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Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in MacBooks
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Removal of Firewire in the new MacBooks convinced me there's little to lose in buying a netbook instead, so I did. I saved $800 and I love it. Thanks, Apple!
Ditto. One of the things that make Mac's great was iMovie and iDVD and how simple it was to make your own movies and DVD's. Without Firewire those applications are usless to me since I can no longer transfer movies from my miniDV camcorder or even from my DVR (which I used my older Sony camcorder's Firewire port as a go between). Since Firewire was removed from the new Macbooks - that rules it out for me as a primary machine. So if I'm just getting a machine to be portable a netbook is a much better choice for me.
For those looking at netbooks - I HIGHLY recommend the Samsung NC10.
I had the exact same thought on first seeing the new macbooks and macbook pros. What were Apple thinking? Sure, from a company point of view it streamlines their manufacturing process for the two laptops (and maybe also the macbook air), but why such similarity? Does Apple deliberately want to cause customer confusion? Given the internal features of both units, the macbook is simply a crippled version of the macbook "pro" (which is hardly a stellar sibling in itself with its single FW800 and only 2 usb ports).
Furthermore, I don't understand why some people are making the argument for potential features (eg FW1600, FW3200 or USB 3.0) appearing in future models. Let's stay focused on the present day offerings available from Apple... and in that respect, the latest overhaul is such a disappointment.
I waiting for the lenovo ideapad S10. I don't have firewire but is have an express slot. So I can add a two firewire ports. It can run hackintosh, but Im not sure about the firewire stuff will work. So Im back at XP after 2 years in OSX. Im in to a new workstation. Im waiting for the new mac pro with i7 processors. But Im not to sure if I realy need it. It's a mess runing 3 OS. Im working with linux so that have to stay. But im not to happy to keep up track on XP and OSX too. Give me cubase and photoshop elements on linux and I ditch both.
Over Thanksgiving, I met with my cousin who just started college this past fall. He proudly told me that he just bought a new MacBook. I asked him "the new one - with the aluminum case?" and he said yes. He also set it up with Boot Camp to run Windows XP.
This is the market that Apple is going for. All those college students every year in the market to buy a laptop, with the insurance policy of running Windows in case they need it. And with most of the consumer digital and video cameras using USB now, no need for Firewire.
I can understand this marketing approach. What I can't understand is why Apple couldn't design ONE MacBook model Firewire to satisfy the people who need it or want it. Then it comes down to stealing sales from the MacBook Pro, and I'm just left thinking that the Pro is not Pro enough.
I said it before, and I'll say it again - the most significant thing that has happened over the past three years is the name change from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. We are starting to see the ramifications from that decision.
Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in Macb?Books
Yes for me too the lack of firewire port in new macbooks stopped me buying as I have external firewire hard drives and video camera. I have no intention of replacing perfectly functional items like these just in order to use a new macbook. Define own goal, definite shooting oneself in the foot decision by Steve, very uncharacteristic of him.
Yes for me too the lack of firewire port in new macbooks stopped me buying as I have external firewire hard drives and video camera. I have no intention of replacing perfectly functional items like these just in order to use a new macbook. Define own goal, definite shooting oneself in the foot decision by Steve, very uncharacteristic of him.
Amen, the past three years they've gotten serious and made huge strides.
Total Revenue Net Income before tax
2005 13.9B 1.8B
2006 19.3B 2.8B
2007 24.0B 5.0B
2008 32.5B 6.9B
And thanks to revenue deferrals, 07 and 08 were actually stronger than reported!!!
There is really no other apt measure of a company's success, no better measure of whether they are hitting what the market wants, and no better way to reward stockholders AND CUSTOMERS than for a company to have sustainable top and bottom line growth.
Can you IMAGINE if Jobs would have followed our "wisdom" on things like OSX for TupperPCs, a minitower to erode iMac GP, etc.? Might have ended up like Dell.
BS. The lack of a midrange Mac means I haven't bought a new one since 8 years ago.
While it's technically true that most cameras have USB2, anyone who moves any amount of data around wouldn't be caught dead with USB.
At some point, I had to realize it ain't about me.
It's about markets.
And that market is not only small, it cannibalizes two profitable markets (iMac and Pro) and takes the game right to Dell's strength.
