I've been giving this some thought...and yes its true FW hasn't caught on as Apple would have hoped...and there's alot of poor decisions that contributed to that as well...but I really think the #1 reason there is no port in the MacBook is because there would be no real reason to justify shelling out $700+ more for the MBP.
Think about it, they're both in almost identical cases now...aside from the speakers...they use the exact same manufacturing process out of a brick of aluminum. They're both sturdy.
They both have the same keyboards and both are backlit (with the exception of the lowend model). They both have the same trackpad. They both max out at 4gb of RAM. In terms of processing power the MBs are pretty much on par. Some of the new computing benchmarks prove this.
The kicker is the MBs now have NVIDIA GPUs so they've never had such gaming power before.
Now the MB consumer has everything he ever envied about the Pro machine. Decent graphics w/ more than enough power for the average Joe.....slick aluminum casing....same RAM & cpu ballpark...new gimmicky glass trackpad to show off with...same black bezel and glossy screen look (even if the LED screen isn't of the same quality)...in fact to the untrained eye they look like the EXACT SAME COMPUTER.
How are you going to differentiate to a consumer? ...well the Pro machine has better speakers (although still not good quality)....you get the Express port...you get a 2nd graphics chip (for those of you that one isn't enough)...oh ya and you get your FireWire! ...because we've taken it away from the MB which has always had it.
So there you go, imo the MB was just too damn powerful for its own good and there really wasn't a need for most people to shell out for the uber-expensive Pro model. All those hobbyist/semi-pro video/audio/photo guys who avoided the Pro and went w/ the MB all these years are now put to a crossroads by Jobs. Either get on the Pro bandwagon/don't upgrade and stick w/ your old model/or go PC. Thats about it. I believe Apple is wagering that most will dig into their pockets & shell out for the Pro out of loyalty and frustration.
It was never a case of not enough room...or too expensive to build...it was a case of too expensive to have PRO users jumping ship and buying the sleek MacBook. THAT would have cost them money big time.
I know a study that went down on concession prices at big commercial theaters where they did research on the MOST any reasonable person would pay for soda/popcorn before they decided not to buy. They had psychologists in on it and in the end when they found that number....THAT was what would be the small. Then they went up from there and priced the medium, large & jumbo. They even called the small "child" size so that you'd feel silly buying it as an adult. People got tricked into buying sizes WAY larger than they wanted only because they didn't want to get hosed since they were better deals than the smaller ones. This is whats going on here.
If you want FW 400 you have to buy the plastic one. If you want aluminum then you have to pay more but are stuck w/o FW. If you want aluminum AND FW then you have to buy the MBP. If you want a Pro but not glossy you have to buy an external monitor (hopefully their 30" cinema display) or better yet a Mac Pro! Face it that new shiny MacBook was just too damn fine to allow FireWire to stay. Video users aside, musicians get hurt big time as do anyone who need Target Mode (that could be anyone).
Face it, firewire is on the way out but not for the reasons most people may think.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/16/jobs_responds_to_outrage_over_macbooks_missing_firewire.html
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/16/firewire-feedback-from-readers-and-apple/
Think about it, they're both in almost identical cases now...aside from the speakers...they use the exact same manufacturing process out of a brick of aluminum. They're both sturdy.
They both have the same keyboards and both are backlit (with the exception of the lowend model). They both have the same trackpad. They both max out at 4gb of RAM. In terms of processing power the MBs are pretty much on par. Some of the new computing benchmarks prove this.
The kicker is the MBs now have NVIDIA GPUs so they've never had such gaming power before.
Now the MB consumer has everything he ever envied about the Pro machine. Decent graphics w/ more than enough power for the average Joe.....slick aluminum casing....same RAM & cpu ballpark...new gimmicky glass trackpad to show off with...same black bezel and glossy screen look (even if the LED screen isn't of the same quality)...in fact to the untrained eye they look like the EXACT SAME COMPUTER.
How are you going to differentiate to a consumer? ...well the Pro machine has better speakers (although still not good quality)....you get the Express port...you get a 2nd graphics chip (for those of you that one isn't enough)...oh ya and you get your FireWire! ...because we've taken it away from the MB which has always had it.
So there you go, imo the MB was just too damn powerful for its own good and there really wasn't a need for most people to shell out for the uber-expensive Pro model. All those hobbyist/semi-pro video/audio/photo guys who avoided the Pro and went w/ the MB all these years are now put to a crossroads by Jobs. Either get on the Pro bandwagon/don't upgrade and stick w/ your old model/or go PC. Thats about it. I believe Apple is wagering that most will dig into their pockets & shell out for the Pro out of loyalty and frustration.
It was never a case of not enough room...or too expensive to build...it was a case of too expensive to have PRO users jumping ship and buying the sleek MacBook. THAT would have cost them money big time.
I know a study that went down on concession prices at big commercial theaters where they did research on the MOST any reasonable person would pay for soda/popcorn before they decided not to buy. They had psychologists in on it and in the end when they found that number....THAT was what would be the small. Then they went up from there and priced the medium, large & jumbo. They even called the small "child" size so that you'd feel silly buying it as an adult. People got tricked into buying sizes WAY larger than they wanted only because they didn't want to get hosed since they were better deals than the smaller ones. This is whats going on here.
If you want FW 400 you have to buy the plastic one. If you want aluminum then you have to pay more but are stuck w/o FW. If you want aluminum AND FW then you have to buy the MBP. If you want a Pro but not glossy you have to buy an external monitor (hopefully their 30" cinema display) or better yet a Mac Pro! Face it that new shiny MacBook was just too damn fine to allow FireWire to stay. Video users aside, musicians get hurt big time as do anyone who need Target Mode (that could be anyone).
Face it, firewire is on the way out but not for the reasons most people may think.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/16/jobs_responds_to_outrage_over_macbooks_missing_firewire.html
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/16/firewire-feedback-from-readers-and-apple/
