[Macworld]

Post your comments for FireWire?s MacBook absence?inconvenience or fatal flaw? here

[mswebb]

iMovie software pre-installed on that system as part of the iLife ’08 suite is perfectly capable of communicating with the many USB-based camcorders now on the market, so it may be an opportunity for you to upgrade your camcorder.
I have always wanted an "opportunity" to spend more money. USB cameras are not nearly as easy to use as firewire when it comes to iMovie. It will be a real challenge for Apple to regain the ease of use they currently enjoy in this area. New Mac purchasers won't care too much about the missing Firewire but the entrenched mass of Mac users are certainly being snubbed by this stingy move.

[gambit]

The lack of firewire isn't a big deal in terms of connectivity, but the loss and complete absence of a feature like Target Disk Mode IS a huge deal. That single feature was not only a brilliant differentiator between Macs and PCs, but it also saved my butt more times than I care to count.

[lwdesign]

It's good to hear that System Migration will can use an Ethernet cable to connect computers, now that Firewire is gone from the MacBook. However, I question Apple's decision to delete a standard port that it developed and promoted so heavily in the past. Was the motherboard so tight that a Firewire port couldn't be added? Also, on the MacBook Pro there's now only the Firewire 800 port, so it's so long to all the Firewire 400 cables I have. I'm not sure Firewire 400's time is really up. Add this to the glossy screen without a matte option and I become concerned about my portable options. I'll just stick with my older MBPro 17" which is an exquisite piece of technology for the next couple of years until Apple comes out with something better.

[kfsutops]

Of course this is only about one thing. Getting you to upgrade to the higher priced Macbook Pro. This is Apples way of doing business. They raise the price of the Macbook. Took away functionality.
If you want to connect using firewire for your camera you obviously must be a professional. So, you should by the professional product from Apple. This is Apple's way of doing business.

[mikerophone]

Okay, scratching my head on this one. Apple owns Firewire -- it's their technology. It should be a standard port on all their machines. I use Firewire for storage, video and audio; my camcorders and audio gear have many years of use left in them. Now Apple's telling us that we should abandon them if we want the latest and greatest MacBooks. I certainly hope this oversight stops (and is perhaps fixed) with the MacBook; if it spills over to the desktop, it'll be tough to justify a new Mac purchase. In hindsight, however, I also have a pile of SCSI devices gathering dust...

[xmitman]

The story misses an important consideration. Booting from an external drive. What are the options to run another Mac OS such as Tiger or Panther if you have an app. that only runs on an older OS? USB has not worked for me, only a Firewire drive works. Also I like to carry a backup drive that I can boot from in case of any trouble while traveling. Will I be able to boot from a USB drive on a new Macbook or will it just become a dead brick?

[Peter Cohen]

kfsutops said:

If you want to connect using firewire for your camera you obviously must be a professional.

That's actually not what I said. Almost all of the pro DSLR cameras on the market are USB 2.0. FireWire, at least in my experience, is being used by pro photographers on the storage end -- archiving libraries in Aperture, for example.

It isn't until you're getting into medium format stuff like the products Mamiya makes that you start dealing with FireWire. And yeah, at that point, if you're spending $14,000 or $15,000 on a camera back, chances are a MacBook Pro isn't going to kill you. In fact, I'd be very surprised for that sort of studio work if you weren't tethered to a Mac Pro.

[pistogrih]

I'm go glad I bought my MBP in April this year. The one firewire port and glossy screen on the new one is definitely a deal breaker - I would have bought something else.
I understand the reasons for the changes (as mentioned by others) but it's a big risk for Apple to take, to basically cut off a whole generation of older users in favour of new customers spurred on by iPod and iPhone sales... Surely just keep both camps happy?

[tommylotto]

Peter, I think you are being an apologist here. Describing firewire as being used predominately by SD cameras "clinging" to old technology is a bit unfair that dismisses the seriousness of the problem. I am writing this on my 4th MacBook. I own an HD camcorder that relies on firewire to import footage. So, it looks like their will not be a 5th macbook in my future. If firewire is such old technology, why bother putting such decrepit technology on the shiny new MacBook Pro? This was a transparent attempt to differentiate the pro line with a needed feature.

[mitchcohen]

Arghhhhhh...... I completely disagree with Apple on this one.
One huge advantage of Firewire I don't see listed is daisy chaining. USB requires hubs, which often cause trouble. Have firewire and buy another hard drive, no problem - just add it to the chain.
Audio was just glanced over here. It's a real issue. Audio over USB stinks. Fine for speakers and cheap microphones, not much more. The better mixing boards are all firewire. Some of these uses may be "pro" - but they're also folks who want smaller computers. The week the Air was announced I ran into a friend of mine, who plays keyboards for a well-known ban. He was in love with the Air but said it was a non-starter due to no firewire. He has a Mac laptop on stage as part of his setup. Now he's got to use a larger laptop, and one with a reflective screen that's got to be fun under concert lights.
Temporarily I don't see a problem with lack of target disk mode. The new laptops have easily removable drives, IT folks can pop them into external cases for diagnosis. But Apple goes back and forth on drive access so often I have no belief this will be ok forever, nor on non-laptop systems that might use firewire in the future.
There's no excuse for Apple screwing up on this one.

[pcharles]

I purchased the black Intel Macbook a few months ago (as an upgrade to my 1.67GHZ PowerBook) because I wanted the smaller size and the increased wifi range over the aluminum case.

Little did I know that I was also saving myself from not having a firewire port. However, I have found that I hardly use the firewire port on this machine. My new LaCie Rugged supports FW800, FW400, and USB2, and for some reason I have found that I connect using USB2 through a Belkin retractable cable rather than my trusty firewire. In a recent email I expressed concern at the lack of firewire, but since then I have realized that I nolonger travel with firewire.

I do edit video for work and home, but it turns out that I do most of this on my desktop machine and so I wonder how many people will really miss FireWire when they did not grow up with it as some of us did.

I have a couple of 3CCD Sony cameras that use firewire, but have held of buying a new camera because they are transitioning to the new HD codecs and new connection methods (namely removable media and Hard Disk + USB). When I finally upgrade, I imagine they will be compatible with the MacBook.

I think we have to look at the history of Apple and the reality that there is always a Method in their madness: Apple dumped the floppy, and they were right. Apple introduced USB before others, and they were right. Apple Apple introduced the iPod, and they were right. Apple made the "expensive" Minis, Nanos, iPhones, and so far they have been right. A lot of hardcore people complained about the lack of ports on the Air, but I would be amazed if many people are harmed by this.

I think we should have faith that there is method in apples "madness" rather than hanging on to old technologies like a Windows user.

[carolax]

I don't see any serial or parallel printer ports either. Why is Apple ditching such proven technology and making my fifteen year-old printer obsolete?
Apple will always be forward-thinking. It's user base, apparently not.

[pcharles]

How many people daisy chain multiple hard drives on a laptop, particularly while on the road? For a while I carried a couple of 60's around and daisy chained them, but quickly realised what a pain this was and bought a triple interface 250GB LaCie Rugged. So now I travel lighter.