MacBook Pro “Feature” Spells Death of Low End FireWire?
Well there wasn’t a FireWireless widescreen iBook revealed at yesterdays keynote to the chagrin of the rumor sites (J. O’grady you get and F triple minus for accuracy*). Yet I think that the FireWire free iBook or MacBook is on the way. Side note: As a name “MacBook Pro” has all the mouth appeal of 80 grit sandpaper passing itself of as chewing gum. Back to FireWire going missing in action on the low end. So far unconfirmed reports by my operatives in the field (okay some e-mail I read by a non AppleMatters type) indicates that the new Macs are USB bootable. As of June 2005 Macs were not USB bootable and I’m thinking that most still aren’t. So if you can boot a Mac off a USB drive you can probably do the old FireWire USB target disk mode and transfer your data thusly. Plus FireWire 800 took a walk off the MacBook Pro so you can see where all this is headed. Um, maybe.
*Though J. O’Grady did provide a ton of entertainment, so overall B+.
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This frantic hysteria over the demise of Firewire just doesn’t seem to go away. Yesterday’s Keynote was somewhat anticlimactic, but one thing that seemed apparent is the fact that Firewire is here to stay for a while.
Indeed, Apple wishes to continue its lead in home video, no? USB as a transfer protocol is just fine, but in and of itself has no timing protocols built in, and so is quite unsuitable for use in video editing. So, no firewire, no iMovie, no FinalCut, etc....
I don’t think that Apple would spend so much time on iLife if it were preparing to delist the one feature that it’s most noteworthy iLife product (iMovie) relies upon.
FireWire 800 took a walk because there are still precious few products out there that support this protocol. Perhaps Apple will reintroduce FireWire when there are some products out there that actually support it. Until then, delisting this feature harms very few consumers, and keeps the product at a mroe manageable price point.
I think the rumor mongers need to find another subject. USB 2 can’t compete with FW400 for data transfers and doesn’t have the hooks to allow control of DVCAMs. Please find something worth discussing.
I can understand discontinuing a technology that has been surpassed, but USB 2.0 isn’t better than FireWire 400 and doesn’t compare with FireWire 800.
Maybe this is more proof that Apple has become less about being the best in the field and more consumer oriented like M$.
I read on MacShrine (http://macshrine.com/2006/01/10/question-what-is-expresscard/) the following about ExpressCard:
(Note, those figures are MegaByte, not the more common Megabit)
This would indicate that for the few who want FW800, adding a card in the ExpressCard slot will be the way to go.
Until I read that I must say I was a bit nervous about the future of FW400.
Or maybe the fact that Apple dropped firewire from the iPod was because there is nothing essential about the iPod that requires Firewire, unlike DVcam operation.
> “*Though J. O’Grady did provide a ton of entertainment, so overall B+.”
And a lot of advertising revenue, which let’s face it, is a large reason the rumor sites operate.
So, A++ for getting the page hits.
PS I agree with fmarder above.
I guess Apple could sell the iBooks without Firewire and introduce the option of a Firewire PC card. But really, does that make any sense? The cost to keep Firewire ports in the notebooks must cost, what, a few cents? a few dollars at most, right? Why on earth would they get rid of it? It’s far from a dead technology, and the fact they’re supporting it is probably making them money from further licensing just for keeping it in their computers. And it’s not like they have to remove firewire to make room for USB2.0 ports, they already have at least 2 in each computer.
It made sense for the iPods, it doesn’t make sense for the Macs.
I’m sorry Chris, but you were wrong about Firewire disappearing at MacWorld, so please just stop trying to kid yourself it’s still going to happen. If everyone is wrong and Apple does end up introducing a low-end Mac without Firewire, then please feel free to come and rub it all in our faces that you were right all along. But until then I’d suggest just keeping quiet about it.
L.M.W.,
Well, there’s two things too keep in mind here:
1) Check out the history of the iMac, while it lost a lot beloved ports the pro line kept a few legacy ports AND the MacBook is a Pro level machine.
2) More importantly it is foolish to imagine that Macs will keep the firewire port forever. Therefore if I predict the lack of firewire once a week from now until I’m pushing dirt I’ll probably be right sooner or later....or dead, either way I’ll no longer care.
Oh, one more thing. Since I ordered the MacBook Pro I don’t really have to worry about it anymore, cause, you know, hah hah iBook suckers! So the GL2 will still work and that is the important thing.
Yeah, I don’t assume Firewire ports will stay around forever. But I get the impression you’re still expecting them to disappear this year.
I’ll make a sportsmans bet (no money) with you that the iBooks will have Firewire
L.M.W.,
A wager eh? Well generally, I wager stuff that Chris Howard owns but in this case I’ll make an exception. I will wager the Mac book of your choosing (value of up to 20 USD) against your sportsman bet that the replacement for the iBook will not have firewire.
You can’t possibly lose and you’ll have a story to tell your Grandkids someday! But what am I going to do with a “sportsman” if I win? I guess he can live in the basement.
Haha. You’re on!