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i have to agree with all the ranting

it might be noisy if you are not interested in the issue

for all i care this is all just a huge mediatic stunt from A

since the alleged "uninteresting" keynote this is the hot tech issue of the moment,
all mac media and some more is just pumping news everyday

we have have stevie answering mails on a regular basis to keep us well informed !

but,
and this is important:

if everybody goes along with the "its done and you better accept it asap" attitude
or even worse,
start ebaying and craiglisting their perfectly usable gear just to get shiny toys and follow the word of the lord

they will actually confirm they can do whatever they want without any consequences,
firewire will be dead from all macs soon if they wish to
and whatever they decide will go next even if it happens to be something you care or depend on

we live strange times were consumers seem to have no saying about what they are intended to consume

not true, our money matters alot to this ppl

i would love to see their reaction if no new shinybooks were sold in the 1st day,
not even one,
for fun it would even be nice if any sales would of refurbs

i bet new versions would be announced the very next day
along with a nice campaign about how they learn with their mistakes and are now soft green instead of plain green...

unfortunately something as simple, civil and organized as this is never going to happen so massive ranting that wont stop after a couple of days and even huge selling numbers is our second best option

needless to say, all this imho...
 
BTW, I'm angry ;). I was waiting, willing and eager (nay, desperate) to give Apple some of my money and they've managed to talk me out of it!

Same here, I was going to get the MBP anyway but the way Apple are treating their products now I'm at a real loss.
 
Apple is so out of touch its just amazing. Back in the days Apple served the creative community. Engineers were talking about colour workflow, PS filter performance, low latency in music, real time effects in video etc. Now its all about iThis iThat. Making consumer electronics then computers for pro's is probably much more profitable but do they really want to loose their core audience that has kept them alive all these years. Unfortunately it seems Apple has chosen a direction which isn't geared towards putting food on media professionals table (I'm not just talking about FW ports or glossy screens). The iWay of making nice looking machines and forgetting usability is very sad indeed. Good looks mean very very little for creators. I'm sure project managers, producers etc. like good looks but in the end of the day they are just another flavor of office suits and not creative pro's. Apple could easily make ultimate media pro laptop that leaves everything else in the dust but I guess it now makes more sense to concentrate on the consumers. Regarding the death of FW its complete bull. None of the professional cams, decks etc. use USB. Its SDI or FW. I think we now need a another Apple and I mean it same way that companies like Sony and Panasonic have Professional Broadcasting departments that design equipment for professionals. Apple's product line is way too thin if they want to cater the consumers and professionals.
 
Actually I'm arguing precisely the opposite.

I don't work in the video industry at all. I own a camcorder essentially to take vacation footage, and edit videos. I'm a consumer, just like you.

But, I happen to be pretty good at it, and have a pretty good eye for quality, and am willing to spend a bit more money on a decent camera....So Apple is telling me that I'm not a consumer anymore? Because I care about nicer quality video, suddenly I'm lumped in with the professional video editors? Flattering, maybe, but not practical.

Imagine that iPhoto only worked with pocket-sized point-and-shoot cameras. Imagine that as soon as you buy a digital SLR, Apple needs you to buy Aperture so you can work with your "pro" equipment. Does that make sense? Is there no room for a consumer/amateur/hobbyist who wants to go a step beyond and learn about the craft, buy better equipment, and do a little more, without suddenly classifying them as a "pro" user?

A very good post, for what essentially it points out is that Apple's direction is now that they're striving for lowest common denominator.


-hh
 
Don't get me wrong - I love my new MBP... but I've never wanted such a big laptop - ever. I was always dead happy with my 12" PB with 32MB on-board gfx.

I wish they'd do a 13" MBP!

Why not put out a 15" MacBook (Pro casing without the extras) AND a 13" MBP (if they could fit it all in there...)

Bah.
 
Ah, look at this update
 

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Just because you seem to know ignorant people doesn't meant that everyone is...

An interesting comment because of its implications.

Afterall, can it not be said that the demographics of a Mac customer is someone who is willing to pay a bit more (by avoiding cheapest, etc) most basically because they're not ignorant of the concept of value?


The reason I have stuck with Macs is because they work, they save me time, they increase my productivity, and in the end they save me money. Many of the solutions offered to overcome the lack of FireWire would make me less productive, waste time, and spend more money to get USB peripherals. Because of that I'm now not going to purchase the new MacBook. Apple probably considers this an acceptable loss—they would rather snatch a bunch of Windows users.

Agreed, and its a question of "new business" versus "repeat business": which one do you think is more likely to give you revenue in an economic downturn?

(Hint: the ones that have already proven willing to buy your products).



-hh
 
You wouldn't really switch to PC over this!

Some maybe. But they have lost me unless they make a MBP the size of the MB, and that's not going to happen. People have been asking for it since the demise of the 12" Powerbook and Apple has ignored the pleas.

Yes, the 12" MBP was appealing to some, but apparently didn't make enough money to remain viable. Like any big company - the name of the game is "big numbers." I'd recommend running over to Amazon and picking up a black MacBook (with Firewire) while they still have them - then goose it up to 4GB of RAM. It looks cool and I use mine to run FCP, Motion, STP and DVDSP without a problem. The price is very good now - and it would be silly to abandon Mac altogether. That's throwing out the baby with the bath water!
 
Yea but, I don't care about FW800 right now. I want at least the 400 on the MacBook Pro as well. 800 is not around enough yet. They should have put both on the Pro, not just the 800.

Actually, they should have at least put two FW800's on the Pro, and tossed a FW800-400 adaptor plug (or two) in the box. Afterall, its a two-freaking-thousand dollar computer and the plugs retail for a whopping $10.


