've lost an important feature?
I don't believe in disempowering the consumer like that. Especially when it would have cost what, an extra $1 to add a FW port?
Overall, the new MacBooks are cool, especially the larger hard drive. It's just hard to get really excited when they take a useful tool away.
It's not about techno-nostalgia. It's about being able to hook up a Mac to a Mac via Target Disk Mode and instantly transfer large files without having to blow an extra $100 ~ $200 on an external hard drive that you should then plan on carrying around with you everywhere you take your computer.
It's about being able to move from an old Mac to a new Mac seamlessly through a TDM data migration. Apple wants you to be without FW/TDM so that you have to rely on their $99 OneToOne for all your transfers. Don't get me wrong, OneToOne has great value for that price but it shouldn't be mandatory for folks who just want their files moved and are competent to do it themselves.
It's about the number of ports you have at your disposal. On my black MacBook (champion of champions!) I often use both of my USB ports and my FW400 port at the same time. One reason for this is that many USB hard drives require two USB cables to power the drive (another reason USB is inferior). So that leaves you with 0 available ports while your external drive is plugged in. So much for external-to-external data transfers.
It's about not being able to use your perfectly good FW camcorder and having to buy a new one. Now add $500 ~ $1000 to the cost of your new Mac purchase. Or just spend $200 more and get the 13" MBP, which is what Apple is basically telling you to do.
Don't people realize they've lost an important feature?
I don't believe in disempowering the consumer like that. Especially when it would have cost what, an extra $1 to add a FW port?
Overall, the new MacBooks are cool, especially the larger hard drive. It's just hard to get really excited when they take a useful tool away.
It's not pro. There's a LOT of crappy laptop PCs and motherboards that have FireWire.
Most users don't even know what the port is or what the port is for. It's as good as wasted space to most people. With the emergence of the low-end solid state pocket camcorder market, the whole "cheap camcorders use FireWire" argument is pretty much irrelevant.
MOTU Audio converters
Have a FW MOTU (a company that has been making audio products for Macs since the beginning) and it is only about a year old. They have several FW products. I have a 1 TB LaCie FW 800 drive that I use for Time Machine and it is REALLY fast!
I may be wrong on this but there may be a licensing fee to SONY for FW and that could be in the equation.
Didn't they remove FW from the low end Macbook Pro last year? Not sure about that either but I guess it has returned.
All of my stuff has FW. 4 LaCie FW drives, MOTU 8pre FW audio interface and Sony Digital 8 camcorders, Aluminum iMac and White Macbook. If FW is history, I'm in deep doo doo!
Have a FW MOTU (a company that has been making audio products for Macs since the beginning) and it is only about a year old. They have several FW products. I have a 1 TB LaCie FW 800 drive that I use for Time Machine and it is REALLY fast!
I may be wrong on this but there may be a licensing fee to SONY for FW and that could be in the equation.
Didn't they remove FW from the low end Macbook Pro last year? Not sure about that either but I guess it has returned.
All of my stuff has FW. 4 LaCie FW drives, MOTU 8pre FW audio interface and Sony Digital 8 camcorders, Aluminum iMac and White Macbook. If FW is history, I'm in deep doo doo!
Apple was the driving force behind FireWire.
I doubt if it has been dropped because of licensing issues.
Apparently the virtues of firewire fall on some deaf ears...
Why lurk in a thread about a "dead" technology anyway? Why not lurk in the USB2.0 is better than anything and will never become obsolete thread.
People make a huge deal of a CPU getting a 10% speed bump. Not a big deal. Firewire800 in real world often has 5x(5 times, 500%) the throughput of USB 2.0 (15MB/sec for USB vs 80MB/sec for fw800). Are you saying that isn't significant? You'd rather go with the popular but glacially slow USB rather than zip along with firewire 800?
Apple has ADDed firewire 800 to more machines than its removed. The Macbook is the only machine where Apple has removed firewire.