Jobs isn't going to fall for it.
That is categorically untrue regarding the customer. The company's revenue being high has almost nothing to do with rewarding the customer. In fact, in many ways it's the reverse.
Without meeting financial metrics or the expectations of the market/investors any customer centrism will be short-lived.
I never said that companies SHOULD try to please the customer at their own expense. I said that using company profit as a measure of its existing customers being served well is completely illogical.
...once The Steve is finally gone...
Once the Steve is gone, and the mini-tower turns into a raging success -- my, I wonder how quickly the fanbois will turn on Jobs.
Once the Steve is gone, and the mini-tower turns into a raging success -- my, I wonder how quickly the fanbois will turn on Jobs.
Jobs gets great credit for turning the company around, but I think approximately 2 years ago he decided to abandon the traditional Mac customer base. I can't blame him because his job is to run the company as profitably as possible, and if I was in his position and I thought the same moves would be the most profitable choices then I'd have done the same things he did. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Like you said, we'll see how right or wrong he was once he leaves and a new CEO starts making different decisions.
For long-time mac users, the Jobs return era was really awesome starting from the original iMac period, but it started to end as soon as the iMac lost a matte screen. After that the quality and available options of Apple hardware quickly began decreasing. Jobs is not a god, over the years he's made lots of decisions that I've greatly liked, and made lots of decisions that I've greatly disliked. I'm a fan of his when he's rockin out products that I like, but I'm no fanboy, wI criticize him when he makes decisions I don't like.
A lot of these gains have been due to the iPod and iPhone - two very consumer-oriented devices that appeal to a wide demographic and market.
The Mac line not only has to appeal to general consumers, but also to serious "near-pro" consumers, and professionals as well. Apple knew this when they came up with the "Pro" line and "consumer" line years ago.
That line has been blurred with the new MacBook and MacBook Pro, and there's little to differentiate the two now. While the average consumer will probably go ga-ga over the new MacBook, as long as they can afford it, the serious consumer and professional are not as impressed with this lineup, and they CAN afford it.
That said - the MacBook will probably sell like crazy, riding the good vibes Apple developed with the iPhone and iPod, but I'll keep my white MacBook as long as possible. And I'm probably not the only one.
I don't disagree with you about USB2. But I'm just saying that the general consumer doesn't care about the technical differences between FireWire vs USB, and that is the market Apple is catering to now in much greater numbers.
The "prosumer" and true professionals are the ones that I find are not happy about the current MacBook lineup.
Which probably means that we're not making much of an impact on their decisions. So long as they keep supporting FW where they can (in machines I'm buying anyway), I'll be happy.
I don't understand..
USB 2.0 at 480mb/s
Firewire 400 at 400mb/s
Firewire 800 at 800mb/s
firewire is twice as fast. He says firewire is dying out for what? the new firewire will be coming out the same time.
USB 3.0 at 4.8 gb/s
new firewire 3.2gb/s its slower than 3.0 but its still faster than eSata(3.0gb/s).
it would not of been hard to add it on. saying it will be gone soon is just cover up for trying to make people buy the more expensive model. **** the man. i wanted a new macbook but looks like i will just build a new desktop instead.
USB 2.0 at 480mb/s
Firewire 400 at 400mb/s
Firewire 800 at 800mb/s
firewire is twice as fast. He says firewire is dying out for what? the new firewire will be coming out the same time.
USB 3.0 at 4.8 gb/s
new firewire 3.2gb/s its slower than 3.0 but its still faster than eSata(3.0gb/s).
it would not of been hard to add it on. saying it will be gone soon is just cover up for trying to make people buy the more expensive model. **** the man. i wanted a new macbook but looks like i will just build a new desktop instead.
The average consumer understands words like "faster" or "less problems copying" etc. Firewire had both of these qualities and yet, Apple elected not to be aggressive in promoting this facet to the general public.
My take was simple - abandon FW400 ports and only have FW800 that is backwards compatible. Or for today's market - Express Card slot that let's the person decide what he/she wants to do.
It is dismal that Apple made such a blunder.
- Phrehdd
I guess we will see in future updates to their product line if Apple still plans on a total abandonment of FW. I am seriously hoping that Apple sees this abandonment as premature.