-hh
 
We're all pros now

These days we're all pros - more and more of us are produceing content at the local level.
Personally, want a machine that does not force me to make compromises. The absence of firewire is one of those details that is frustrating to say the least. As a practitioner of Yoga, surely Steve has an understanding for the importance of flexibility. The new machines are rigid in ways they don't need to be.
 
This won't affect most people who are buying Macbooks and on top of this, as time goes on, it'll affect fewer and fewer people as they upgrade their equipment.

There are people who are legitimately disadvantaged by this but then again, there are people who just love to complain.
 
Contentious thread, as ever...

I'm sure this has been mentioned somewhere in here before, but FW is not just valuable for HD, target disk mode and storage. It's also pretty much the only connection which you will find on reasonable quality external soundcards. When I say "reasonable", I'm talking about audio devices in the £2-500 range, so not exactly breaking the bank.

I fully expect a tirade of "hardly a consumer use" responses, but the honest truth is that the macbook is Apple's most affordable (and compact) option for a portable studio or recording. Bear in mind, we are probably not necessarily talking about professional musicians, most users are simply enthusiastic amateurs. Having said that, there are a lot of dj's/performers/artists who have gone for the macbook over the pro because of it's size/weight/affordability.

The fact is, on many different levels, this does not seem to stack up as a positive decision. I would love to know what the real justification for this choice was... I just can't see how a few bucks saved on chips and an extra port was worth it. Is it a space consideration? The new macbook is almost exactly the same size as the previous, except for depth. Given that it has a very similar array of ports (in fact the display port is probably smaller than the mini dvi), surely there must be room down the side for a firewire port? Maybe the battery size/design/position has influenced the decision?

J
 
They're still using tape? Who the hell designs these things - have they heard of this little thing called a hard disk? you know, replace the whole idea of a tape with a 160gb hard disk - and store it is a single file which can be accessed from the computer as if it were a disk?

Dear god, who are these idiots who design cameras - they don't seem to have any degree of common-sense what so ever!

So let's think about that for a sec...I have an HD (hi-def, not hard drive) camera that uses mini-DV tape. Right now, the only way I could edit and make a disc to show to my family in HD quality would be to have a cheap Blu-Ray burner. Otherwise, dvd isn't taking full advantage of the camera. So, i'm ready for the future, shooting HD footage, once a cheap Blu-ray burner is there. Now, if I had a hard drive camera, then I have to store everything on my computer. Invest in hard drive storage.

And yes, hard drive storage is going down in price all the time. But you know what? In the last 5 years, I've had a hard drive die in my ipod, on my windows machine, and my imac. And yes, I'm backing up, etc.

But for right now, I have HD quality on little tapes that are a little more reliable from a data durability standpoint.
 
Don't get me wrong - I love my new MBP... but I've never wanted such a big laptop - ever. I was always dead happy with my 12" PB with 32MB on-board gfx.

I wish they'd do a 13" MBP!

Ditto that. Even if price wasn't a factor, the sheer size of a MBP, even the 15", is somewhat of a deal breaker for me. 15" isn't Too Big, but compared to my 12" iBook, it's colossal.

My plan, up until this update, was to take the money for a 17" MBP and buy a MB for travel and an iMac for home. Now with the news today that iMac's may be updated soon and the inclusion of firewire on those is questionable, I don't know what I'll do.
 
This won't affect most people who are buying Macbooks and on top of this, as time goes on, it'll affect fewer and fewer people as they upgrade their equipment.

There are people who are legitimately disadvantaged by this but then again, there are people who just love to complain.

I'm sorry, but going from FireWire 400 to USB 2.0 is a downgrade in every way. Firewire has more power (no need for a power supply on the firewire device. Crucial for mobile operation), it's seriously faster, it has a non-fluctuating transfer rate (necessary for realtime stuff) and you don't need a HUB, provided your fireWire devices have 2 ports for daisy-chaining.
 
I wish they'd do a 13" MBP!

I can't use a MacBook because it has no FireWire, and I really hate the larger MBP. If there was a 13" MBP and it had FireWire, I would probably get it, even if it was 1.5" thick.

Seriously, Apple needs to stop its thin obsession, or at least have an obese option for the rest of us. True, some people like those skeletons that are supermodels, but others prefer a little meat on those bones. Stop worrying about how thin you are and give me some damn substance!

Sorry about the rant, but I really prefer functionality over thin.
 
So, I guess if I want to edit on an inexpensive laptop, I'll get Dell and Vegas.

Yup, I get the feeling that this is what a few people are going to do. I mean, you can get a PC for ~$500 that will let you do quite a few things -- and (I can't believe I am saying this) it will be compatible with a lot of the peripherals that use firewire.

Ugh...
 
I can't use a MacBook because it has no FireWire, and I really hate the larger MBP. If there was a 13" MBP and it had FireWire, I would probably get it, even if it was 1.5" thick.

Seriously, Apple needs to stop its thin obsession, or at least have an obese option for the rest of us. True, some people like those skeletons that are supermodels, but others prefer a little meat on those bones. Stop worrying about how thin you are and give me some damn substance!

Sorry about the rant, but I really prefer functionality over thin.

Hilarious! And I agree completely... Some need a laptop to be a desktop replacement and, therefore, need all the connectivity that comes with it.
 
Can we have a Guide of what would be GOOD replacements on Linux for Mac/Windows commercial applications?
 
I'm sorry, but going from FireWire 400 to USB 2.0 is a downgrade in every way. Firewire has more power (no need for a power supply on the firewire device.
You're intentionally misinterpreting me.
 
Yup, I get the feeling that this is what a few people are going to do. I mean, you can get a PC for ~$500 that will let you do quite a few things -- and (I can't believe I am saying this) it will be compatible with a lot of the peripherals that use firewire.

Ugh...

I'm browsing the Dell store right now... :)
 
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