If this is evidence that firewire is dead, I guess that also means that infrared remotes are also dead and obsolete, and SD memory is apparently suddenly dead and gone.
And BTW, many laptops have firewire, also known as 1394. In fact I've seen more now than I have in the past. A random example is the Lenovo T series.
Let see ...
Crappy Dell Precision 390 I'm using at the moment. No pro version here.
Wife's HP laptop at home. Not high either.
What are you talking about!
Well, it kinda sucks that the new MB doesn't have FW. I can see Apple wanting to keep a feature differential between the MB and the 13"MBP and FW is an easy way to do that.
I guess Apple has done the math and decided that the target market for the MB doesn't need FW. If you need FW, then you can step up to the 13"MBP. It's only $200 more and has a few other features (SD slot, lighted keyboard, aluminum body, etc).
To me, it's less of an issue than the first time around when Apple dropped FW from the uniMB. The price and size differential to get FW was a bigger deal. I think it was $300 price difference and you had to jump to the 15"er to get it.
When I'm in the market for a new laptop, it seems like I'll go with the MBP. I'll just have to save a couple more bucks.
I guess Apple has done the math and decided that the target market for the MB doesn't need FW. If you need FW, then you can step up to the 13"MBP. It's only $200 more and has a few other features (SD slot, lighted keyboard, aluminum body, etc).
To me, it's less of an issue than the first time around when Apple dropped FW from the uniMB. The price and size differential to get FW was a bigger deal. I think it was $300 price difference and you had to jump to the 15"er to get it.
When I'm in the market for a new laptop, it seems like I'll go with the MBP. I'll just have to save a couple more bucks.
Agreed. They did it to differentiate. Just seems a little lame. No SD slot, no FW, no infrared remote. The 13" MBP is definitely a better deal.
I guess I am biased because I live in Asia. There are giant computer malls and IT malls over here. But FW is a very rare commodity, something you need to look for, and you will only find in the very expensive Mac shops.
Sorry I was wrong about PCs coming with FW, I had no idea. Guess it took them a decade to drop RS323 and PS/2 ports as well - I should have checked
Anyhoo - somebody asked why I'd be trolling a thread about dead tech, and to that person I say: Damn, you are absolutely right! Bye!
Sorry I was wrong about PCs coming with FW, I had no idea. Guess it took them a decade to drop RS323 and PS/2 ports as well - I should have checked
Anyhoo - somebody asked why I'd be trolling a thread about dead tech, and to that person I say: Damn, you are absolutely right! Bye!
Have a FW MOTU (a company that has been making audio products for Macs since the beginning) and it is only about a year old. They have several FW products. I have a 1 TB LaCie FW 800 drive that I use for Time Machine and it is REALLY fast!
All of my stuff has FW. 4 LaCie FW drives, MOTU 8pre FW audio interface and Sony Digital 8 camcorders, Aluminum iMac and White Macbook. If FW is history, I'm in deep doo doo!
You're right to bring up iMacs. You'll notice then new ones only have one FireWire port, which is pretty much a deal breaker for musicians using iMacs. Anyone with a Firewire audio interface and a FireWire 800 drive for fast recording is now screwed. Even if the (usually FireWire 400) interface didn't require its own FireWire port (which they do if they're powerful enough), and you tried to chain together the drive and the interface, you're nice FireWire 800 hard drive will drop back to FireWire 400.
As someone in a forum here in Australia noted - It's not a Mac if it doesn't have FireWire. (Sorry Air owners.)
I'd like to add - It's not a Mac desktop with only one FireWire port! Tough luck for anyone doing any real work. The iMac just became an email and word processing machine, an over powered netbook with a BFScreen.
Apple just don't get it. Mac = FireWire and lots of it. Stop penny pinching, Apple! You just make yourselves look foolish.
Now if they bring out a 10" MacBook, do we demand FireWire on a netbook, too?? You know what my answer would be.